Java, Indonesia

I'm sorry I've been late with stories from Indonesia. I'd like to say that I was waiting to get pictures from the other cameras on the trip, but really I've just been lazy.

So. Indonesia.
We flew Friday morning into Jakarta, the capital. Jakarta is the dirtiest, most crowded Asian city I've seen so far, significantly beating Bangkok - that's saying something. It's huge, sprawling miles out from a loose center area, has terrible roads, lots of slums, lots of pollution, and lots of bad smells. In a way, this was good, because it supported our plan to leave Jakarta that night for the (hopefully) more pleasant city of Yogyakarta.

Our intention was to explore Jakarta for part of the day, then buy passage on the night train to Yogya. I was astonished when the rest of the world didn't align to our plans. As it turned out, Saturday was Hari Raya, the holiday marking the end of the muslim fasting month of Ramadan. When a month of fasting during the day and abstention from fun ends, everybody goes nuts. (Indonesia, by the way, is the world's biggest Islamic country, with 88% or 210 million muslims.) As in, they all want to travel. At the first bus station (not the cheapest, not the most expensive) we were told that seats for the 8 hour ride to Yogya were sold out, but we could buy a standing ticket for the same price. We declined, then took a series of taxis around the city discovering that every other bus or train was completely booked. At one of the train stations, there were so many people in line that the local news station had a crew covering the story.

In the end we booked seats on a minibus (a 9 seater van) for about $30 US. After watching "The Office" in a local restaurant for a couple of hours, the van picked us up. We had to get three more passengers, we were told, then we'd start going to Yogya. Surprise surprise, traffic was TERRIBLE Friday evening before the biggest holiday of the year. Also, out driver didn't know where he was going. So we spent between 3 and 4 hours driving around Jakarta before we finally left the city.

We did get to see a lot of the celebrations. There were fireworks, music; I saw one group of people doing the proverbial "dance in the streets." There were also a lot of trucks covered in people with drums that drove around making a lot of noise.

I didn't get a lot of sleep in the van, which was too bad, because we didn't get to Yogyakarta until 8 am the next morning. Yes, a 14 hour van ride.

Yogyakarta was nicer that Jakarta. But the real attractions lay outside of the city. We booked a driver and a car through a tourist agency, and over the next three days saw some old temples, beautiful countryside, and volcanos. The temples were really amazing, unless you have just been to Angkor Wat, and then they're ho hum. They were ho hum.

Perhaps betraying my casual indifference towards these archeological wonders, I took many pictures, which I will now share.

This is Borobudur temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the world. Today, it sports many colored umbrellas, even when it's not raining.


Matt and Tom, traveling the world together. Someday in the future, children will play "Where is the world are Matt and Tom" and "Find Tom and Matt" and have no idea who Carmen and Waldo are.


This is (was) also a temple. I imagine this is what most everyhting looks like until it gets rebuilt to attract tourists.


This is a different temple - it's not built on a hill. Ignore the scaffolding on the right...



Apparently something was bothering me.


Can you tell which one is Vincent, the friendly Frenchman that set up this trip? This trip was unique for me in that our group were the only foreign (or at least white) tourists there. Several people wanted pictures with Vincent - one man even gave him a baby to hold and pose with.


I even had my own taste of celebrity! I don't know her name, but she wanted a picture with me and I think she likes me!

End day 2. The second half is longer and taller. Stay tuned...