A trip down memory lane

After few hours of sleep and a 4 hour flight, we arrived safely in Jakarta. The first difference, the heat, was noticeable straight away. A sign saying “Welcome to Jakarta. Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers” was also quite noticeable in the arrivals hall….a warm welcome indeed!
Once we had picked up our luggage, we met our driver Kiki who would accompany us for our 10-day stay in Indonesia. It soon became clear why a driver is recommended: cars overtake you on the right, or the left, there are a lot of tollbooths where you’re not really sure how much it really is you’re supposed to pay…so not looking like an oblivious tourist is definitely an advantage.
As it was the rainy season we were surprised at the clear blue skies, but as we got nearer to our hotel in Mangga Dua, north Jakarta, we saw the evidence of the rain in the past few days/weeks. In parts of the street we drove through about 8cm of water, but several 100 metres further it was dry again. No one seemed to take much notice of the water, floods are clearly a frequent occurrence over here. We spent a short time in the hotel to freshen up, then we headed out to old Batavia, the part of the city where there is still evidence from the Dutch colonial days. We went to ……..Square, where we were quickly approached by a local guide who was keen on showing us the Wajang Museum. In clear Dutch he told us how the museum was actually closed, but for us he’d be happy to open it, he had connections, etc etc. Although we made it clear we were just going to have a short look around and that we were familiar with the area since we had lived in the city, he would not let go. With every step we took he was right there with us, telling us little facts about the buildings in the square. And, as we left, he of course expected a tip for his non-requested services.

A first idea at how the rest of the holiday would go! It became very apparent that there aren’t enough jobs for everyone, and that a lot of places are overstaffed. In the restaurants we went (where we were often the only customers) there would be someone to pour the drinks, another one to place our serviettes, another to bring the food…..you get the idea. So I can’t blame them for creating their own jobs as “guides” around the city. And the Indonesians are extremely friendly, happy people.

From the square we went on to the …… where you could see the old-style boats used in trade during the Dutch time and still being used today. We also passed a typically Dutch ‘ophaalbrug’, seen all around Amsterdam but quite out of place in Jakarta.
Still tired from our journey we decided it was time to head back to the hotel for some relaxing. We ate in the hotel restaurant, where we were the only customers. A great meal later we had an early night, ready for the next day which had a much busier schedule, seeing our former staff and my dad’s old workplace, the Dutch Embassy.

Early the next morning we went to the Embassy, where we had to go through some kind of security check worthy for an international airport. Since the attacks on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta in 2003, regulations have tightened a lot. We met the Agricultural counselor and had a coffee in the Agricultural office, then my dad’s former colleague Sally arrived and we had a walk around, also visiting the Erasmus building next door, a type of Dutch cultural centre. As Sally is Indonesian but speaks fluent Dutch as well, she joined us at the residence of the current Agricultural Attaché to meet our former personnel. When we lived in Jakarta from 1986-1988 we had several personnel living with us and we grew very close to them. Therefore it was very special that we managed to bring everyone together again so many years later. The girl who I had played with whilst living there was now 24 years old, was married and had a young daughter, so different from my life! She could speak pretty good English so it was great to catch up.
We ate a delicious Indonesian lunch with them before saying our goodbyes and moving on to our next destination, Bogor.

Famous for its lush Royal Gardens, Bogor is a city to the south of Jakarta. To get there, we took the Puncak pass, a road through the mountains lined with tea plantations. When we lived in Jakarta we sometimes went to a house in the Puncak, where there is a nice cool climate to get away from the city heat. Even though I was really young at the time, I remembered spending time here. After missing the house a first time, we drove back and eventually found the house. It looked the same and we even spoke to the guard who still lived there now, even 20 years later. He recognised my parents..it was another special memory. He showed us around the property which was now in need of some renovation.

From there we went on to Maria Rosa, my parents' former Bahasa Indonesia teacher, who now lived in Bogor where she runs a small orphanage. Around 25 young children live with her and fellow nuns in two lovely houses set in a quiet, beautiful area. A lot of the children have gone through a lot: physical or sexual abuse, very shocking. It was great to see how happy they now are in this environment. Through funding they each now have their own clothes, beds, are able to attend school and even attend activities such as ballet or soccer. However, there are also a lot of issues facing the orphanage, such as the regulations recently put into place by the government, meaning that Muslim children are not allowed to be raised in a Christian orphanage. This rule was adopted in large part to ensure that Muslim children were not converted to Christianity. However, this means that the Muslim children in the orphanage have to leave their home to go to a Muslim orphanage and leave behind their new family! Unbelievable...

