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Published: March 27th 2009
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Political Rally
Suharto's party paid Rp. 20000 ($2.70) and a t-shirt to these guys to turn up to the rally and make noise. God bless democracy! It’s hot and I’m having one of those blessed lazy days. My previous PB in terms of days away from Aus has been surpassed today and to celebrate I’m going to do sweet f*** all!
Fam and I sacrificed ourselves to the constant grind of Indonesian usury and scams yesterday. Having white skin in this part of the world brings about what is known as “white-man = walking-wallet-so-let’s-rip-the-stupid bastard-off-for-as-much-dosh-as-possible-and-still-smile-as-though-we’re-doing-him-a-favour.” Understandably, this is not my favourite practice in the world.
We had decided to get up early and venture out to the huge Buddhist monument at Borobudur, some 42km away from Yogya. Where we’re staying is the budget traveler’s enclave (read: tightarse central) and appropriately it is populated by more Indonesians hoping to make a buck out of the rare tourists than the tourists themselves. It’s actually very nice - tiny winding lanes with old ladies sitting on benches in their sarongs, kids playing football, the faintest hint of Islam floating through on the air form the mesjid and the unfortunately ubiquitous backpacker cafes. They are a boon when you’ve been jungle for weeks and have been living off of local ‘delicacies’ such as gecko, flying fox, dog (tastes really
Falcon
For sale good) and pigeon, but for all other purposes all they do is give homesick tourists a valid reason to avoid the real food of the region. Not always my favourite places, but considering that
this one offers fast internet, I’ll hold my tongue!
I digress, we had decided to avoid the package tours to Borobudur and go by ourselves. Caught the first bus without hassle, which is good considering the buses don’t stop to pick up passengers, instead you have to board it at a fast run while being dragged up by the conductor. Got to the bus terminal without hassle and found the right bus and got on board. Cardinal error. We figured that a fixed-price system would be in place. Stupid! When the conductor came by to get our money, my heart sank when I saw the greedy gleam in his eyes. “Rp 20000 EACH,” he grinned. “Fuck off!” was my initial response, before capitulating after the driver waded in and added his confirmation to the prick conductor’s request. So annoyed! We got to the temple after 1.5 hours of suicide driving and entered the intense gauntlet of trinket sellers. Being a bald guy in 35 degree
sunshine, I was a prime target for the hoards of hat sellers. They claimed they were just looking out for my best interests, I claim bullshit.
The previous day a local had alluded to a cheap local’s entrance at the back of the temple so we trudged around in that general direction hoping for a nice discount to allay the range of anti-bus conductor emotions that we were experiencing. We got to the back and found a beautiful landscape of paddies, mountains and women working the fields. We were balancing our way along the mud retaining walls of the paddies when a rapid movement caught my eye; I looked up to see the fast-disappearing tail of a small snake rushing into the paddy away from our trampling feet. I was stoked and also quite confident in my genetic ability as an Australian to catch, handle and coo at venomous creatures without risk to myself or others. I sprang after it and was disappointed when it completed a hasty escape. Damn! We walked for another 500m without incident, marveling at the pastoral beauty and hoping for the elusive gate to appear soon. Our mud path had turned into a concrete
Stupas
Borobudur wall when another rustling sound and rapid movement caught my eye, unfortunately this snake was BIG, BLACK and precisely 3cm away from Fam’s left foot. My heart stopped, she walked on oblivious to just how close she was to feeling the sharp end of a cobra’s mouth. I hate to think what would have happened had she stepped on the beasty…
In the end the gate didn’t exist, but we won back some fiscal pride by circumventing the $15US ‘VIP’ (white) entry fee by jumping the fence and feigning a sick stomach. Success! After the majesty of Shweydagon in Rangoon, and the scale and delicateness of the Angkor complex, Borobudur was actually a little underwhelming. Not to worry though, I proved popular with local teenagers and was asked to model in too many group photos to count. My new name: Mr. Chocolate Man. Silky smooth…
The same bus that ripped us off took us back to Yogya, and the smarmy prick of a conductor grinned knowingly as I gave him the correct fare of Rp 10000 for the two of us.
Here’s one for any and all the canine haters in the world: I am responsible for the early
demise of 2 of our furry friends. As dogs are considered
haram in Islam, there are none of the usual packs of terrifying mongrels roaming the streets here. This is thanks to Bu Miram’s
warung (food stall) down the road from our
losmen (shabby homestay). If you’re unlucky enough to have a picky palate and happen to be overseas with me, my maxim for eating goes as follows - unidentifiable food is only identifiable through mastication. Perhaps the big cartoon Scooby-doo beckoning us to enter the hut was a giveaway, but seeing as I didn’t recognize the Indonesian words for the food there was only one reasonable way to discern what she was cooking. We were delivered a steaming plate of deliciously spiced meat and some white rice. The meat was actually scrumptious, and when the inevitable question was asked, the knowledge that it was dog curry wasn’t enough to turn us off. Psychological barriers with food are much more insurmountable when the meal tastes like foot! We like it so much we took a young German couple we had met that day there for an “exotic meal.” Fabian helps organize underground techno parties in the Berlin, so introducing him and his girlfriend Sophie to the other other red meat was actually an excellent decision!
Fam is off exploring the big Hindu temple of Prambanan right now. I’m being lazy. I visited it in 2002 when it was standing in all of its glory. In 2006 Yogya was struck by a rather nasty earthquake which claimed the lives of some 5000 residents, and damaged the architecture of Prambanan, Borobudur and the other monoliths in the area. Prambanan is still being renovated and it is whispered that the $10US entry fee only gives you a distant glimpse of the complex. I prefer laziness to a day in the boiling sun!
temps x
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Billy
non-member comment
Lonely Planet
Temps, good to hear your having a good time trecking around Asia my friend. I heard Lonely Planet are looking for more travel writers at this time of year. With your wit and enthusiam I'm sure you'd be a good candidate. Much love.