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Published: March 16th 2009
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So it’s now been two weeks in java and we have visited a variety of places and the one remaining factor is still that Indonesian people are so nice in each place we have been to.
We have been to some fantastic place in java the first was a town called bondowoso where we got transport to the ijen sulphur volcano. We started early and the trek was very difficult and we didn’t get to see much because the weather was not great but the experience was good taking local transport and getting to see the guy’s working at the volcano carrying sulphur which is really heavy, I don’t know how they carry that down everyday. Bondowoso was a quiet town that was not used to tourist they where bemused when they saw us in a local restaurant one night, it was funny seeing children’s faces not knowing what to make of us. The people where still very welcoming and friendly and would jump at the chance to talk to us or help us. One day we where walking around bored looking for something to do and a girl called out “hello come over here”, she introduced her self as Melinda
karsima and invited us into her house, she made us some tea and she practiced her English with us. She explained how she likes signing and me and encouraged her to sing for us, she started with some Indonesian music and then went on to nail the titanic song very random day for us. I couldn’t imagine walking down the road in England and being invited in from a stranger for a cup of tea and some siging.
Next was a very long bus and train journey that took all day to a place called jogja, the train was economic meaning the cheapest which was a great experience meet all kinds of characters on the train and a 9 hour ride only cost us 1 pound 25 pence. We arrived in jogja which was a very nice town full on culture and the guest house was very nice which was a relief after traveling all day. Even it was a place of temples and palace’s their was also a mcdonalds which we treated our self’s to which was nice as the day before on the train I had nasi goreng which is chicken and rice for breakfast, lunch ,
and dinner. We done a lot of sight seeing including the main attraction which is the brodobur temple, we had a great day their and met a lot of youths who had not seen westerners before apart from on TV, we must of spent about half an hour having our picture taken which was a very surreal experience. We didn’t mind it was quiet amusing how they found us so interesting.
Day 2 was spent visiting the palace where the sultan lives, their where recent photos of Prince Charles visiting the palace in December. We also went to a bird market which was eye opening, me and mika pointed out what we thought to be exotic birds but a man said their not original their painted. We just laughed because I could not think for why you would want to paint a bird.
The next destination was the beach town of panaduran which was very quiet of tourism, a tsunami hit the town in 2006 leading to a drop in tourism. The economic train was used again and again we met some great people. One guy insisted on paying for our lunch and said if we ever go
to his home town we could stay at his house. It’s great you can go on a train in Indonesia and make a friend for life, in England you don’t even say hello to each over. Even though it was really packed and we spent 2 hours stood up next to the toilet we had a great time.
Panaduran was a great place I practiced my surfing in the day and at night we eat some great seafood for cheap and experienced some local music and dancing. Our guest house was really friendly and good making panaduran a great place for us. On the second to last day we went on a tour of the green canyon which was very beautiful, we saw a snake in the water but still decided to go swimming as the water looked really fresh. Our boat guide who we nicknamed moguly took us swimming up stream where we got to see some amazing views of green canyon. To fill up the day tour they took us to some over places where I got to surf more and learn how brown sugar is made. I also went to a place where a guy hand
carved puppets who was a character.
Now I am in the capital Jakarta where I have spent two nights I leave for Bangkok tomorrow where we will explore some parts of Thailand that we have not seen yet. Jakarta is a crazy busy city and 3 nights is more than enough time to spend here I am looking forward to leaving.
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