Dave and Jen (and half of the Australian expat family population it seemed) arrived at Bali's international airport around 8 at night and standed in the immigration line for at least an hour to be processed. (But it felt like so much more!) In front of us in the line were two families with four young kids, obviously on the yearly family holiday to relax in the Balinese sun... But, because these children had too much sugar, or watched too much TV on the plane, they were in the midst of a massive sook attack and desperately needed a good sleep (or a new acquantaince with a wattle brush). The poor tired parents had their children climbing all over them, pulling at their clothes and hair, and lying all over the airport immigration floor... It reminded me of how much fun mom and dad must have had on our long drives up to Queensland in search of that perfect "relaxing" holiday...
Dave and Jen booked the next flight to Yogyakarta, Central Java. This, unfortunately required us to be back at the airport in 7 hours time. Dave, not too excited about Jen's proposal to sleep on the ground outside the airport, convinced me to book some accommodation - which due to our lack of preparation, was very overpriced, although close to the airport and relatively more comfortable than a concrete floor. Dave and Jen were so tired from the 3am wake up call that the morning's flight seemed to pass very quickly and before we knew it we were in Jogja (as Yogyakarta will now be called) bargaining hard for a taxi and checking out some pretty dodgy, but cheap, guesthouses...
We checked into our new accommodation and grabbed the widely available banana pancake breakfast and decided how to spend the week. A sunrise trip to Borburder, the largest Buddhist temple in the Southern hemisphere, was planned for the following morning, which also meant another 3am wake up call! (Who said holidays were all about sleeping in...?) To be honest, the sunrise wasn't very spectacular, and Jen, tired and sufferring from a nasty cold spent most of the time sleeping on the temple floor. Dave, however, snapped away frantically in search of the perfect photograph. Even though it's more expensive to come to Borburdur as sparrow's fart, it's definately worth having the opportunity to see it all before the gates "officially" open. Because when they do, the tourists arrive by the truck load and the temple is aboslutely swamped!
Dave and Jen's experience of Indonesia has been quite entertaining, however it may be more so for the locals... Every second person in Jogja either stops Dave, grabs his arms, or calls out to him complimenting his tattoos and commenting on his muscular size, which funnily, makes him feel terribly uncomfortable. Jen, being this 6 foot freak of a women apparently, is often asked to partake in family photos by Indonesian tourists. Jen happily obliges, but really should start charging a commission -thereby making up for all that excess Singaporian spending she did!
The street that Dave and Jen were staying on was tourist central. There was, of course, a correspondingly large number of "touts" as Rough Guides calls them. Basically "touts" could be translated to mean people hasselling you and trying to sell you things. Dave and Jen quickly got tired of this, and so decided to change guesthouses to a quieter part of town, about 4km away in the opposite direction... With no idea of how to make this journey, Dave and Jen put our backpacks on and started walking. As soon as we walked out of the front door, we were quickly met with competing yells of "You need transport?" "Where you going boss?" "5000 Rupiah Sultan Palace" An old man, whose name we latter found out was Rubio, approached Jen and somehow knew exactly where we were headed, he undercut the competiting options and offerred us a the cheapest ride. The mode of transportation was a rickshaw. For those not familiar, an Indonesian Rickshaw is like a push bike that has a large seat at the front. "Large" enough for 2 Indonesians, however, quite the squeeze for two 6 foot travellers. Dave and Jen squished into the seat, while Rubio stacked our luggage on top of us. In exchanging glances of disbelief, Dave and Jen discussed the impossibility of this tiny old man pedalling about 250kg of weight 4km through the busy city streets of Jogja! While it probably would have been faster, and maybe even comfortable (but probably not), walking, Dave and Jen thoroughly enjoyed Rubio's company and his comments on life...
Rubio is 70 years old, has seven grandchildren and he's spent 34 years of his long life in the Rickshaw trade. Even though being a Rickshaw driver may not make Rubio a rich man, he ensures us that he is happy, and he explains that this is true because he only has one wife, which apparently means less problems! The ride was incredibly painful and due to the uneven weight distribution, all the bags had to be pilled on top of Jen to stop Daves-side wheel of the bike from rubbing against the mudgard or the seat. Rubio explained that we were having this minor problems because Dave "is fatter" than Jen. When we got to our destination, neither of us could feel our legs and Jen couldn't even stand up due to the intense pins and needles!
After re-gaining the ability to walk, Dave and Jen scouted out a couple of guesthouses and finally agreed on Duta Guesthouse. It turned out to be nicer, cleaner, and half the price of our previous accommodation -even with a big beautiful pool! Jen's nasty cold required some getting better and so Dave and Jen took it easy for a few days -watching the Soccer with the locals, eating lots of Sate Ayam (Chicken satay) (our staple food lately) and Dave practiced his "butterfly" or rather, some undefinable stroke, in the pool...
Dave and Jen organised a day trip to the Dieng Plateau in Central Java, about 4 hours drive away to see some old the oldest Hindu temples in Indonesia, coloured lakes and sulphur springs. To be quite honest, the Dieng Plateau was not terribly exciting. The highlight of the trip was actually the drive up there and back, proving that old cliche that the journey is more important than the destination... We drove through some of the most spectacular Javanese landscape -filled with palm trees, rice paddies, dramatically terraced agriculture, bamboo houses and water buffalos. It was also quite interesting to notice the horse and cart still featuring quite prominently as common transportation through most of the villages. On our way home, the driver stopped for some lunch, while Dave and Jen waited in the car. To Jen's delight, a ute pulled up with a 3 week old water buffalo cald and its mother in the tray. Jen quickly got out to pet and feed them with some grass that was growing nearby. This must have impressed the buffalo owner, because he asked, and then took a photograph of Jen and the buffalo on his phone! Jen, quite used to such attention, charged him 5000 Rupiah, (about 70 cents AUD) to which he politely obliged...
Feeling slightly guilty and lazy for laying by the pool and not really exploring more of the city, Dave and Jen set of in search of the Kraton Complex. -The home of Jogja's Sultan, and about a 10 minute walk from our guesthouse. Dave and Jen stopped en route to regain our bearings from the street signs and provoked the interest of a local walking past... He was on his way home from work (he worked in the Kraton complex) and helpfully infomed us that it was closed due to a Muslim holiday. He gave us some "insider" tips of what to do with the rest of our time in Jogja and also how not to be ripped off -which is always welcoming. Our new friend, realising Dave was American, quickly turned the conversation to the World Cup -and America's recent efforts. Apparently, he had bet on the USA game and lost all his money. Hoping to recover his losses, he bet again, this time with his scooter, which unfortantely, proved unsuccessful. His wife wasn't terribly impressed, he told us, that walking was their new mode of transportation...
On our final day in Jogja, Jen convinced Dave to hire a scooter (which only cost $3AUD for 24 hours), to go sightseeing to the beach about an hours ride away. Dave enjoyed negotiated the interesting non existant road rules and Jen tried hard to sit still on the back and hang on tight! We arrived at a less than attractive windswept beach -which is, the signs tell us, too dangerous to go swimming in, filled with local tourists and what seemed like a market on the grey sand complete with horse and carts! Unimpressed, Dave and Jen headed back to busy Jogja. We found a quiet country lane, on the way back, and Jen got a few tips on how to ride the scooter, which was very exciting and much better than her previous attempts (instructed by one Stuart Chambers) which resulted in monstrous bruises...
That night, Dave and Jen left Jogja for Bali (round two), after enjoying some well deserved rest and relaxation!
