20 September

I beat my alarm. I had it set for 6.30am but woke by 6 so I decided to get up. When Rofi arrived at a little after 7am she was a little surprised to see me sitting outside the front waiting for her.

I insisted that she join me for breakfast. I had the western staple of toast and eggs and she had nasi goreng. After that we sat and talked before my taxi arrived to take me to the airport in Surabaya. I had decided to take a taxi because, despite the cost it was worth it to not have to mess around with public transport. Rp 175.000 is a lot of money for travel there, but concidering it was a two hour drive to the airport it’s still very cheap compaired to here. I think it money well spent.

When the taxi arrived I said my goodbyes to Rofi, but the taxi driver came up with an enterprising idea. He offered to take her on the round trip for just 75.000 more. I decided that it a bargin for two extra hours company and the driver would have been happy too because he would have had a dead drive home and now he got paid to drive back to Malang. Something he would have had to do anyway.

I arrived at the airport with plenty of time for my flight. Even more so because, as expected, the flight was delayed by an hour. Domestic air travel!!!

Once I arrived in Bali I phoned Evi to let her know that I had arrived safely and then proceeded to organise a place to stay. I know that it costs a little more, but I went to one of those accommodation booking places at the airport because I didn’t want to be hiking around hotels looking for a place to stay.

On the taxi drive to my hotel I recognised the places I was familiar with from my trip 4 years previous.

The hotel looks pleasant enough. It is more expensive than the hotel in Yogya and Malang but still cheaper than the one in Jakarta… And still a heap better.

My room overlooks the pool and I am contemplating going for a swim while I am writing this but right now I am waiting to meet my friend Dewi, another Internet friend and someone who I have known for over two years. She was very surprised to receive my telephone call although I had told her I was planning to go to Indonesia.

I did end up having a swim because not long after writing the notes Dewi said she would come a little later and was going to bring a friend too. The water was great, so nice and refreshing. I have been sweating a lot in Bali because, although it’s definitely not as hot as Yogya was, it’s more humid.

I went out with Dewi and her friend for dinner and my god, I can’t believe how expensive it was. While it was still cheap by Australian standards, dinner cost me nearly 180.000 or about $25 for the three of us, but then I had just come from Java where the previous night’s upmarket dinner cost 75.000 and the meal of fried chicken and rice at a roadside diner in Yogya for 4 people gave me change from 20.000.

Myself and Dewi

Another thing is the sheer number of westerners. I had got used to the stares of being the only bule around, but here there are many. The local traders are much more pushy too. I guess because they need the trade and there is so much competition that they need to be. In Java they would ask, you would say no and that was the end of it. Here they ask, you say no.. they ask again, you say no again.. they push again.

Aughh “tidak terima kasih“, “tidak purlu“..

Just as Dewi and her friend were getting ready to leave I got an SMS from Evi and Juliana letting me know that they were on their way and would see me in about 20 minutes, so after saying goodnight, I decided to walk to the nearby shop and get a lemon tea and an icecream to enjoy while I waited .

We sat outside my room for a while before deciding to go for a walk down to Legian beach where we sat in the sand and chatted some more, took photos and just generally chilled out.

Julianna and Evi

Evi and Julianna

Gotcha!

When I returned to my room I had a nice long shower before settling down in bed, watching the end of whatever movie was finishing up on the tv before going to sleep.

19 September

Thankfully the sound check across the street didn’t go much longer than 11, perhaps 10 minutes after I had turned the light off. Unfortunately it started again at 7am “Sa du ti.. Sa du ti..” abrieviating the Indonesian words for one, two and three.

I found out afterwards that the building across the road from me is the Mayors office and that the next leg of the tour di Indonesia bicycle race was starting out from this point. I guess it explains 3 brightly decorated cars with bicycles on the roof that drove past me as I walked to get some drinking water.

Rofi messaged me and told me that she needed to go with her aunt to get “travel” back to her village and would join me after that, so I went back to sleep and planned on getting up around 8.30.

Just as my alarm was going off I got a knock at my door. Rofi arrived already and I was nowhere near ready. I suggested she go back to her own place and get changed while I got ready as she was still in the same clothes as the day before, having spent the night at her sisters house.

She wanted to use public transport but I gave her money for a taxi instead. It was actually an effort to get her to accept it but as I told her, the cost isn’t that much for a taxi and I really don’t want to be waiting a long time for her to return.

