Well its been ages since our last note and I know that most of you are probably worried silly that we somehow ended up back and trapped in Banyuwangi... no? Not worried at all? Well that's good because we are fine!
After solo we caught a super new and fast little train to Yogjakarta, the land of touts, art exhibitions, and batik.
We arrived and headed straight to the guesthouse we had pre-chosen in the ever-trusty lonely planet--- full! Conveniently a tout was waiting just outside to show us to his place.. The Anda Inn.. cheap&simple.. We decided to keep looking and the lovely tout boy (maybe about 20) showed us to each guest house patiently only to be told full, full and full.. So back we went to the Anda which turned out to be not only crazy cheap (35000IRP - $5 per nt!) but also conveniently located just next door to the mosque! Who needs an alarm when loudspeakers blam Muslim chants directly into your room 5 times per day starting at 4 am?!?
After we left our bag in our room, we decided to wander. No further than the check-in counter did we get when junior touts brother starts chatting with Roh and telling him that his brother was too shy to tell us but he's actually an artist and has his work showing in an exhibition and would we like to go?
Me, having read the lonely planets "beware of wandering batik or art salesmen posing as guides or instant friends. There is no such thing as a government sponsored art exhibition!" warning was thinking "here we go.." whereas Roh, having not read the warning was all excited and was already walking away with him before I had a chance to have a quiet word. I didn't get a chance to tell Roh till we were at the gallery, luckily just before the gallery owner pulled out a price list! Granted the paintings were beautiful, and if we owned a home to decorate we probably would have considered a couple but alas, we made lots of excuses and left.
The next day was our inaugural "day off from each other day" so I decided to go to Borobudur and Roh planned to wander. Borobudur was beautiful! We got there just on sunrise and it was sooo serene and calm and beautiful. After about 30mins or so of exploring the literally thousands of Buddhas and stupas, I decided to sit down and meditate, only to be rudely, loudly and physically awoken by 50 or so school children screaming and running around and up and down the sacred site! Apparently they were there to “practice their English with native speakers" and 4 decided that I was going to be their first victim, and were not only screaming out "hello misterrrrr??!!!" from 5 cms away, but were also shaking me physically and forcefully out of my meditation.. I was sooooooooo angry! Literally livid and stayed that way for the rest of the time there. why? Because no sooner had I calmed down from that little episode when a group of schoolboys decided they wanted to take their photos with me (this happens at least twice a day in Indonesia). Fine I said, they are only children, be nice Robyn! But when one of them openly grabbed my breast that was it! Anger was definitely the emotion of the day!
But anyway, Borobudur was beautiful and I'm glad I went.
The tour got back around 11.30am and I decided to go back to the hotel to dump some stuff, only to find Roh, not out and about exploring jogya, but all rugged up in bed with bali-belly...poor boy..
The next day all was good and we decided to leave to Jakarta, only to find out that it was Indonesian school holidays and not only the trains and buses, but planes and boats all over the country were fully booked!! Bugger.. our original plan was to go to Jakarta then cross immediately over to southern Sumatra for 10days, before flying out of Jakarta again.. After wandering the travel agencies offering tickets for in 4 days time, and eating a most divine meal at viavia cafe (seriously you must go there if you are ever in yogya!) we met a random man who told us to go to the train station directly and try our luck. So we did, and with a little white lie - "we have to fly from Jakarta tomorrow!" we were on a train the next day: EXECUTIVE CLASS!!
Talk about luxury!! No rubbish on the floors! Seats with inbuilt cushions- not just planks of wood! Complimentary lunch and tea! No touts! No steak knives in our laps! Reclining chairs and tvs!!
All was fun and games, until we got to horrible, ugly, polluted, stinky, dirty, dodgy Jakarta. And that is focusing on the positives. It was here that we discovered that it was not only Jogjakarta but the whole country that was at a stand still due to the holidays.. What to do? We still had 10 days, and there was no way in hell we were going to spend them in Jakarta!!
Re-reading the LP we found a section on a volunteer home stay program in Cianjur - 3 hours out of Jakarta in the countryside! We had always planned on going there but after our not so fantastic home stay experience in Banyuwangi, had overlooked it. A phone call later and we were booked to arrive the next day! Neither of us knew what to expect, nor really cared as long as we were out of Jakarta, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions we have made yet!
Yudi, the owner spent 7 years in NZ and is an extremely holistic and spiritual person. His wife Dita and 2 daughters Lucy and Louise were very sweet and his guides/friends Andang and Kumis were just fantastic!! We ended up spending 9 days in Yudi's house, exploring rural villages, floating villages and tea plantations, Roh climbed Gunung Gede, a crazy high active volcano, I went to a random wedding with a random 'look at my foreign friends! i'm so cool!" guy that knows Yudi, and we spent the rest of the time eating ridiculous amounts of homemade and street food, learning Bahasa Indonesian, hanging out on the couches and cruising around little, peaceful Cianjur! Even after 9 days we both really didn't want to leave but had to.. Luckily we were able to get a direct bus to the airport though so we didn't even have to go back to Jakarta city!!
