Into Indonesia

Asia » Indonesia
August 13th 2008

Published: October 11th 2008

Indonesia

Bandung and Danau Jatiluhur
October 1st

Wow its hard to believe it's October already. I can't believe its already been over a month. I've already seen so much and met so many cool people and I still have a long way to go! So after the canceled flight fiasco I was still in good shape as I will just spend 1 less day in Bandung. Since my train from there has already been booked because of Ramadan. The flight itself went off without a problem and I'm really beginning to find it funny how in Asia everyone seems to run to the door the second the plan lands. It was ever funnier this time because we had to take a shuttle. I just sat back and read my book while everyone fought their way to the door. I was the last one off the plane and onto the shuttle and therefore I was the first one off and in line at costumes.

After getting my luggage and visa I headed off to find the desk for the bus I was planning to take in the morning only to discover that there was still another bus tonight. So instead of sleeping at the airport I jumped on the next bus towards Bandung. It was funny how many Taxi drivers tried to get me to travel with them even though i was waiting in a bus line with a much cheaper ticket already in my hand. Even though I hadn't left the airport Indonesia already has a much different feel than anywhere I have every been. The artwork in the Airport, the music, and the religious chanting going on around me (because of the holiday) all give it a much different feel than anything I have every experienced.

I arrived in Bundang at about 2am and after a quick survey of what is around the area of where I was dropped off I quickly headed back to the bus station and into their waiting room where I set up shop and crashed for the night.

Up early at 5:40 and now that the sun is up I decided to walk into town. I began by myself but shortly after beginning my walk I am joined by a parade of people heading off to pray to Ala as today is like the equivalent of Christmas. Traditional dress and praying mats in arm people are everywhere! Roads are parking lots and parking lots are praying spaces. It was really a site to see. Anyway because of this nothing sis really open therefore I have no where to check my directions or grab a bite to eat. Eventually I find not just any place open but a dutch bakery equipped with windmills and all! This must be a chain as I saw many more of the same chain with windmills on top of their buildings. I even saw 2 other dutch themed bakery chains. After a chocolate hail sandwich as a salute to eating lunches at omas I tried asking for directions only to find that they didn't speak any English. I set off again anyway as I figure I'll come across something eventually only to have my sandal break and I get 2 huge blisters (that are more like large cuts) on both of my feet. This made walking around for the rest of the day pretty difficult.

Bundang is a pretty rundown and impoverished town. People are begging everywhere and some even using children to help their case. Its really hard not to give them, all of them, something. Garbage is also everywhere. In the streets in the river, everywhere and I've seen many people just throw their trash onto the ground instead of into a garbage bin so I don't see this getting any better either. After asking 3 people for directions and getting 3 different answers I get into a jeepny like vehicle called a Bemo and head off in a fourth direction. After a short ride I arrived at the city center to see a pretty run down and desolate place as well although cover with many old buildings. This is probably a combo of the holiday, the city itself, and it still being pretty early in the day. Barely any shops are open today which makes things a little more difficult espeically when one is the tourist office which has lockers in which I could have stored my bags. So I ended up carrying my bags all day with no real knowledge of where to go.

In search of an internet cafe in order to contact the agency I used to book my train ticket for the night I take a tumble and add to my woes. Bloody, drained, limping and exhausted I was really struggling today when I was throw a couple of pick me up moments. The first came as I was walking through a residential like area and a small girl keep yelling really poor English at me as she couldn't quite grasp the cues her mother was giving her. I headed over to the group of children and talked with them and the adults for a little bit while I took a rest under a tree. Secondly shortly after resuming my walk a guy about my age (despite him being on his 2nd marriage and already having 2 kids) named Danny asked me if I needed any help as I obviously look a little lost. He had missed his train and was stuck in Bandung all day and ended up treating me to lunch and walking around with me the entire day. Even though he didn't know the city either it was really nice of him to walk around with me and we talked about the differences between our countries and he really told me a lot about Indonesia which was really cool. I eventually get my ticket and say goodbye to Danny before heading to the train station and my overnight ride to Jogyakarta.

More on Bundang. Bundang is mostly factory outlets now. So why would I come here? Well Bandung was a city that my grandfather was posted in during the war. It even still has some old dutch buildings kicking around. Although physically and mentally draining, as I was confused and injured most of the day, it was still amazing being able to walk the streets and see some buildings my grandfather probably saw over 50 years ago. It was definitely worth the butt kicking as I'm sure it was nothing compared to what he went through in Bandung and the surrounding area many years ago. Hardships and all definitely a day I will never forget and struggle to sum up in this blog.