As it happened she returned just as I was finishing my breakfast.

It was quite a hot morning so we took a taxi to a shopping mall where we looked around at the shops for a while. It was a good way of avoiding the heat. After that we went to a different mall nearer to her home and had lunch there, took some of those tacky booth photos and then watched a movie.

When we got out it was mid afternoon but the temperature had already dropped quite conciderably and I was actually feeling really cold.

Returning to the area where I was staying we decided to sit in the park opposite my hotel and watch the fountain and although it was not running at that time, and although we were being circled by traffic in one of the city’s busiest intersections it was still very peaceful there.
As with all Indonesian cities, it is very hard to get away from the crowds of people.

We had our dinner in an upmarket restaurant where we had fish and spices cooked in a banana leaf, fried prawns (we ended up going back for seconds), a vegetable dish and some satay beef. Including tea and rice the bill came to about 75.000 or about $10.

After we left there we went to a bakery and had coffee and cake and chatted until it was time for her to return home.

18 September

This was supposed to be an early start day. Originally Rofi’s sister requested that we arrive at her house at 7am, but Rofi decided that it was too early so she said we would leave the hotel at 7 instead.

I set my alarm for 6.30 and got out of bed not long after that. Rofi called at 7 to tell me to have breakfast and then she would come over. I asked her how long the trip was and she told me about 40 minutes so I suggested she leave straight away and i will have breakfast while waiting for her.

So 40 minutes later I phoned her up to see where she was and she informed me that she would leave now. She didn’t end up taking that long because she took a taxi instead of public transport. The taxi then took us to her sisters house where everyone was waiting for us.

Rofi’s nephew

Our first port of call was a beautiful waterfall. Apparently it is very spectacular during the wet season, but is still very impressive I felt. After that we went to a recreation area, a park and swimming pool half way up a mountain. It was so beautiful and green.

Waterfall near Malang

Me near the waterfall

Me with Rofi’s family

Rofi’s uncle and nephews

The entry sign at “selecta”

We ate lunch the traditional Indonesian way. ie. with our fingers.. Right hand only because the left is for sanitary purposes. I was restricted in what I could eat because today was one of my designated “vegetarian” days

After lunch Rofi and I went for a walk and sat on a swing in a cool shady spot and read “Fox in Socks”

She now understands why I get tongue-tied when I am trying to speak Indonesian.

View down the mountain to rice paddy’s below

Heading back down the mountain into the city

So much time in Indonesia is spent just traveling. Because of the number of people, moving about is a slow process. Although we started out at a little after 8.30 it took us until 4.30 to do those two things.

I bought Icecream at McDonalds! I feel so cheap.. But that was what Rofi wanted and I know she has no way of appreciating the sacrifice I made to my ethics, but I did it anyway.

The last time I ate at a McDonalds was a couple of years ago when I met up with Amanda and the kids for lunch. In both instances i feel the reward was worth it.

While I was in the process of being westernised I decided to have dinner at Pizza Hut. This was because I could be sure of having a vegetarian meal there (It was that or Gado-Gado), but also because my stomach can only stand so much spicey foods.

It is now 10.40 and I am almost finished typing up my notes but I don’t like the chances of me going to sleep because for some reason some people are doing a sound check for a concert in the courtyard of the building directly across the street from my room. The desk is vibrating from the bass!

17 September

Today is the day that I meet Rofi. Rofi is a very close friend of mine and someone who I have known for a very long time. She’s also a girl who I have feelings for.

I don’t know if I can say exactly what point day 6 started. Technically I suppose it was at midnight, but normally I would call the start of the day as the point when I first wake up and I was half sleeping on the travel so I woke up many times.

After I checked into my hotel I messaged Rofi to let her know that I had arrived and needed to get some rest and then I slept until just before 9am. I will call this the start of the day!

When Rofi arrived at the hotel she bundled me into a taxi and took me to her sisters house where I was introduced to the family. She then proceeded to tease me and make me feel embarrassed.. Of course it was all in good fun and her family were of course happy to get in on the joke, but in many ways for me it was kinda like watching a train crash in slow motion.

After the obligatory teasing had ended her sister taught me how to cook ikan asam pedas (hot and sour fish) which is a particular favourite of mine. It was delicious!

