By way of eastern Bali, East Timor, and East Kalimantan, we reached East Java, which is both familiar and not familiar. We went from Surabaya to Malang to Blitar, and then home to Yogya.

Here's the journey in snapshots:

1. Back to Surabaya: low-key but lovely classic Dutch buildings; a vibrant street art and street food scene; and an appreciable number of "I would definitely explore that" cafes and restaurants
2. Tahu campur Surabaya: tofu, beef, perkedel singkong, leaves, and noodles, in a turmeric-infused broth, served with spicy prawn-paste (petis) and prawn crackers



3. Coffee and lychee ice cream (with bits of avocado, a rolled-up wafer, and thickly drizzled chocolate) at the tiled, mirrored, verandahed ice cream palace that is Zangrandi Surabaya
4. Plain, cold soda water to drink with the ice cream (the best accompaniment to ice cream, I've decided, after much consideration)
5. Cold, unsalted French butter and rolls at the Novotel Surabaya
6. The "travel" from Surabaya to Malang (pronounced "tra-fell", this is a door-to-door shared car or minibus): the slowly rising road and the hazy glimpses of mountains; the pink upholstery and the Hello Kitty headrests...
7. The leafy streets and classic 1930s Dutch houses of northern Malang



8. Plump breakfast pancakes from the UND Corner bakery up on Jl Besar Ijen, with hot coffee to ward off the chill of the Malang morning
9. The bird market and the flower market
10. Exquisitely prepared coffee from The Java Dancer
11. Cucur (a delicious fried cake, which comes in various flavours -- we tried pandan and original)
12. Reunion with an old friend at Inggil, which pleasantly blends a heritage-conscious environment with lovely East Javanese food (such as rawon, with sambal and beansprouts; a rather different, smoother take on pecel; a tempe-based, rissole-like item called mendol; and sambal pencit, which offers young mango atop a spicy sauce)
13. Malang apple juice
14. The Museum Tempo Doeloe (another welcome sign that Malang is taking its heritage seriously)
15. Highly ice cream-intensive ice coffee at the Bunga Bali
16. Excellent roadside soto ayam for breakfast



17. The shady alun-alun, and its eclectic collection of visitors (would love to know some of the stories there...)
18. The retro vanilla-and-pistachio cane furniture at Toko Oen, which almost matched my vanilla-and-durian ice cream
19. Plain, cold soda water to drink with the ice cream (oh, have I mentioned that already?)



20. The circular Tugu park and the Balai Kota -- quintessential Malang
21. The Hotel Tugu Malang, a symphony of venerable objets d'art and eye-pleasing design



22. Afternoon tea at the Hotel Tugu Malang: exquisite little Javanese mouthfuls in highly elegant surroundings
23. Candle-lit baths
24. Sumptuous pillows
25. Fish porridge for breakfast in the rustic UND cafe and bakery (part of the hotel and a cousin of the UND establishment above)
26. Candi Singosari



27. The stupa and its tranquil setting at Sumberawan
28. The beautiful, peaceful, tree-filled spaces of the Kebun Raya Purwodadi



29. The warm red brickwork of the Trowulan temples
30. The trim, bright, perky villages that make this area so attractive
31. The spectacular mountain road back through Batu to Malang



32. Blitar: unostentatious, tree-shaded, food-filled, and instantly lovable
33. The becak with the Hello Kitty cushions



34. Bung Karno's tomb, where Indonesian families take turns to pay their respects
35. The veritable labyrinth of souvenir shops at the tomb complex, the entire length of which you have to cover before you can exit
36. The simple, airy, gracious building that was Sukarno's family home



37. The Hotel Tugu Blitar -- less grand and sophisticated and more homely than its Malang cousin, but still extremely elegant and very atmospheric
38. Afternoon tea at the Tugu Blitar: yet more Javanese creations served in a cozy, rustic little space



39. The old-fashioned green and cream floor tiles in our bedroom
40. The traditional wooden-soled slippers in our bedroom
41. The wonderful little noise the slippers made on the tiles (somewhere between a tap and a clink)
42. The breakfasts (classic East Java dishes, excellently rendered)
43. Madu mongso and wajik klethik (more of those delectable gula merah and rice concoctions)
44. The rattle-trap angkot we took to Penataran, along a pretty road that slowly ascended the slopes of Gunung Kelud (of ash rain fame, but that day largely invisible behind the cloud)



45. Candi Penataran, an absolute joy of stone carving -- one of my stand-out temples of all time
46. The well endowed museum a little further up the road, and the friendly staff who took time to explain stuff to us
47. A family's kind offer of a lift back to Blitar



48. Walks round Blitar's alun-alun, especially in the early evening, when the mosque stands out against the mauve sky, and the twinkling kiddy-vehicles start to circulate
49. More excellent coffee at the three-storey Coffee House
50. The Malioboro Express, which is absolutely THE way to travel from Malang to Blitar, and then on to Yogya

"East Java"? Fabulous...