JAVA, INDONESIA
- Kilometres on train: 1365km
- Different train classes: 3
- Pizzas eaten: 5
- Selfies with strangers: 16
- Cities visited: 5
After the pleasant Bali experience we were off to something more exciting: exploring the island of Java. Now this island is nowhere near as touristy as Bali, hence we got a lot of looks, smiles, giggles and helloooos visiting the corners of Java. Surabaya was a positive surprise, it’s actually a really well-looking place, very modern, business-like, lots of huge shopping malls and western restaurants. We arrived here on an executive train, 6 hours from Banyuwangi, comfortable seats with ample leg room and AC just a little too strong. We had to go to the gangway connection (between carriages) to warm up every once in a while.
The majority here is muslim, a lot of mosques, prayer music from the minarets, women in hijab, and of course, beer is even more difficult to get. I have not found a single super market that sells it. To be honest the stores don’t sell much anything, just different sodas and juices, sweets and a myriad of crackers and snacks. We have not found a shop that might sell stuff like vegetables, bread, or cheese. So we rely on the restaurants to feed us, as self-cooking or even making breakfast is just not possible. I did find a store that sells wine from abroad, and the prices were horrific, but I bought a Sauvignon Blanc anyway to sip a glass in the hotel room at night.
Finding a laundry place was an exciting experience. We usually do laundry about every 7-10 days and now we were literally in our last clean clothes - I had made a dress out of a long skirt and a bra out of a scarf - so we were in desperate need of a laundry place. The one we found on Google maps ended up being closed so we continued walking with our heavy laundry bags and got lost into a maze of lively small streets, where the locals were flabbergasted to see us. Some talked to us and some just shrieked in excitement. What are these foreigners doing here in our slum? Well, we were also a bit baffled, not knowing where we were and how to find out, but luckily we found a laundry place that took in our load for about 2 euros. We had something to eat and drink on the street stalls, for about 1 euro per dish and left this happy place to go to the shopping mall nearby. The contrast was amazing: we just came out of a crowded, a little dirty slum to this magnificently modern giant mall where all the international clothing brands were present. A bunch of students stopped us giggling nervously: They wanted to interview us in English, probably for a school project, not sure, it all was a bit confusing. It was a nice experience to help them, and they all took selfies with us in the end.
I was so fed up with Indonesian food (it tastes too much like Indian food which I despise), and my stomach had been acting out the past 4 days, so I decided we eat something western, and found a great Italian place with the best pizza I have had in a while. It was so good that in fact the next evening I ordered pizza again to our hotel room!
Day trip to Malang (2 hours south on the train) was a great detour. We visited a little mountain on the western side with a private car and driver who spoke no English so we got to practice our Indonesian, got to see a nice waterfall and beautiful forest, get through a giant maze, and shoot paintball & arrows. That was fun! After returning to town we visited the Rainbow Village which is a slum painted in all colours of the rainbow to make it more appealing to tourists. And it does. The locals ask you for a minimal entrance fee of like 0.40 € to experience their living surroundings, now so much more inviting and pleasant, with the help of that tourist money coming in.
Unfortunately Kai got sick on the way back and our train ride was not the nicest one, and the evening was spent resting in our hotel room. He was a bit better in the morning, thank goodness as we were about to move again, this time on a train to Yogyakarta. It would be a 6 hour train ride, in an economy class which meant hard benches and no leg room. It was probably the most uncomfortable journeys I can remember, and I hoped we had booked the executive class as now it would have made sense with Kai sick and all.
Jogyakarta experience was a bit short and passive as we couldn’t do much due to Kai’s illness. We did see some sights riding around town on bike rickshaws, and treated ourselves a haircut each, but left for Jakarta with a limited understanding of this nice traveller town. The 9-hour train ride to Jakarta was okay, comfortable in business class. After checking in we tried to go and have a drink in our hotel rooftop terrace. It had a small swimming pool and magnificent view over the 10 million inhabitant city. However, we found out the whole hotel was non-alcoholic, and after a dip in the pool decided to look elsewhere. We found a fancy Spanish restaurant offering tapas and all-you-can-drink wine packages (I was in heaven!!) where we celebrated our 2-month travel anniversary that also marks halfway of our round the world journey.
The next day's sightseeing was easy on the free, air-conditioned tourist hop-on-hop-off bus. We saw the National Monument, with about an hour’s wait to get on the top for a smoggy view of the city, and then the Old Town with architecture of Dutch influence. Their history museum explained us Indonesia had been under Dutch reign for hundreds of years and only got independence in 1945.
Jakarta was our last destination in Indonesia. To be honest I am eager to get out of here already. This country is definitely not for me. Next up is Vietnam which I am quite excited about. The trip up there was not the easiest one, I’ll explain more about it in the next blog post.