Yogyakarta
October 2nd- October 3rd

Ok so to add to my little injury woes as I was fighting to stay awake as my stop was coming up I nodded asleep and nodded right into the small table that came out of the wall. As most head shots do it bled a lot more than it needed to but luckily it didn't bleed for long. I arrived in Yogya at about 430 and headed off to try and find a place to crash. After turning away about 30 cab drivers (why do they think I would turn away the first 29 but not them) I eventually reached the backpacker district and began my search. It was looking a bit grime as place after place had a "no vacancy" sign in the window. A tuk tuk driver saw me wander by for about the fourth time and helped me out by finding me a place called Superman none the less. Destiny if I say so! The where full right now but they were able to hold my bags until I could check in which would be at 8 o'clock. In all the mayhem I forgot to change my shirt which was not only dirty and gross but bloody now too after my nodding mishap so I wandered around Yogya for a few hours looking pretty gross. Especially when I spilled chocolate milk on myself to complete the look.

When I was buying the milk I met a really funny character. His name is Peter, from Holland, who is kind of like a dutch gay mr. bean. He was really nice and told me his whole life story in the 15 minutes we talked. After talking with him I went back to hang out with the Tuk Tuk driver and we talked until I could check in. After a much needed shower (which is actually me dumping cups of water over my head) and a nap I was ready to go out and see Yogya. Man...mayhem....everywhere. It's like a dirtier version of Seoul and there are people everywhere. Walking down the streets which seem to be mostly markets you constantly have to battle your way through people. I guess being on one of the most populated Islands in the world one should expect this but at times it was really overwhelming. Constant "Emart effect" for me. I also feel more out of place here in Indonesia then I have so far as I feel like I am constantly being stared at and pointed at (not to mention a big lack of English). I even had a kid follow me around for a while just starring at me!

After walking the markets and seeing all 3 best of the best Batik displays I booked my tours for the next three days and relaxed for a bit in an internet cafe far away from all the people. At one of the Batik place I was asked if I knew the process of Batik to which I said yes (thanks to Bucks Rock). It didn't matter though as I still got the 20 minute presentation on how Batik works which I found pretty funny. Something else really cool I witnessed was a greeting between two friends in which they touch their cheeks together and then touched their heart which I though was a really cool way to greet someone.

I also tried to go to a museum for shadow puppets today only to find it was closed but when I mention I was a theatre student to one of the men walking around he brought me into part of it to show me some of the puppets and gave me a ton of info on them and the music played during the shows. he said if I have some time he'll even show me how to play some of the instruments. I am heading back there tonight for the shows so I hope to see him there and plan a time for tomorrow. Should be a cool experience.

After leaving the cafe, as sore as my feet where, I got suckered into a game of soccer with some kids as one kid chased me down and said "Mister will you play soccer with me?". I mean come on how could I turn that down? As for the puppet show it was quite cool but as the night went on I began to fade and ended up leaving before it was over. Being up since 4 and with another early wake up the next day I figured skipping the end was probably a good idea.

So up early again as I had a tour booked at 5am. Today I'm heading out to Borobodur and Prambanan temples the big attraction in Yogyakarta. We were all packed into a minivan and shuttled off to Borobodur first which is the bigger of the 2 temples. Seeing it was really quite amazing, especially so early as the rush of tourist didn't get there until about 20 minutes after we arrived. Walking around something that has been around since 900 AD is really amazing and again makes me wish Canada preserved its history more. even though Indonesia is a Muslim country this huge temple is actually a Buddhist temple and inside every stupa on this temple there is a Buddha or at least there was at one time. Due to war and earthquakes both of these temples has suffered some damage, especially Prambanan. Again despite being in a Muslim country Prambanan is a Hindu temple and again most of it has been reduced to rubble although they are currently working on restoring it. It was amazing to see even in its current state and should be breath taking once it is all fixed. SPeaking of breathe taking many local people really struggled getting up the maybe 100 ssteps to the top. Both young and old. Weird.

On the tour I met a guy from France who just finished working in Australia and an older guy from Australia. The Aussie had some really cool stories as he worked as a tour guide in Europe for Top deck and as a Ski instructor in Switzerland. Right now he is a travel writer and is currently working on another book about traveling in Indonesia using nothing but the first book ever written by Lonely Planet back in 1974. He has a great way of deterring pan handlers by pointing to someone else and saying that they were looking for whatever the handler is holder. I might try using this alter. Both guys seem pretty cool and when the tours where finished we arranged to meet up for dinner later.

