Transportation Nightmare

Here's the rundown of my activities earlier this week:

Day 1 - Sat on a minivan for 12 hours to get to Probolinggo from Yogyakarta. The minivan was NOT air conditioned as promised. Once there, switched to an extremely old bus that kept going up, up, up through the mountains. By the time we got to the lodge, it was past 11pm and COLD. Yes, cold in Indonesia...I never thought that I'd be wearing long pants & sleeves, and a rain jacked to bed in Indonesia.

Day 2 - Woke up at the ungodly hour of 3:30am, and bundled up in my fleece and outer jacket (my friend even bought mittens!). Purpose - to catch the sunrise. Walking up the hill in the early morning and at high altitude was not pleasant, but it was well worth it. I got to see the volcanic eruptions in beautiful colors and take some awesome photos (sample below). Afterwards, we climbed to the crater of Mt. Bromo. More stunning scenery!!!!!
...And that's when the fun ends for that day. At 10:00am, we once again boarded the old bus back to town, and immediately hopped on to another bus (this one over A/C-ed) headed for Bali. What a long ride! We didn't get to the ferry terminal until like 7:00pm, had to wait for the ferry, ride the damn thing, and get back on the bus again. I almost started crying on the ferry when the bus driver told us that we had another 4-5 hours to go once we docked : ( Dinner that day was the overpriced chicken instant noodles on the ferry. Arrived in Bali near midnight. This was seriously an impossibly long day that I hope never to experience again.... The bed felt really good that night.

Day 3 - I had a flight to catch to Kota Kinabalu in the afternoon, so decided to have a leisurely stroll on the beach during the morning. That beach (Kuta, I think) was much nicer than the impression of Bali I had from a trip almost 10 years ago. Considering the hellish transport I had to endure over the past 2 days, I felt I deserved to take it slow for the day... So...
Guess what?! There is a 1 hour time difference between Java and Bali!!!!!! I discovered that at the internet cafe when I realized that all the clocks (even those hanging on the wall) where somehow 1 hour ahead of mine. Confirmed situation with the guy who was at the next terminal...ran out of there and got myself to the airport.
Guess what?! The flight was delayed for 4 hours. Damn it. But, there was a MacDonald's and a Starbucks there.
Guess what?! The flight decided to be delayed for only 3 hours. Good thing that the Air Asia agent looked for me around the airport! Otherwise, they would've taken off without me!

These three days have exhausted me.

I am being a lazy bum in Borneo.

And I am on my own again.