Bali at last... Kuta to Yogyakarta

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Kuta to Yogyakarta- Merry Nypie day, chilled money brains and my tribute to earplugs

We touched down safely in Bali after some worry. Coming into land, it really did look like the pilot had gone short of the runway as we were looking out of the window and there was only sea on either side. It was worrying as we were really low but sure enough the plane hit the tarmac safely and taxied in. Slightly confused, it wasn't until we reached the terminal that we could see that the main runway actually stretches quite far out to sea, hence the thought that we were about to land on water.

We headed to the main tourist ghetto of nearby Kuta to recharge our batteries before heading out to explore Indonesia. Its one of those places where a lot of people go there because a lot of people go there and its quite overdeveloped as a result. Nevertheless, it had a sandy beach which was pleasant enough, with shallow waters and lots of surfers catching the waves. We checked into the Berlian Inn, five minutes from the sea which was a set of bungalows set amongst a big garden and rooms with the strangest semi-outdoor bathrooms (three walls and a roof, with another wall set slightly back decorated with ivy and other tropical plants).

We quickly that “Nypie Day” was only a few days away- a Balinese Hindu new years festival where giant paper-mache monsters are paraded throughout the island to scare away evil spirits. The following day is spent in silence with nothing open and nobody around the towns. No lights are allowed in the evening and people must sit quietly throughout, apparently done to convince any remaining evil spirits that Bali is empty so that they will go some other place. Unfortunately, this extends to tourists who are actually locked in their hotels (not sure of the legalities of this) but I think most people play along. Our place put on food for the guests for lunch and dinner but otherwise anything you needed had to be bought the previous day. With very little to do, it wasn't the most interesting holiday in the world but a bit different I suppose.

After a few days in Kuta we were ready to head somewhere else and opted for the very distant location of Yogyakarta which is about half way along Java island. We booked a us ticket on an overnight bus and set out for the bus station that afternoon. If we'd planned it better, we should have flown in to Jakarta first and worked our way east but our detailed planning didn't stretch much beyond India as we had so many other things to sort out before we left (I only handed in the final copy of my doctoral thesis about three days before we were due to fly to India, that was pretty tight!). So arriving at the bus station and getting out of the taxi, a flock of touts came running over to us to 'help us' but soon lost interest when we told them we'd already bought tickets and they wouldn't be able to scam any money out of us.

The bus rolled up and it was fantastic! Comfortable, tons of legroom with reclining seats and foot rests. We'd never had it so good! The traffic getting up to the ferry port in the north-west corner of the island was heavy so we rolled slowly along admiring the scenery and the occasional volcano that appeared on the skyline out of the haze. It was dark as we crossed the sea on the carry ferry and into Java so we made use of the space, stretched out and got some sleep. We were woken up when the bus stopped at 11:30 at a restaurant for a buffet meal that was apparently included in the cost of the ticket. Half asleep, we piled some rice on our plates along with a big spoonful of each of the three curry dishes in the serving bowls. Still half asleep, we ate and pondered what the grey squiggly chunks were in one of the dishes but ate it anyway with its firm but meaty consistency. It wasn't until later on when we'd regained some consciousness that we concluded that it was probably diced up brains, fried and the broiled in a nice curry sauce and we'd both just eaten a big portion. Ah well we decided, it wouldn't be a round the world trip without a nice big steaming hot bowel of brains!

We slept relatively well considering we were on a coach, largely thanks to the great invention that earplugs are. Now Stacey always sleeps better than me when there is ambient noise which I believe I mostly due to her having grown up in a house which was on a road with traffic noise and her sleeping at the front of the house. I on the other hand was spoilt by having a grown up with a quiet room at the back at the house so now I can't sleep if there is a lot of ambient noise. Thankfully I find salvation in those brilliant little devices that you squeeze up inside your ears at night allowing me to sleep peacefully through anything from traffic noise to small earthquakes. Undoubtedly they may be doing significant damage to my eardrums but I don't mind too much- it means life should be even more peaceful!

Arriving in Yogya early the next morning, we jumped on a convenient local bus that would run us to the main street in the city centre. The rickety old number five drove for all of half a mile before breaking down. The driver and conductor fiddled with the engine before trying it again. No luck. So they beckoned to the two men at the back of the bus to help push start it. I got out and helped push, receiving a heart felt pat on the shoulder for my efforts. We tried twice rolling the heavy bus forward but each time we got it going and the driver let the clutch up, it spluttered for a second and died. After it was clear that we weren't going anywhere soon, the driver shrugged and indicated for us to haul our bags off and wait for the next bus to come along, receiving sympathetic smiles from the locals.

Eventually getting to where we wanted to be, we checked in to a homestay off of a quiet lane. It was nice arriving so early in the morning as it gave us time to see the place. The museums weren't really up to much but the palace was alright and included a free guided tour. It was pretty basic and the architecture is described as 'understated' but apparently this is how the Javanese liked to build things at the time. Funnily enough, two of the guides and two other 'helpful' pedestrians told us that we should go to the 'Government Arts Centre' to look at (and buy) the traditional Batik cloth work, claiming that it was Government run and thus 'genuine' and with good prices, even offering to arrange transport for us in one of the cycle-rickshaws. Their sales pitches were all at different times but were suspiciously near identical in content so we decided to give this 'government' run shopping centre a miss. Other than this, Jogja doesn't have a lot of sights as such but is very traditional so it was a enjoyable wondering around the streets markets an the narrow lanes and trying the different foods. One restaurant we stumbled across had the nicest chicken we've had in a long while, very tender and marinated in 'special jogja spices'. It was so good that it's making me hungry just writing about it...

The following day we took a local bus to the Borobodur temple 40km away. It was a new experience in that the bus conductor tried to rip us off, trying to charge double the normal fare. We haggled and managed to get it down towards the real price but apparently this is quite common in Indonesia (and will probably soon get quite annoying!). This is a first for us as we've never had any trouble paying the fares that the locals do on transport, even in India it was never a problem.

The Buddhist temple of Borrobodur stands on top of a small hill overlooking the valley. The entry price for foreign tourists is a hefty $15 but local tourists pay about a tenth of this at a separate entry point. A guide at the palace had tipped us off that if we went to the local tourist queue and told them that we lived on Bali, we could get in on a local tourist ticket. It sounded foolproof but unfortunately, the guide obviously tells the same storey to every visitor and there were foreign tourists trying the same ploy but e turned away and told to go to the other entrance. We gave it a go but the ticketers being wise to this of course asked for Indonesian ID. It was funny trying though even though we knew we'd never get away with it, at least it may make the staff there realise that foreigners think its a it unfair to charge them many times more than locals.

After forking over a large wad of cash, we headed off to see the temple. It was pretty grand, in a pyramid shape and with multiple small stupas placed over several levels and many walls full of detailed Buddhist carvings to look at. There was also plenty of park land to stroll around but given the heat and humidity, we settled for a short walk to the exit and headed back to the bus station for the new found delight of negotiating our bus fare back to Jogja.

Jogja was a cultural little Javanese city and worth coming all the way from Bali to see. Unfortunately we don't have enough time to explore any further west on this trip so plan to start heading east back in the direction of Bali, stopping at a few more places on Java along the way. Next stop- Jogja's cultural rival Surakarta only a short train ride away!

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Comments

[mum]

bathroom
Sounds exactly like the bathroom i had on kangaroo island last year and if you got yourself locked out of your room you could ask your neighbour to use theirs and just duck under the partition to get into yours. Really made me feel safe!!!