Exploring Java
Trip Start
Apr 11, 2008
1
17
19
Trip End
May 15, 2010
Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia
Monday, October 20, 2008
And since that first day of arrival in Jakarta, I really haven't experienced anything to change my opinion of Indonesia. If I hadn't just lived in Thailand for six months, I probably would say that it's my favorite country in Southeast Asia.
Jakarta, unlike most other capitals in Southeast Asia, is not the center of all commerce for the country
Jakarta Airport
. It is large and sprawling, of course, but it doesn't attract Indonesians from all over and is rather more of an overgrown slum than any other capital city over here. We arrived in Jakarta on the 17th of October, Ryan, Beth and I. Beth's friend, Katie, was flying in to the airport about an hour after we arrived, so we decided just to wait at the airport for her. Our mistake was leaving the customs area in search of food. She was worried that we'd miss her if she left the baggage claim area, so we all ended up spending about 2 hours waiting around the airport for each other, eventually giving up, and taking taxis to our hotel. Good thing we had a back-up plan of meeting at the hotel, or else we wouldn't have found her until the next day. Beth had literally just checked her email in case Katie had contacted her, not gotten one, and started walking down the street to find a SIM card for her cell phone so she could call her when Katie's cab pulled up. Apparently Katie's cab driver had been driving around for over 2 hours (instead of what should have been 1), and then demanded double the cab fare. All was eventually settled, Katie checked in to the hotel, and we were ready to go out for dinner and a couple of drinks. The place we had dinner was nothing special. It actually turned out to be a Malaysian restaraunt, which was interesting since I never really had real Malaysian food the entire time I was actually in the country
Rambayana
. Only until I left the country did I try it! We were considering going out at a nice night club in Jakarta - they are apparently very crazy and sometimes stay open for 48 hours straight - but ended up going for drinks on Jalan Jaksa (which is the backpackers' road, and where we were staying ) instead. This was a good choice, because we ended up meeting an incredibly entertaining Australian guy at the pub who really should have been a stand-up comedian. He couldn't get over the fact that Ryan was hanging out with three girls, was very up on his American-bashing jokes (always something I'll enjoy), and never stopped making fun of the fact that Ryan was a Canadian. Ryan was a good sport about it, though, and we all ended up having a great time. The next morning we got up early for a morning of sight-seeing in Jakarta. There's really not too much in the way of tourist attractions though. We started off going to this large monument, which supposedly has a great view of the city. It was built by Suharto, ex-president of Indonesia, and is nicknamed "Suharto's last erection." We only saw the thing from the outside, though, because it took an hour to get to the top (with the line) and we didn't have enough time before our flight. We ended up walking around the city abit instead. We saw the large mosque that was near the monument, and was interestingly-enough across the street from a church - the oldest in Jakarta
Burobudor Temple
. It made for a nice contrast. We didn't have any time left, so we took an Indo tuk-tuk back to the hotel, where we could get a cab to the airport. Our next destination was Yogyakarta, the cultural capital of Indonesia - and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Java. It was a pretty large city, and great to spend a couple of days in. There was lots to see and do.
Our first night we decided to see the Ramayana ballet outside the Hindu temple, Prambanan. The ballet was set right in front of the temple, which was all lit up. The effect was beautiful and the ballet was interesting - something you'd never see anywhere else. It was Javanese style dancing set to the popular Hindu story of Rama and his bride, Sita. In the middle of the ballet they actually set the stage on fire, which was quite cool. The whole thing made for a wonderful first night in Indonesia.
The next day we got up in order to do some Batik shopping, as Yogyakarta is an excellent place to buy it. We went to a large market, and ended up going crazy looking for sarongs, scarfs, and pillow-cases. Ryan was a bit bored with the whole thing - I guess to a guy the difference in the 100-plus scarves we looked at was probably minimal
Celebrities for the Day
. But he was a good sport, again. We ended up cutting it close in getting back to our hotel in time for our trip to Burobudur temple. We had to be there at 2pm and ended up getting back at exactly that time. We took bicycle rickshaws, which are frustratingly slow (though you feel bad for the incredibly skinny dudes who have to bike you up hills when they look like they're about to keel over). Regardless, we made it back on time. Burobudor temple was beautiful, though it wasn't quite as cool as the temples at Angkor, Cambodia. The most interesting part had to be the sheer number of people who wanted to take photos with us because we were white people. It started out with a couple, then word spread and we were soon taking photo after photo with random strangers. I think that was the closest I'll ever get to feeling like a celebrity.