After we left her sisters house we went back to the centre of the city by public transport, little minivans with metal bench seats along either side where you sit (and if you happen to be over 180cm like me, you sit very cramped).

We wandered around a mall for a little while (Lenda would be proud) before going to see a movie at the cinema. 10.000rp, so cheap, although it was clearly obvious that the movie was pirated (and I think a small part was censored). Following the movie was dinner and then I bought a new shirt for tomorrow as I was worried that my washing may not have been returned to my hotel room yet and I had nothing else to wear.

After that we sat in a park in the middle of the city, overlooking a very European styled waterfall and lily garden and chatted and enjoyed the cool evening until it was time for her to return to her home. I went back to my hotel and rested.

16 September

I was so tired when the phone rang at 4.30 in the morning. My friend Eka was feeling sad and upset and wanted me to see her at her hotel at Prangtritis Beach. I then wasted 40 minutes trying to get out of it. I really wanted to see her and I knew that this would probably be the only chance that I would get, but I also wanted to sleep.

In the end my friend won but I was glad that I got to meet her. Eka got me some breakfast of coissants and danish and I sat and watched the ocean from her room while she packed her things to head home. Although she lives in Yogya, she was staying at the hotel for her business.

Looking over Prangtritis Beach

Eka and myself

I returned to Yogya at 8.45 and called Afi to let her know that I had returned. The original plan for the day was for me to ride one of the motorcycles and her sister ride the other, but yet another chat friend changed that plan. Tari, from Solo took the day off work and came down to Yogya on the train.

I spent the day with 4 girls! It’s what Lenda was calling the “Stuart fan club” and I can’t say I minded one bit. Our first port of call was the Sultan’s palace, Kraton. Yogyakarta is one of Indonesia’s oldest cities and used to be an important regional capital.

After that we did a walking tour of some of the historic buildings in the city before catching a bus back to Afi’s grandmothers house.

Images from Yogyakarta

Temanku di Yogya (My friends in Yogyakarta)

The Yogyakarta City skyline

Later in the afternoon after lunch and after Tari had left to return to Solo I had a nap for a little while and then bathed. As the house is very traditional, I had to take a very quick course in bathing. Essentially there is a deep bath, but not for getting into (it would be too narrow anyway) but for scooping up buckets of water from. As you wash the water slops in the floor and down the drain. The entire room is kind of like a shower.

In the late afternoon the air was filled with the sound of drumming as the children at the local kindergarten practised. Afi suggested that we go and watch them and we were welcomed into the centre to watch with the the parents who were there. It is surprising to me because there is no way I could go to a kindy here and just walk in to take photos. In fact, I felt awkward doing it there so I only took a couple.

Kindergarten kids practising for the marching band

In the early evening I went and paid for my ticket for “travel” to Malang. The journey is about 400 km and cost me 70.000 rp or just under $10 Australian.

I got picked up from the house just before 8pm and arrived in Malang around 5.30. I can’t say much about travel except it’s not something I would like to do again.. Well, not for that kind of distance. I will probably use it again to get to Surabaya to catch my plane back to Bali but that is only two hours away so not as bad.

It’s also a very cramped way of spending 10 hours, occasionally sleeping!

15 September

I woke up at 7am, actually a couple of minutes before so I beat my alarm. Lenda was due to collect me at 7.30 and take me to the airport but she arrived 15 minutes early. I’ve decided that being early for anything is a rarity in Jakarta.

To stick with that theory my flight was delayed an hour and a half, why ruin a perfect track record I say.

The flight to Yogyakarta was uneventful, which after my last flight with Adam Air, I was rather happy about. The hostess entertained the passengers with a short quiz with merchandise as the prizes and we arrived in Yogya a little after midday.

I was met at the airport by my friend Afi and her parents, they then drove me to the grandmothers home to meet the family before I went to my hotel.

My “sister” Afi (front right) and her family

I must say there are some better and worse features to this hotel for example, I can turn on and off the air conditioning and I wasn’t expected to order hookers from the porter but the bathroom is not so good. Still, I can’t complain as this room is more than half the price of the room in Jakarta, around $13 a night.

After dropping my case off at the hotel we went directly to Borobudur which is the must see thing for me in Yogya.

