Of a 3 week trip to Indonesia.

Yes yes I’m back home already, since last Tuesday. It’s just that I’ve been busy trying to manage the 2000+++ pictures I took and I didn’t want to update till I can show you pictures. I should’ve been more efficient because now, I’m beginning to forget morsels of information.

Let me just track back the route me and Mits took.

Jakarta > Bogor > Bandung > Yogyakarta > Bromo > Bali

First it was to Jakarta by plane. Reached Jakarta and was stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam on our way to the hotel. How nice. Spent 5 days there. Went to Cafe Batavia, a historic place where the Dutch and President Sukarno used to dine. Visited Wayang Museum and History Museums. Toured gorgeous high-end malls (that would put Paragon to shame). Watched Fantastic Four that cost us Rp 50 000 which is about S$8.50. Ate Krispy Kremes and Dunkin’ Donuts and Outback Steakhouse and food court food all very cheap cheap cheap!

From Jakarta headed to Bogor by train. One hour train ride was smooth and air-conditioned (we paid for executive tickets). It was empty maybe because we were going away from the city on a Monday morning. When we reached Bogor however, we were shocked to see a mass of people right outside, and when the door opened, they were literally falling over themselves trying to get seats. We were afraid that we couldn’t get out of the train. If you think Singaporeans are kiasu, think again. We spent about half-a-day at Bogor. Weather was nice and cooling. Mita’s contact gave us a tour around the Kebun Raya (Botanical Gardens) that was built by Sir Stamford Raffles and his wife. A very pretty, serene place with vast fields and ponds everywhere. After that, went to Mita’s contact’s house to see his comic book collection.

From Bogor, we took a minivan to Bandung via the Puncak Pass. The journey was about 4 hours and the road was winding but it was worth it for the scenery was picturesque. It was a highland so it’s pretty cooling and there are tea plantations and terraced padi fields amidst mountains and valleys. Pretty.

We spent 6 days in Bandung mainly shopping. Watched Transformers for only Rp15 000 which was only about S$2.50!! We also made way (independently, I might add) to the active volcano, Tangkuban Perahu. It was a sight (and smell) to behold. The view was worth the pungent sulphuric smell. Bandung was also where I coloured my hair! For very cheap!

From Bandung we took an 8 hour train ride to Yogyakarta. View was breathtaking. Like I mentioned in my previous post, you can see endless padi fields with a mountainous backdrop in the horizon against the stark blue sky. Pretty.

We spent 6 days in Yogyakarta, where the first few days were relak-jack and the last few, very gancheong-spider. We visited the Parangtritis beach with the Sea Queen folklore, Kraton which was the old sultan’s palace, Tamansari which was the sultan’s grand bath house and Kota Gede where all the silver is processed. We went to Prambanan (an ancient temple ruin) during sunset and yes, it was beautiful. It was badly damaged by the earthquake but restoration procedures are taking place, albeit slowly in my opinion. Me and Mita were sitting by this candi with construction metals all around it (to support it I guess) and watching the sunset when suddenly we heard a very ominous-like-Jurrasic-Park-sound-effects kinda CREEEEEK coming from the top of the temple. Upon closer inspection, the top portion of the building was SENGET (erm, lopsided, leaning to one side). And then we heard it again! Apparently we were the only ones who could hear it because the drones of students/tourists/touters who were around were happily chit-chatting and being stupid. We walked away before anything could happen. But I tell you, if that building topples, let me say I heard it creek!

Okay yes, then it was off to Borobudur the next day. Borobudur is pretty too but the tourists and local visitors were annoying. Yes I’m invisible and so do not bother other tourists. After Borobudur we headed to Dieng Plateu, a home of another volcanic crater and the coloured lake (Which was soo not coloured. Racist travel writers.) which was just green.

And then from Yogyakarta we were packed into a minivan with 6 other angmohs and headed off to Bromo. We had a crazy driver who drives like a maniac but he managed to transport us to Bromo within the stipulated time, i.e. 10 hours. I can’t really blame him for driving like a maniac. There are no expressways linking the cities and the roads we travelled on have only 2 lanes, so most of the time there is almost always a slower vehicle in front of you and you have to overtake by going over to the other lane which was going the opposite direction. Thrilling, but definitely dangerous. I had more near-death experience within that 10 hour then all my life combined.

