November 2009
"Tell the taxi driver to take you to MOI- it's the Mall of Indonesia. We live there." My friend wasn't kidding. They actually did live in the same complex as the mall! I was visiting her and her boyfriend who I had done my teaching course with in Chiang Mai. They received me warmly, showed me my own bedroom (!) where I would be staying, and we commemorated my arrival with a bottle of Cuban rum I had picked up at the duty free store in Bangkok. During my travels, I have been very lucky to be consistently accepted into homes whose owners have never acknowledged the idiom "to overstay one's welcome." One week with them turned into three. I would tag along with them during the day to their school. (Little did I know then that this same international institution would be responsible for bringing me back to Thailand less than a year later!)
On the weekends we found one interesting excursion to do after another. We did a day-trip to Taman Mini-Indonesia, of which I was told beforehand nothing more than "it's a theme park" (the sly look on their faces told me I was in for a surprise). When we reached our destination I thought I had been tricked into going urban exploring- the park appeared abandoned, no amusement seemed to have been had in a long time. However, on closer inspection I could see that it was actually still functioning. We bought incredibly cheap tickets to enter, and then wandered around the near-deserted place, the theme of which I was now informed was a tribute to the many islands and corresponding cultures of Actual-Sized- Indonesia. We rode on the most rickety cable car ever (I very nearly kissed the ground when we exited), visited the different displays, and attempted unsuccessfully to sneak into the zoo since we didn't make it there during the one hour it was open. Overall, it was a quirky experience to say the least.
We later went to a functioning amusement park in Jakarta, which was considerably more lively. It was my first time at such at this type of entertainment venue outside of the US (complete with roller-coasters!) and I was not disappointed. Oh developed countries, why do you inhibit our fun with your concerns over safety and whatnot? If I want to get zipped into a giant plastic bubble filled with air and float on a pond then that is my prerogative, psh...
We also made a weekend journey to Yogyakarta, Jakarta's calmer relative, a culturally-oriented city 7 hours away by train. I was unpleasantly surprised that the overnight trains in Indonesia are not as nice as Thailand's (though I feel certain that nothing could ever be as bad as a third-class sleeper in India). No bunk, no pillows, no blankets- just a seat. We tried to make ourselves as comfortable as possible but when we arrived early in the morning we immediately needed to sleep until noon. In the afternoon we leisurely tooled around the city, visiting the old sultan's palace and then asking directions to the sultan's famous baths, which led to a man showing us around via many footpaths weaving all over the district that we would have never found by ourselves. In addition to the baths, we visited a street where many artisans were at work applying batik designs to paintings and fabrics. We were also eventually led to the bird market we had been looking for, which actually had every kind of animal imaginable, not just birds- pet monkey/owl/bat/lizard anyone? Except it's not recommended that you buy any animals from there because the conditions in which they're kept are pretty bad =/ We took a carriage ride back to our hotel, as we were concerned that the horses also seemed to not have been fed enough.
The next day, my friends were content to relax in the city and explore a bit by motorbike, but I wanted to make the most of my time there to see two famous monuments nearby. I bought a seat in a van that would take me to one and then another. I was taken first to Borobudur, the largest Buddhist monument in the world, dating back to the 9th century. It was indeed very large, and standing atop it I was never unimpressed by the view from any angle. A group of sweet, polite school children approached me to ask me some questions to practice their English. I was happy to oblige them... at first. It turns out that a veritable ant colony of students had swarmed all over the monument, hunting me down every two minutes and cornering me to answer the same questions. After the fourth time, I was well over it. After the twenty-seventh time I felt like I was losing my mind. Luckily we were soon on our way to the next stop, Prambanan, a Hindu temple built around the same time as the Buddhist one (yes, they are both located in an almost exclusively Muslim country). Mentally exhausted from the last monument, I walked briskly through the temple grounds and basked in the fact that I was alone. Then it was back to Yogya to meet my friends and get on the train back to Jakarta. On the train journey back I sat next to a woman who was from Aceh, the province on the Northern tip of Sumatra that was devastated in the 2004 tsunami. More than a third of the deaths from that event (over 100,000 people) occurred there. The woman explained that she had been in Jakarta at the time but she had lost over 15 family members that day. I can't imagine the sorrow she still faces on a daily basis, just shy of five years later...