Borobudur is an 8th century Buddhist temple and the largest one in the world, and it was indescribable. It was everything that I hoped it to be.

My favourite photo of the temple

Local kids sitting atop the structure

Sun shining through

Photos from Borobudur

The inevitable rice paddy photograph

After Borobudur we went to Merapi mountain, a volcano near to Yogya which unfortunately I was not able to get a good view because it was hidden in cloud.

A view of the volcano as we approached

Lucu sekali (very cute). This child came up and had to touch me. Her mother said she would have gotten quite upset if she wasn’t able to.

The journey back to Yogya was along a very narrow and bumpy road and I was glad to get to the end of it. We headed back to Afi’s home before going to Prambanan Temple to watch the ballet. Alas, I couldn’t get as snap happy there as I had in Borobudur because my battery died on the camera.

Actually, I was kinda annoyed about the camera battery. I put it on charge the night before and left it overnight, but when I took the first photo of the day the battery warning light came on. Can’t blame anyone but myself, because if I had checked the charge light I would have noticed that I hadn’t plugged it in properly.

Still, I managed to get about 120 photos on a dead battery, many of them with the flash.

Prambanan ballet

Dinner on the way back to the hotel was at one of those roadside eateries that I know I shouldn’t eat at, but I had fried chicken and it was delicious.. And less than a dollar with rice and tea.

As for the money front, I am still annoyed about my usless Amex travelers cheques, but Ardie lent me a million rupiah and I got a further million cash advance from my visa card, so that should hopefully see me clear to Bali where I know I can use them.

Also, while I am on the subject of awesome Indonesian friends, my friend Afi is amazing, she has got gifts for me, Emily, James, my mum and my dad. I am just gobsmacked by their hospitality.

14 September

I got picked up a little earlier today, but most of the morning was lost by me trying to find a place to cash my AmEx travellers cheques. They are in Australian dollars, which turns out to be unacceptable to the banks here in Jakarta. It’s cash or US dollar cheques only.
Tomorrow I will try the airport but let me tell you, I am not a happy camper!

In the afternoon I caught a taxi to Sarinah again where I met up with another chat friend Rini. We took the busway to the old part of Jakarta where we looked around a puppetry museum.

After that I got a taxi back to my hotel in Sunter. I am confident that I now know the direction between the two places, although there is no way that I would want to drive it myself. Jakarta traffic is something else and it has to be seen to be believed.

This is a very large gap for Jakarta traffic, but yet we aren’t going anywhere fast. Above us is more traffic on the tollway.

I thought Bali was bad, but in a crazy mixed up way I could see the logic in it. Jakarta traffic is what can best be described as a cluster fuck!

I had western food (ie. Pizza Hut) for dinner this evening as I needed to give my stomach a rest after mild dehydration yesterday followed by the dodgy food I had in the night market.

Day two started with me being stranded in my hotel. My friend Lenda had told me not to go out after she had dropped me off. So I wrote some notes and then went to bed.

My room was freaking cold. The porter had turned on the air-conditioning for me but took the remote as clearly, the usual clientele of this establishment cannot be trusted. Also, as this is the kind of place that some people rent rooms by the hour, the bed was fairly basic. Just a sheet on top of a rubber mattress… Mmmmm comfort!

I am certainly glad that I took an excessively warm jumper, although I have to confess it was more to deal with the temperature in Perth than for use in Indonesia.

Lenda was late. She was waiting for her teacher who was wanting to meet me and so she didn’t get to my hotel until around 10.
13 September

We then went to a mall where I got some money changed and went and paid for my ticket to Yogyakarta. I must be a glutton for punishment because I am flying Adam Air again..

After we left that mall, we went on to another in Kelapa Gading, which is near to where my friend lives. Great, 14 hours in Jakarta and I have already been to three shopping malls, all of them many times bigger than the large ones in Perth.

We had what I guess we could call “brunch”, although there is no word for that in Indonesian. Presumably it would have been makan siang (lunch) as it was closer to that time than makan pagi (breakfast). We ate so much food and I got to try so many different things.

After lunch I took a taxi into Sarinah, which is central Jakarta where I met up with my friend Sonya.. At yet another mall!!!

Sonya ate her lunch there while i decided I was feeling too full to eat any more, then after that we went and did the tourist thing and went to visit Monas, the National Monument.