Our next and last day in Yogyakarta was spent doing sight-seeing around the city. We started out with the Royal Palace. Compared to the ones in Thailand and even Cambodia it was startingly drab. But we had a nice tour guide and learned a lot about the different sultans of Indonesia. Apparently in the past they had as many as 45 wives. But the one today only has one. Apparently that's good enough for him. After that, we went to a Batik Art Gallery, which was fantastic
Photo Shoot
. We sat through a demonstration of how to make batik art and how tell the good ones from the bad ones. Then we got to walk around the gallery and do some shopping. I bought two wall hangins, which are beautiful. And they were soo cheap! After the art gallery, we went to the Water Palace, which is just next to the Royal Palace. It's a collection of baths made for the sultan to entertain and "enjoy" his many concubines. The whole thing was wrecked by a large earthquake a while back and has just been refinished. It was also just named a UNESCO World Heritage sight and is going through more refurbishement. Eventually, the whole thing will be connected to the Royal Palace so you can see them both at one time. I'm glad we saw it when we did, though, because it was more interesting. We had free guides at both places because the whole area is it's own little community inside the city. The royal family pays for everyone to have free housing and living expenses, and in return they do jobs such as guide free tours. We got to walk around their houses a little, and they were really very cute.
Our last stop before calling it a day was the bird market. Tons of back alleyways dedicated to song birds, cats, dogs, ferrets, mice, and even very large bats. It was a bit smelly, but very cool
Bird Market
. All in all, Yogyakarta was a great place to see and we were sad to leave it. Our next and last destination on the island of Java was Mount Bromo. We started off in the early morning in a mini-van (the standard mode of transport for tours). The van was pretty old, and very oddly spaced, but we actually grew quite fond of it after about 10 hours sitting and roasting in the Indonesian sun. We did make it to our hotel in one piece, though, and were very impressed with the housing. In the States the place would probably be considered a bit low-end, but for us (who think hot showers are a five-star commodity, and are happy when they even remember to give us toilette paper) the place was absolutely fantastic.
We didn't get to spend much time there, however, because we were up at 3:30 am so we could drive up to the top of a mountain and see the sunrise. Though we were a bit tired, the view was absolutely stunning and totally worth it. After the sunrise, we drove down the mountain to the base of another mountain, Mouth Bromo. This is the main tourist destination of the area, and I definitely understand why. It's a bit of a climb (especially if you're out of shape) to the top, but once you're there you look down into a sulfurous volcanoe and understand why you made the journey
Bats!
. We actually ended up walking about half way around the rim of the volcanoe before heading back because we had run out of time. But it was probably the best thing I did on Java. I have some fantastic pictures. We barely had any time when we got back to the hotel - just enough to pack up our stuff - because we had to get in another mini-van and head to our final destination, Bali. We were supposed to be at the main travel office by 10 and catch our bus by 11, but the bus didn't actually show up until 12:30. It was such a good thing that we rushed, then. Meanwhile, we were baking in the midday sun. The bus finally did arrive, however, and we were mildly comfortable in the Indonesian-person-sized seats until our ferry to Bali. The drive after Bali, though, was incredibly long and uncomfortable. By the time we got out (about 8 pm, so a full 11 hours after we had started out and 15 hours of being awake) I was ready to go to bed. Of course the journey wasn't quite over, because we had to take the cab ride from hell from Denpasar to Kuta (where we were staying).
Really, it wouldn't have been bad at all were it not for a fidgety stomach - mine. Right after getting in the taxi my stomache went haywire and I desperately needed a bathroom. Of course the half-hour cab ride turned into an hour because we were stuck in traffic (all while I'm doubled over in pain in the back seat). I've never been so excited to exit a cab in my life, really.
The Bali adventure is for the next entry, however.
Java was incredible and I wish I had more time to devote to the other islands in Indonesia. I'll definitely have to come back another time.