My last getaway in Indonesia was undertaken alone. There was only a week left in my Asian adventure before I would return to America... exactly 5 months later! Hadn't I planned to be away for 2 months, 3 at the max? It was all worth it. And it would also be worth it to surprise my family in time for Thanksgiving =) But I still had a week to cap off my trip and I wanted to do something awesome, so I booked a short flight... to Bali!!! I landed and set about finding a hostel. The first night I was unlucky to have picked one very near a club and thus got almost no sleep (when backpacking, you win some, you lose some). But for the next few nights I found a very peaceful cluster of rooms near the beach. I spent the next few days laying on the sand and playing in the very high waves. I was tempted to take a surfing lesson but I had a minimal amount of money to last me the next few days. I wasn't bothered though because I told myself I would learn to surf eventually (promise kept!) Instead, I took a day-trip to Ubud, a small town in the interior of Bali. I met a girl from Guatemala and together we had a nice lunch, did some souvenir shopping crowded-Asian-market-style (my last time!), and then visited one of the main sights the town has to offer- the Monkey Forest!
A sign advised would-be wayfarers that under absolutely NO circumstances whatsoever should they bring any food into the grove, so I made sure that I had nothing edible in the small backpack I was carrying. I was surprised by how big the place was, trails winding all around, leading to sculptures, structures, a tiny waterfall in a river, and of course, monkeys! The macaques were not the most beautiful of simians, but their antics endeared them to observers. I made the mistake of passing too close to a place where a larger one was perched; it jumped on my shoulder, a strategic position from which to attempt a robbery. I remained calm (a trip to Gibraltar had given me experience with surprise primate passengers) as it tried and tried to open my backpack, to no avail. However it refused to give up, and I began to worry whether this determined fellow would ever disembark. Furthermore, he was heavy! I sat down near a tree and waited until he finally bailed. I later discovered the reason why he was so bent on getting into my bag- I had left a pack of gum in there!
Bali was very beautiful. I wished I didn't have to leave. For that matter, I wished I wasn't leaving Asia at all. But it was time to go. I had come to know myself in ways I never expected. I had stayed away from my home for the longest period in my life! And ultimately, I was prepared to deal with the uncertainty of the future, only knowing that it would most certainly take me abroad again!
"Tell the taxi driver to take you to MOI- it's the Mall of Indonesia. We live there." My friend wasn't kidding. They actually did live in the same complex as the mall! I was visiting her and her boyfriend who I had done my teaching course with in Chiang Mai. They received me warmly, showed me my own bedroom (!) where I would be staying, and we commemorated my arrival with a bottle of Cuban rum I had picked up at the duty free store in Bangkok. During my travels, I have been very lucky to be consistently accepted into homes whose owners have never acknowledged the idiom "to overstay one's welcome." One week with them turned into three. I would tag along with them during the day to their school. (Little did I know then that this same international institution would be responsible for bringing me back to Thailand less than a year later!)
On the weekends we found one interesting excursion to do after another. We did a day-trip to Taman Mini-Indonesia, of which I was told beforehand nothing more than "it's a theme park" (the sly look on their faces told me I was in for a surprise). When we reached our destination I thought I had been tricked into going urban exploring- the park appeared abandoned, no amusement seemed to have been had in a long time. However, on closer inspection I could see that it was actually still functioning. We bought incredibly cheap tickets to enter, and then wandered around the near-deserted place, the theme of which I was now informed was a tribute to the many islands and corresponding cultures of Actual-Sized- Indonesia. We rode on the most rickety cable car ever (I very nearly kissed the ground when we exited), visited the different displays, and attempted unsuccessfully to sneak into the zoo since we didn't make it there during the one hour it was open. Overall, it was a quirky experience to say the least.
We later went to a functioning amusement park in Jakarta, which was considerably more lively. It was my first time at such at this type of entertainment venue outside of the US (complete with roller-coasters!) and I was not disappointed. Oh developed countries, why do you inhibit our fun with your concerns over safety and whatnot? If I want to get zipped into a giant plastic bubble filled with air and float on a pond then that is my prerogative, psh...