The National Monument

Sonya taking photos with her phone

Sonya and I at Monas

Sonya turned out to be a great tour guide getting us lost, so in the end we took a taxi. 5000rp which is pretty much the equivalent to 80 cents.

I know a guy in Perth who has always complained about Jakarta. He was never really socially conscious either, which is why when we went to an Indonesian restaurant in Perth he asked the staff where they came from and when they inevitably answered “Jakarta” he would inform them “Augh, I hate Jakarta!

However, sitting in the cool breezy gardens at Monas, I realised that he was totally wrong about this city. Oh yes, it’s noisy and stinking and polluted, but it’s got amazing pockets of beauty and a certain vibrance that can only come with a major metropolis.

After we left Monas, Sonya insisted on trying to get us lost again getting back to Sarinah, but I actually have a very good sense of direction and also my love of skyscrapers meant that I was easily able to recognise various buildings and get my bearings.

As it turned out, we only had to walk directly down one street and we would have been there.

Back in Sarinah we met up with Sonya’s cousin Meisley and her friend Ratna where we chatted for a while in McDonalds there (although I didn’t eat anything!)

Miesley, Sonya and Ratna

Miesley and myself

I got a taxi back to my hotel where I was due to meet up with Lenda and her friend for a seafood dinner, however while I was heading back, I recieved an SMS from her telling me that her mother had taken sick so they wouldn’t be able to. Although I hadn’t eaten I was not so worried because the heat of the day had taken it’s toll on me and I was beginning to feel quite ill.

I had a little sleep before my Nokia phone beeped a message. I have been using my old Nokia for my Australian number which I have global roaming on. Because it will select any network that is in range it means that it is working in my room whereas my Samsung phone which is on the Telkomsel network is dead under this concrete.

Shortly after I had banging on my door and I had to get up and decent in a hurry as they had arrived to take me out to dinner.

We ended up eating at a night market on the side of the road. This is one of those places that people will tell you to avoid, although my Lonely Planet book recommends them thoroughly.

Ardie and Lenda

The food is delicious, but perhaps not so hygenic so in the early hours of the morning I had to make a number of toilet breaks.

I don’t regret the experience.

Oh, and tonight I have a blanket!

It’s belated, I know but I didn’t want to put it up before -

12 September

I think that day one was a success. The plane didn’t crash on the trip from Perth to Denpasar, which meant that the fear of flying that I had built up over the last 4 years was quickly dissapated.

I arrived in Bali at a little after 1.30pm. Bali and Perth is the same time so there was no inconvienient changes to the clocks.

It was a surprisingly quick journey through immigration, just on half an hour, so I called my friend Evi and let her know that I was already through.

My biggest concern with the Indonesia Imigrasi was the fact that I was carrying medicines. I had a note from my doctor just to be sure but it was still a worry at the back of my mind. As it happened, I needn’t have worried as I passed through the declaration counter with not a problem.

I had lunch at a cafe at the airport with Evi and Juliana, which was really pleasent. We laughed and joked like old friends, which due to the wonders of IRC, I guess we are.

The flight from Denpasar to Jakarta was due to depart at 6.10pm, however it was delayed, along with all the others.
Four years ago our domestic flight from Mataram in Lombok was delayed and from what I gather, it’s a fairly common occurance.

I have heard bad things about the airline that I was flying with on that first domestic leg. First from an Indonesian friend in Perth, and then from my friend in Jakarta. I think I can see the point too. I was sitting at by the emergancy exit door when it started making a high pitched, and very loud howl.

Apparently it was something to do with the air pressure, the member of the cabin crew reassured me, and I guess the door didn’t fly open and suck us out to our death…

Surprisingly, I didn’t regain the fear of flying again!

I met my friend Lenda in Jakarta. The original plan was for her to pick me up from the airport and then take me to my hotel, however she got stuck in one of those traffic jams that Jakarta is notorious for, so I was met at the gate by one of her friends.

He drove me to a mall where we had our dinner before Len took me to my hotel.

Due to my incredibly tight finances I had asked her to find me a cheap hotel or a losman, which she did. Pulling into the hotel, the carpark attendant assumed that she was a hooker, and then the porter, on showing me to my room asked if I needed a girl.

Just in case I changed my mind in the 4 minutes that he was with me, he asked again on his departure. I actually find that very amusing!