After a nap, "shower" and the purchase of new sandals I met up with the two guys from early for dinner. We tried going to the 2 places in the Aussies old school lonely planet but one restaurant was now a Macdonald's and the other a dunking donuts so we asked around for the oldest place in town. We found it in no time and shared some traveling stories over frog legs, lobster omelets and a few bottles of Bin Tang beer. Turns out the French guy is going to be in Laos about the same time I am so we're going to try and hook back up then.

Today I definitely felt better about Indonesia. After being away from pushing, crowds and staring for a month it was hard to get used to it again but I've definitely turned the corner. Although Bali should be different I'm glad I finally got my head around Java and will be able to be able to look back at it and not be frustrated. My feet on the other hand are pretty beat up and the blisters have turned into gouges between both big toes and their neighbors. Tomorrow is a travel day so hopefully a day off them will do them some good! Something weird that happened today was while walking around a shop in between temples I saw myself in a mirror something that hadn't happened in over a week. In Korea mirrors seem to be every where and back in Canada you can't help but bump into yourself at some point in the day. Now I don't live and die by the mirror but it was really weird not seeing myself for that long.

Gunung Bromo
October 4th-October 5th

Welcome to the day of hell. I had originally planned to do this leg of the trip overnight but do to the holiday I had to do it during the day. What should have been a 9 hour trip turned into a 14 hour ride in the back of a Minivan that had no A/C and a window a few windows that wouldn't open and the windows that where open seemed to only be letting in the exhaust of the hundreds of vehicles around us. It took a lot longer because we got a flat tire and also because we spent most of our time in some sort of traffic jam. Then once we arrived in Probolingo we had to wait another hour or so for another mini van to take us up the volcano to where our accommodations where. An option for the morning to get to the volcano is to pay to have akjeep drive you up but since it is only 4 kms me and a few other people decided to walk it as it really isn't too far. In the true Indonesian way (cash grabbing) they continually tried to convince me that it was impossible and it would take me about 5 hours and that it would be way too cold. One guy even told me that it was impossible and I couldn't do it. First of all Kinabalu and Fuji are much, much colder and secondly Kinabalu and Fiju are much harder. After fighting him off for about half an hour we were soon on our way. After spending the day in a sauna on wheels and not having a shower since I left KK it was really nice finding out that the hostel had not only showers but super hot showers. After cleaning up I had a late dinner and a few Bin Tangs with a German guy who was on the same mini van.

Some cool things happened along the trip despite the hot temperature. In one of the many traffic jams we were sitting beside a van mostly filled with kids. I began having a face off with them and I had nearly the whole car losing it. It has been a long time since I have been near kids who can appreciate a good funny face. I also met my first Canadians on this trip, a couple, who have done a lot of traveling so it was cool to hear some stories about a few of the places I am headed to.

Up at 3am to begin my hike to the top of Bromo to see the early sunrise. The jeep guy is still at it shivering like he is going to freeze to death any time I walk by. We begin our walk and within 45 minutes we reached the top of mt Bromo. Apparently I must walk really fast. Even though we can't really see yet our senses are really taking a lot in as the smell of the sulfur is super strong. Although ti stinks and hurts a bit to breath in it is still a cool experience. The sun soon comes up and although the sunrise itself isn't pretty most people come here to see the area shortly after the sun comes up as the lighting and the shadows create a landscape that makes people feel like they are on the moon. I haven never seen something like this in persona and I really hope some of my pictures where able to capture how cool the landscape looked. It really felt like being on the moon, minus the whole no gravity part.

I also had a lot of Indonesian people ask me to have their photo with me, something that isn't uncommon for any tourist. It was funny though because one guy or girl would come up and ask if I minded having my photo taken. I'd say no and then she or he would motion for their 10 friends to come over, each getting 2 single photos taken and then one big group shot. It took me about 30 minutes to move about 10 feet. After my photo shoot I headed back down the Volcano and back to the hostel so I could grab some breakfast and another shower before hitting the road for another marathon of a trip, this time to Bali.

