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Bogor's main attraction is the botanical gardens and it's a big draw for locals as well as westerners. The packed train certainly suggested that it would be busy. Scores of families lined up along the platform and when the train arrived everyone jumped on. This was our first taste of Indonesian trains and the only ticket we could buy was economy.
Trains come in three classes EKONOMI = no seat numbers sit where you want, cockroaches under your feet, strong smell of sweat, filthy rotten seats. BUSINESS = seat number allocated - guaranteed seat, cockroaches, strong smell of sweat, filthy rotten seats. EXECUTIVE = completely different to anything in Indonesia - think business class virgin trains.
So off we shuttled on our 1 hour journey (with the above mentioned, only the sweaty smell was twice as strong as it was packed) and arrived just after lunch hoping for a happy new experience!!
We were determined to find a nice place to sleep and stupidly ignored any help from the super friendly angkot (minibus) drivers that race around town. After a bit of map reading and estimating a 10 minute walk we headed East around the park. 1 hour
later we arrived on the doorstep of our accommodation only to be told they were full. Our guidebook told us not to come to Bogor at the weekend as it's full of locals and accommodation is sparse... guess what day we arrived on... SATURDAY!! doh!!
We tried 4 more places until we checked into a dodgy overpriced room, in a dodgy looking area, with dodgy looking people hanging around outside.
As it was late we gave the gardens a miss and planned them for the following day. That night was uneventful and we headed for bed early. Lee was over the moon that footy was on local Indonesian TV and managed to stay awake for 2 matches!
The next morning we headed out and visited the botanical gardens. The gardens are spread over 80 hectares.. which means...they are big. Without trying to be 'Alan Titchmarsh' and tell you all about the species of plants... basically its a big park which was created by dutch guy in 1817 with over 15,000 types of plants and trees - history lesson over.
The park was amazing. The huge trees provided cool shelter from the sun as we strolled around
occasionally pointing at different varieties of plants. However our 'botanical' experience was not complete without a touch of western celebrity status. Upon entering the centre of the park (where we witnessed a game of Muslim blind mans bluff) we were soon befriended by some young smiley happy locals who explained they were English teachers and wanted us to give a lesson to a few students. We agreed and headed over to the huge group of kids sitting.. waiting for their teachers successful return.. with the lucky westerners!!
Everyone gathered round and the teacher asked the 100 or so eager students to take it turns to ask questions. After 'what is your name' 'where do you come from' Lee decided to become a 'teacher' and taught the kids a few choice English words!
On the way back to our pathway around the park Lee was stopped by a bunch of crazy young girls, screaming for a photo! Michelle got pushed aside (she really did!) and after a few snaps we escaped, much to the delight of the young girls boyfriends sitting watching the events unfold.
When we finally had enough of trees, plants and flowers we took an
exit to an unknown street and once again were lost!. We have done many different types of transport while we have been away but yet to venture on a horse and cart!!.. well guess what was outside the park waiting for us!! The driver/rider could not speak a word of English and instead of arriving back at our hotel he took us to the bus station about 2 miles out of town and then wanted to charge us double!
The next day we left Bogor with a slightly better outlook on Indonesia. At times we still felt unsafe walking about and even though we are used to stares from onlookers they usually turn into smiles but not so much here, leaving us feeling rather uneasy.
Our next stop is a place called Bandung 3 hours east of Bogor but on the way we discovered there was a tea plantation perched in the hills in Cisarua...
CISARUA
We decided not to write a 'full' blog for this place as we only stayed one night and it was a write off. As soon as we got off the bus the heavens opened and didn't stop until the next
day. We got drenched walking from the bus stop to the Tea plantation and then got ridiculously over charged for staying in a crappy cabin with .. yup.. once again cockroaches.
The views (past the rain) were stunning. Miles and miles of green plants lined up in rows, ready for the tea pickers to come and pluck, back dropped by clouds doing dances around mountain peaks.
That night the most horrific animal fight took place right outside our porch. At 2 am and fast asleep suddenly we both heard dogs fighting. Thinking nothing off it and trying to get back to sleep we quickly realised between the barking and growling a cat scream... we opened the curtains to reveal not one but three wild dogs ripping a poor cat to shreds. Quickly we opened the door and threw a bottle of water at the chaos.. the dogs scarpered and left a bundle of bones, blood and a mangled cat on the floor. We tried to save the cat (it was half dead) by taking it into another nearby room and after finding the security guard and returned to the lifeless animal. Unfortunately the poor cat had died.
We had a miserable time in Cisarua and were relieved to be leaving the next day..onwards and upwards and all that!..
Lee and Michelle
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