So after exactly one month in Indonesia, we flew to Malaysia. After travelling in Bali and Java, to be honest with you, I was ready for a break from Indonesia.
After solo we caught a super new and fast little train to Yogjakarta, the land of touts, art exhibitions, and batik.
We arrived and headed straight to the guesthouse we had pre-chosen in the ever-trusty lonely planet--- full! Conveniently a tout was waiting just outside to show us to his place.. The Anda Inn.. cheap&simple.. We decided to keep looking and the lovely tout boy (maybe about 20) showed us to each guest house patiently only to be told full, full and full.. So back we went to the Anda which turned out to be not only crazy cheap (35000IRP - $5 per nt!) but also conveniently located just next door to the mosque! Who needs an alarm when loudspeakers blam Muslim chants directly into your room 5 times per day starting at 4 am?!?
After we left our bag in our room, we decided to wander. No further than the check-in counter did we get when junior touts brother starts chatting with Roh and telling him that his brother was too shy to tell us but he's actually an artist and has his work showing in an exhibition and would we like to go?
Me, having read the lonely planets "beware of wandering batik or art salesmen posing as guides or instant friends. There is no such thing as a government sponsored art exhibition!" warning was thinking "here we go.." whereas Roh, having not read the warning was all excited and was already walking away with him before I had a chance to have a quiet word. I didn't get a chance to tell Roh till we were at the gallery, luckily just before the gallery owner pulled out a price list! Granted the paintings were beautiful, and if we owned a home to decorate we probably would have considered a couple but alas, we made lots of excuses and left.
The next day was our inaugural "day off from each other day" so I decided to go to Borobudur and Roh planned to wander. Borobudur was beautiful! We got there just on sunrise and it was sooo serene and calm and beautiful. After about 30mins or so of exploring the literally thousands of Buddhas and stupas, I decided to sit down and meditate, only to be rudely, loudly and physically awoken by 50 or so school children screaming and running around and up and down the sacred site! Apparently they were there to “practice their English with native speakers" and 4 decided that I was going to be their first victim, and were not only screaming out "hello misterrrrr??!!!" from 5 cms away, but were also shaking me physically and forcefully out of my meditation.. I was sooooooooo angry! Literally livid and stayed that way for the rest of the time there. why? Because no sooner had I calmed down from that little episode when a group of schoolboys decided they wanted to take their photos with me (this happens at least twice a day in Indonesia). Fine I said, they are only children, be nice Robyn! But when one of them openly grabbed my breast that was it! Anger was definitely the emotion of the day!
But anyway, Borobudur was beautiful and I'm glad I went.
The tour got back around 11.30am and I decided to go back to the hotel to dump some stuff, only to find Roh, not out and about exploring jogya, but all rugged up in bed with bali-belly...poor boy..
The next day all was good and we decided to leave to Jakarta, only to find out that it was Indonesian school holidays and not only the trains and buses, but planes and boats all over the country were fully booked!! Bugger.. our original plan was to go to Jakarta then cross immediately over to southern Sumatra for 10days, before flying out of Jakarta again.. After wandering the travel agencies offering tickets for in 4 days time, and eating a most divine meal at viavia cafe (seriously you must go there if you are ever in yogya!) we met a random man who told us to go to the train station directly and try our luck. So we did, and with a little white lie - "we have to fly from Jakarta tomorrow!" we were on a train the next day: EXECUTIVE CLASS!!
Talk about luxury!! No rubbish on the floors! Seats with inbuilt cushions- not just planks of wood! Complimentary lunch and tea! No touts! No steak knives in our laps! Reclining chairs and tvs!!
All was fun and games, until we got to horrible, ugly, polluted, stinky, dirty, dodgy Jakarta. And that is focusing on the positives. It was here that we discovered that it was not only Jogjakarta but the whole country that was at a stand still due to the holidays.. What to do? We still had 10 days, and there was no way in hell we were going to spend them in Jakarta!!
Re-reading the LP we found a section on a volunteer home stay program in Cianjur - 3 hours out of Jakarta in the countryside! We had always planned on going there but after our not so fantastic home stay experience in Banyuwangi, had overlooked it. A phone call later and we were booked to arrive the next day! Neither of us knew what to expect, nor really cared as long as we were out of Jakarta, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions we have made yet!
Yudi, the owner spent 7 years in NZ and is an extremely holistic and spiritual person. His wife Dita and 2 daughters Lucy and Louise were very sweet and his guides/friends Andang and Kumis were just fantastic!! We ended up spending 9 days in Yudi's house, exploring rural villages, floating villages and tea plantations, Roh climbed Gunung Gede, a crazy high active volcano, I went to a random wedding with a random 'look at my foreign friends! i'm so cool!" guy that knows Yudi, and we spent the rest of the time eating ridiculous amounts of homemade and street food, learning Bahasa Indonesian, hanging out on the couches and cruising around little, peaceful Cianjur! Even after 9 days we both really didn't want to leave but had to.. Luckily we were able to get a direct bus to the airport though so we didn't even have to go back to Jakarta city!!
So after exactly one month in Indonesia, we flew to Malaysia. After travelling in Bali and Java, to be honest with you, I was ready for a break from Indonesia.