Both transit trips although long and tiring where really cool as I got to see a lot of the country I otherwise wouldn't see and Indonesia does offer some cool views along the drive as there are many rice fields and volcanoes along the way. It also gives me a good chance to meet other travelers. Along this route I met a German guy who was heading onto Kuta tonight (the touristy area of Bali) and then on to do some scuba diving off a small island near Bali for a few days. Longing to do some more diving an heading to Kuta tonight we decided to double up and head on together once we eventually reached Bali. I also met a older Canaidan guy who has been traveling around the world for 30 years. I'm not sure how he funds it but I'm sure he has seen some amazing things. Also on the drive I saw many farms with small pioneer signs in front of them which I found weird as my first job was on a farm working for pioneer back in Canada. I wonder if its the same deal over here or just a coincidence.

Thanks to a flat tire we arrive in Denpasar, Bali quite late and find a group of other travelers heading onto Kuta as well and we all jam into a Bemo together an head off. One of them already has a friend down in Kuta who is going to go and try and find us a place to sleep for the night while we're on the road. Man this guy did an awesome job as we ended up staying in a super fancy hotel, with A/C and all for only 8 bucks each a night. Can't argue that especially after the somewhat rough accommodation I've had since coming into Indonesia. It even had a sink so I could shave for the first time in awhile, something I may all together ditch very shortly.

Kuta being a bit of a party area was crazy with drunk Aussies everywhere. Bali is a pretty cheap and easy place for Aussies to get to and they all seemed to head up here to surf during the day and get drunk at night. It was a crazy mass of drunk people partying to the early hours of the morning. The group of us grabbed some dinner and heading out for a few drink in the mass of booze that was kuta before crashing for the night after a few tiring days on the road.

The German guy I met, Sandro, who I'll be heading on with is really cool. He is actually here because he won a free week in Thailand through a beer company in Germany. It sounds like it was quite the week as 300 people where shipped off to their own island for a week with tons of super cool events lined up for them. Lucky guy. Anyway he stuck around after his free week to see a bit more of South East Asia. With all the Germans I'm meeting I should look into heading there as I could probably have a couch to crash on for a whole month.

Bali: Kuta, Lembongan, and Depensar
October 5th- October 8th

After having a nice cold lay in and another nice warm shower we headed off to Sanur and our ferry to Lembongan. But on the way I had to stop off for some lunch at a spot I saw the night before and have some Bitterballen and Kroketten! Thats right a dutch snack restaurant! After having a Dutch lunch, no where near as good as omas, we headed off to the ferry. The ferry ride took about an hour and was super wavey and gave some reallly cool views of big waves and surfers. AT one point when I looked around all I could see was water. When the boat arrived locals where waiting at the shore to help us find where we were going to go but unlike everywhere else they weren't doing it for money and weren't pushing us to a certain hotel or diving shop. Everything was up to us. After we found a dive shop and set up our dives for the next day we went in search of a place to sleep and found one almost right next door to our dive shop. It was such a cool place. We had our own bungalow with 2 floors and a patio with a view of the water. I spent some time up there just watching and listening to the water. Such a peaceful spot.

Sandro and I decided to rent a motorbike and explore a bit of the island and we found a really cool place to watch the sun go down. Being on the back of the bike was so cool and really makes me want to bike across Canada. Even though I hadn't driven it yet I could already feel how amazing it will be. TOmorrow is my chance! Now for being such a small island with only really one main road we sure had quite the adventure coming back as the 20 minute ride took us about an hour and a half as we kept taking wrong turns due to their being no street lights. At one point we ended up in a field with a few cows in it! But eventually we found our way back to our place and feeling last night catching up to us with both went to sleep to the sound of the ocean.

This island really save Indonesia for me. Unlike everywhere else the people here are laid back and everything is quite (well outside of the waves). There's no one trying to swindle money from you. No one pushing you to take a taxi. Nothing. I'm really glad I called an audible and headed here as I was really tired of all the pushiness on Java and Kuta and could use a few low key days.

It quite weird traveling solo as you keep meeting up with people headed the same way. One day your own your own and the next your not. You also bond instantly and look out for eachother almost right away which is really cool. I'm sure they wont all be like this but I've been lucky so far in that the people my trip has intertwined me with have all been pretty cool and easy to get along with. Hopefuly this trend continues.

Scuba day! After a really good sleep and a nice breakfast Sandro and I headed over to our dive shop and met up with Rudi our dive master for the day. We quickly loaded up the boat and headed out on the water to our first dive spot which is called Crystal Bay and this spot gives you the best chance to see a big fish called the sun fish. Although it is just after the peak season to see them we were hoping to see one. We didn't but it was still and awesome dive. Both were. They were very different then my dives in Bohol and These dives had a good current to them, something my past dives didn't so it was really cool to ride the current while diving. It pushes you along the coral so you barely have to kick or anything. It was definitely a good way to move under the water. Also here I was able to see a lot farther that I could when I dove in Bohol as the visibility was a lot better. You could see so far and see so many fish off in the distance it was really amazing. The big fish we saw was a huge puffer fish. I have seen some of these before but the one we saw here was absolutely huge. Easily 10 times the size on any of the other ones I have seen. On both dives we went down to about 25m which is actually about 7m deeper then I'm supposed to go but it didn't pose any problems at all. I'm really glad I got some more diving in as this was my first dive outside of my course so it gave me a chance to dive without being babysat the entire time.

