Java Jamboree: The Long Crawl

I remember a long and boring journey out of Surabaya to Batu, a town in East Java, Indonesia which before 1945, used to be a recreation place for the Dutch colonial officers. There was a massive jam especially when we were approaching Porong and at times, when the vehicles came to almost a standstill, enterprising Indonesians would come to see if you'd buy fruits or cigarettes from them. Porong which was 14 km south of Sidoarjo city must be an important area once. There were supposed to be oil and gas fields here and our guide told of a massive gas leakage there which I gathered, resulted in the death of the town. Suddenly, I realised many of the shops there were deserted and there were big embankments by the roadsides. Some locals had crowded at the top of the embankments and the guide gave the impression that they were viewing a dead town at the other side. I could imagine leaveless trees and deserted houses immersed in mud, and with just their roof tops in view. We wanted to stop and join the locals up there but our guide said we lacked time. Perhaps, during our return journey we would make a stop and we really should for this is where I think, we could witness the Sidoarjo mud flow . Since May 2006, approximately 2,500 m³ or 88,000 cubic feet of mud which is equivalent to the contents of a dozen Olympic-size swimming pools, had been expelled and the mud flow though under control then, would continue indefinitely. It was said that on May 28, 2006, PT Lapindo Brantas, an Indonesian oil and gas exploration company drilled for gas here.During the second stage of drilling, the drill string went deep to about 2,834 m (9,298 ft) and without a protective casing, water, steam and a small amount of gas erupted. Two more eruptions then occurred. Hydrogen sulphide gas as well as hot mud, thought to be at a temperature of around 60 °C (140 °F) were also released. The guide said that it is stifling and hard to breath if you were up on the embankment...


A long crawl to a dead town...

Traveling Tip: There are things to see on the way!