Indonesia expiditions

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So my arrival into Jakarta did not go entirely to plan! As it turned out both of my flights were delayed by about 4 hours so i actually landed in Jakarta at 1am local time. Because of this i pre-booked my accommodation which meant that all i had to do was hop in a taxi on my arrival at the airport.

Checking into the hotel at 3am was not really what i had in mind but having a nice room with a tv, fridge, bath and really comfy bed that did not warrant the need for use of a sleep sheet was a really nice feeling. The hotel allowed for me to have a late check-out and i was really grateful for the lie in after such a challenging trip. I was so excited about having a bath as most of the time i have had to endure cold showers...i really was in heaven!!!!

So the next day i checked into the hotel where i would join up with the Intredid tour that would last 2 weeks and would help me continue my journey towards Bali. It was a really weird feeling to be joining a group but at the same time it was a nice feeling to have a break from having from constantly plan my next route and where i would stay each night. For once i knew that i could just let someone else do all the hard work whilst i just relax and enjoy the experience.

The group consists of about 11 people from a range of countries and ages.
After one night in a hotel in Jakarta and after having a look around the malls there it was a long day of travel to reach our first destination of Pangandaran. We were all so happy to finally arrive after enduring 3 hours on a train plus a further 7 hours on a bus without air-con but staying in the hotel made it all worthwhile. Not only were the rooms really big and modern but there was a hotel there too!!!

The first day i went with 2 girls (Sandy and Sarah) to the white sand beach which proved to me a challenge that none of us had anticipated! On the way we were forced to carry sticks in order to fend off the black monkeys that are notorious for being fairly aggressive and they certainly lived up their expectations!

The next day we went on a tour to the green canyon which was a very memorable day out, not only due to the emerald coloured water and the lush greenery of the forests that line the river on both sides but also because of the fun we had along the way swimming in the canyon and jumping off the waterfall into the green water below. We also stopped at some local villages en-route to discover the processes involved in making sugar sweets (similar to toffee and fudge) from coconut nectar which is collected when the local men climb up the trees! We also went to see the making of wooden puppets and were treated to a small show by the artist responsible for the production of the decorative puppets. On the last night in the town we paid a local girl 50000 Rupiah to get a party started on the beach so within 15 minutes we had a fire going and people with guitars entertaining us! Needless to say we were all rather drunk by the end of the night but it was all good fun.

At the moment i am in Jogjakarta and we will be out and about exploring the various temples and sites over the next couple of days before we continue our journey towards Bali.

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