From Bogor we went on to the city of Bandung, a large city famous for its Art Deco style buildings. We visited a nearby hotel famous for its style, the Savoy Homann, but were a little disappointed as it seemed to be in mid-renovation...at least there wasn't a nice restaurant for us to eat so we headed back to our own hotel for dinner, which was pretty impressive anyway :) (FYI: Hotel Preanger)

From here we visited a tea plantation and factory, an interesting tour! At the end the different brands supplied with Indonesian tea were on display and it turns out there is not that much difference between a Pickwick Earl Grey and a Tata tea Lemon flavour...apart from the different flavours which are added to them in our home markets! Not as exotic as they sound.

We also 'climbed' (read: got dropped off at the top and walked down to our van) the Tangkuban Perahu volcano - with a huge crater where you can enjoy the overwhelmingly rotten-egg smell whilst walking down. Impressive views of the valleys and the smoking geysers. It's apparent there are not as many tourists as the 'tour guides' here would like - we had about 3 follow us down the hill, constantly offering to hold your hand to climb down, wanting to explain things (and a lot of them can speak some decent Dutch), all in return for a nice tip at the end. Having visited the area before and having our driver Kiki along with us, we really weren't in the mood for these guys. A gentle 'no thanks' clearly didn't do the trick however and they just kept following us wherever we went. When they got more persuasive however my sister had a bit of a 'moment' and told them to go away in a less gentle manner. Harsh, but they can be a bit too much at times...

From Bandung we took a train to Yogyakarta...a buzzing city in the centre of Java. The train ride itself was amazing, we had great weather and saw the most incredible landscapes: mountains, rice fields, villages...Plus it was very comfortable and we even had a nice meal included in our ticket price.
Yogya (as it is often called) is centered around the Kraton (the sultan's palace) which we visited. We were led around by (what I'm guessing was an 80-year old) lady who lived during the Dutch colonial times and spoke 'great' Dutch. She had about 4 teeth which made it a little harder to understand unfortunately. Still, she was so cute - that was enough entertainment. It being the rainy season we were there during an intense downpour...and it was also a holiday, so there were lots of local tourists. Being some of the only Westerners, the kids get really excited and all want to take photos of you, or with you. Strange, made us feel a little like celebrities! :P

After a visit to the Kraton we went to one of the main streets of Yogya, the Jalan Malioboro. Here there are lots of market stalls and little side streets with lots of cute cafe's. This was the first time I noticed a little bit of a backpacker vibe in Java...fun. That night we followed the tourbuses to a showing of the Ramayana, an ancient Hindu story, shown in Indonesian theatre and dance. Very touristy but very nice to see.

From Yogyakarta we also visited two great World Heritage sites; the Prambanan temples and the temples of Borobudur. Prambanan was the smaller of the two (or maybe just seemed smaller?) with typical pointy Hindu temples. A few years ago a lot of the site was damaged after a strong earthquake, and a lot of the temples are now closed or being renovated. But they remain beautiful. Here we were again the subjects of interest for many teenage students and could hardly keep moving because everyone wanted a photo with us. (What are they going to do with these photos? Post them on Facebook? Write 'Check me out with these Dutch tourists', or put them on their wall, throw them in the trash...oh well). At Borobudur we were lucky as we did not have rain, instead glorious sunny weather (and a burnt nose). This was definitely very touristy as well but still very enjoyable. Again lots of 'paparazzi' but we decided not to take photos with everyone this time (I know, such divas) as we really wanted to take some photos ourselves (of the Buddhas that is). These were all in a very good state after all these years, incredible.

After the visit to the temples we drove on to Wonosobo for a quick stop. Here the climate was also a bit cooler, set in the mountains as a retreat for the people of Semarang. I was kept up most of the night by the croaking of what seemed like about 1000 frogs who had settled in the pool....So lots of sleeping the next day on our way to Semarang.

Semarang was another sentimental (final) stop on our trip, as this is where my grandma grew up. In the Dutch colonial times she lived here with her family. Her father built a lot of houses here and we set off to find them. Many years earlier my uncle went to visit the houses and even stayed in one of them, so he had given us addresses. Several streets had obviously changed but we ended up finding several of them. After speaking to the current resident (with the help of Kiki), we were allowed to come in for a drink, it's really nice how everyone is so hospitable! Another house my great-grandfather built was just a few houses down and they were about to break it down. A few days later and it would have been just bricks...so in this case we were just in time, unlike our own house in Jakarta. My mom was really impressed by it all, for her it was a very personal moment on our trip. We drove around the city and walked around the centre for a while before preparing our last night in Indonesia.

The next day it was back to Jakarta by plane and back to Holland via Hong Kong. All in all, an amazing way to visit the country I spent some of my first few years in.

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