We had to switch vehicles before we start to ascend the Bromo highland (which was a 1 hour drive up) and the new driver wasn’t any less crazy. We were sitting on the front seats and he was happily speeding his way up the winding road oblivious to the valley which could be my grave right next to the road. We reached the hotel and slept for 6 hours before waking up at 3am to catch the sunrise at the viewing point at Mount Penanjakan. The view was breathtaking. Yes I have used that word a lot of times. But it really is. It was, like a painting. Too ethereal to be true. From Penanjakan you could see Mount Bromo, Mount Batok and Mount Semeru which erupts every 20 minutes, and of course, the sunrise. And oh, before the sun rose, I saw shooting stars! Beautiful.

Then we drove down and back up to Mount Bromo and it was like being transported to another dimension. The fog that covered the flatland around Mount Bromo was so thick even the sunlight had trouble penetrating. It was like a wasteland and the smell of sulphur plus horse-dung was suffocating. We had to climb the rest of the volcano and I tell you, you need military training to get to the top. It was strenuous and the air was toxicating and you had to breathe and all you get is horse-dung infused sulphuric air. Yum. When I reached the top (you had to climb 250 steps!), the crater was emanating too much smoke that I really couldn’t see everything. Snap snap and I’m back down. Back to hotel.

From Bromo, we took an hour’s drive in a minivan to Probolinggo, where we had to switch vehicles again. While waiting, a couple of students approached us and the angmohs to practice their English. It’s funny how one of them keeps making fun of Malay when they found out that it was our mother tongue. “Satu, du-er, ti-geeer!” “Say-eer tinggal di ko-teeer!”

We were then forced to cramp into a bus that was already full and thinking that it was only an hour’s drive to Bali (stupid tour guide duped us!) I thought it was tolerable. An hour later, we did stop, but only for lunch! It turns out that the trip to Banyuwangi Ferry Terminal was 5 hours long, the ferry trip to Bali was an hour, and from Diliwangi Ferry Terminal to Denpasar was another 3 hours! I tell you my pantat wanted to pecah. My tailbone still hurts even now. So from Yogyakarta to Bali, we practically took a 20 hour bus ride! With all 9 luggages mind you. It was a feat indeed.

Bali! Bali is beautiful! The beaches are amazing! The weather is hot but the wind is chilly (from the winter going on in Australia). Shops everywhere! It was a nice retreat after a hectic trip across Java. We were too tired to really explore Bali and do surfing and whatnots (and I was dead broke) so we just chilled during those 5 days. Take a stroll by the beach. Watch the sunset. Have nice meals. Get a massage. Do laundry. Haha.

And then it was back to Singapore. 3 weeks IS long but we couldn’t have explored so much if it was any shorter. Either that, or we’ll be too burnt out to appreciate what we see. Thanks Mits, for everything. I know I can be such a pain sometimes, especially when I had my dose of caffeine. But hey we didn’t have any squabbles at all, did we? I think it’s amazing how we managed to put up with each other and know when to keep our distance when we need to. I hope I was tolerable, at least.

Ah. Pictures. Click to enlarge.

The walls of Cafe Batavia.

We got a private mini-show by the owner of the Wayang Museum.

Kid playing at railway track at Stasiun Jakarta. Going to Bogor.

Kebun Raya Bogor

Along Puncak Pass. Good music, good view, I’ll be in my own world.

Haha this signboard in Bandung cracks me up. It literally means “Teeth-Fixing Specialist”.

Shop like nobody’s business.

One of the many cartoon statues along Cihampelas Street.

Panoramic view atop Tangkuban Perahu.

Tangkuban Perahu crater.

No climbing of fence.

And the hair saga.

And then off to Yogyakarta.

Parangtritis beach (and my new red hair harhar).

The one with the ominous creek. Prambanan.

Prambanan at sunset.

Prambanan.

Borobudur.

Hindustan at Dieng.

View from Penanjakan. That’s Mount Batok at the front and Mount Semeru at the back. Mount Bromo is somewhere in between, covered in smog/cloud.

Panoramic view. (Click the image!)

Even the sun cannot penetrate through the smog at Bromo.

And the Bali beaches.