We also made a weekend journey to Yogyakarta, Jakarta's calmer relative, a culturally-oriented city 7 hours away by train. I was unpleasantly surprised that the overnight trains in Indonesia are not as nice as Thailand's (though I feel certain that nothing could ever be as bad as a third-class sleeper in India). No bunk, no pillows, no blankets- just a seat. We tried to make ourselves as comfortable as possible but when we arrived early in the morning we immediately needed to sleep until noon. In the afternoon we leisurely tooled around the city, visiting the old sultan's palace and then asking directions to the sultan's famous baths, which led to a man showing us around via many footpaths weaving all over the district that we would have never found by ourselves. In addition to the baths, we visited a street where many artisans were at work applying batik designs to paintings and fabrics. We were also eventually led to the bird market we had been looking for, which actually had every kind of animal imaginable, not just birds- pet monkey/owl/bat/lizard anyone? Except it's not recommended that you buy any animals from there because the conditions in which they're kept are pretty bad =/ We took a carriage ride back to our hotel, as we were concerned that the horses also seemed to not have been fed enough.
The next day, my friends were content to relax in the city and explore a bit by motorbike, but I wanted to make the most of my time there to see two famous monuments nearby. I bought a seat in a van that would take me to one and then another. I was taken first to Borobudur, the largest Buddhist monument in the world, dating back to the 9th century. It was indeed very large, and standing atop it I was never unimpressed by the view from any angle. A group of sweet, polite school children approached me to ask me some questions to practice their English. I was happy to oblige them... at first. It turns out that a veritable ant colony of students had swarmed all over the monument, hunting me down every two minutes and cornering me to answer the same questions. After the fourth time, I was well over it. After the twenty-seventh time I felt like I was losing my mind. Luckily we were soon on our way to the next stop, Prambanan, a Hindu temple built around the same time as the Buddhist one (yes, they are both located in an almost exclusively Muslim country). Mentally exhausted from the last monument, I walked briskly through the temple grounds and basked in the fact that I was alone. Then it was back to Yogya to meet my friends and get on the train back to Jakarta. On the train journey back I sat next to a woman who was from Aceh, the province on the Northern tip of Sumatra that was devastated in the 2004 tsunami. More than a third of the deaths from that event (over 100,000 people) occurred there. The woman explained that she had been in Jakarta at the time but she had lost over 15 family members that day. I can't imagine the sorrow she still faces on a daily basis, just shy of five years later...
My last getaway in Indonesia was undertaken alone. There was only a week left in my Asian adventure before I would return to America... exactly 5 months later! Hadn't I planned to be away for 2 months, 3 at the max? It was all worth it. And it would also be worth it to surprise my family in time for Thanksgiving =) But I still had a week to cap off my trip and I wanted to do something awesome, so I booked a short flight... to Bali!!! I landed and set about finding a hostel. The first night I was unlucky to have picked one very near a club and thus got almost no sleep (when backpacking, you win some, you lose some). But for the next few nights I found a very peaceful cluster of rooms near the beach. I spent the next few days laying on the sand and playing in the very high waves. I was tempted to take a surfing lesson but I had a minimal amount of money to last me the next few days. I wasn't bothered though because I told myself I would learn to surf eventually (promise kept!) Instead, I took a day-trip to Ubud, a small town in the interior of Bali. I met a girl from Guatemala and together we had a nice lunch, did some souvenir shopping crowded-Asian-market-style (my last time!), and then visited one of the main sights the town has to offer- the Monkey Forest!
A sign advised would-be wayfarers that under absolutely NO circumstances whatsoever should they bring any food into the grove, so I made sure that I had nothing edible in the small backpack I was carrying. I was surprised by how big the place was, trails winding all around, leading to sculptures, structures, a tiny waterfall in a river, and of course, monkeys! The macaques were not the most beautiful of simians, but their antics endeared them to observers. I made the mistake of passing too close to a place where a larger one was perched; it jumped on my shoulder, a strategic position from which to attempt a robbery. I remained calm (a trip to Gibraltar had given me experience with surprise primate passengers) as it tried and tried to open my backpack, to no avail. However it refused to give up, and I began to worry whether this determined fellow would ever disembark. Furthermore, he was heavy! I sat down near a tree and waited until he finally bailed. I later discovered the reason why he was so bent on getting into my bag- I had left a pack of gum in there!
Bali was very beautiful. I wished I didn't have to leave. For that matter, I wished I wasn't leaving Asia at all. But it was time to go. I had come to know myself in ways I never expected. I had stayed away from my home for the longest period in my life! And ultimately, I was prepared to deal with the uncertainty of the future, only knowing that it would most certainly take me abroad again!
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