Something Sandro and I noticed on Bali was that there were these little "dishes" everywhere that looked like small sacrifices. We noticed they were at entrances and exits to buildings so we figured they were to either protect the building from evil or to bless people coming in. Just before we dove Rudi placed one in the water to help us have a safe dive which I thought was really neat. I also noticed that these small sacrifices usually have some kind of food. Even something as small as a cracker. Really cool to see.

After our dives Sandro, Rudi and I hung out at the dive shop and talked about the island and other dive spots in Indonesia and after a storm rolled through it was finally my turn to get a chance to drive the scooter we had rented. After dropping Sandro off at the internet cafe I went on a little tour. I was a bit wobbly at first but before long I had the hang of it. It felt amazing and definitely makes me want to go across Canada on something similar for my next adventure. I've realized that there is so much in Canada that I haven't seen yet and think that would be a good way to get around.

On my way back to pick up Sandro I heard some load chanting and noticed a bunch of people sitting in a field. I quickly got him on the bike and we both headed back to the ceremony and quickly snuck into the back and watched. This area of Indonesia is mostly Hindu so we sat back and took in the rest of the ceremony. It was really cool seeing all this especially when it was in the middle of a field. Definitely a moment you can plan ahead of time. Something interesting I noticed was that they wafted intense over themselves in a similar way to what I saw at the Buddhist temple in Japan and what my dad said many of the natives do during their rituals. really interesting to see the similarities between these different religions.

After the ceremony was finished we headed down the beach and had a few final beers since I'm heading off back to Bali in the morning. We talked about a ton of things from work to travel and everything in between. Its definitely weird how when traveling you meet someone and instantly group up like this and rely on each other.

Today I got up early and heading for the slow boat back to Bali. When I came out of my room the porter guy who helped us on the first day was waiting to help me back to the boat which was really cool since I think I mentioned to him when I was leaving once way back when I first got there. Upon getting on the boat all the locals pointed me towards the front of the boat and after a few minutes of moving I realized why as by the time we arrived in Bali i was completely soaked. After battling my way through transport offer after transport offer I quickly found some breakfast and headed to the bemo (small bus) area to get into Depensar the main city on Bali. After fighting offer transport offer after transport offer yet again I finally was on my way into Depensar. Every two steps I take there is someone clapping or honking and offering my transport which is really starting to get to me. After wandering around for a few hours not able to find anything I am looking for and no one else having a clue where anything is I pop into a mall to check my luggage as they have a forced beg check system so it gave me a chance to drop off my bags for a good part of the day as I snuck out a different door and continued on through the city. After buying another pair of new sandals I ended up going to the airport early to fill in some postcards and change my clothes as I had sweat quite a bit durring the day. To really put acorss the whole "transport" issue when I got out of my Bemo at the airport a taxi guy ran up to me and asked me for transport. He saw me get out and load my bags onto my back. I'm getting dropped off at the airport why in the world would I need a taxi? I also had a guy ask me while I was walking around the departures area and I said he could drive me if his car could go over water. Gotta laugh!

Indonesia, where do I begin to sum up how I feel about you. Outside of the few laid back days on Lembongan the entire trip was a constant battle as everything is haggling or turning people away. It definitely wore on me and took away from my experience in this country as I was never able to sit back and relax and allow myself to take it all in. Really a shame too because I think this country has a lot I would have liked but I just couldn't get by all the hassle that is involved in pretty much everything you do. For every Danny (guy from Bandung) or Rudi (dive master) there was 20 people who would come up just to try and screw you over. I was really getting bummed at myself about how I struggled so much here but talking to other travellers along the way and others my first day in Malaysia who where there aswell I became ok with it as they all really struggled through Indonesia too. Good to know it wasn't just me. But now onto the final leg of part 2 of this trip as I head off to Malaysia tonight! Let the adventure continue!

Pictures are up and more will be added later once I get Sandros pictures.

**** To see my pictures from Indonesia click here ****

Indonesia

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