We limited our time in indonesia to 3 weeks when we booked our flight back home but despite our limeted time we spent 4 days in Jakarta.
Most people will argue that this city has nothing to offer including the inhabitants but our time there passed fast. We met friends, did some shopping, experienced traffic and life between malls and this massively agglomeration of buildings better known as districts usually in the surroundings of a huge mall town. We even got to see Little Tokyo. Japanese food is a huge thing here. Our hostel was wondeful and a great place to relax. The best thing though was to meet all of Chris friends. The ones he met 4 years ago during his West Java field camp.
Our last night we spent in the famous Filosofi Kopi owened by an indonesian actor. Apparently many famous artsy people were around. We loved the live music and the atmosphere, hanging out with the friends. The next day we hopped on a train to Yogyakarta which we booked with the help of a friend online and paid at Indomarket the equivalent to a 7/11.
The train ride was smooth with great scenery. We opted for a day trip to see the mountains and rice fields pass by. We got to our homestay in Yogya in the late afternoon. The owner and staff were very helpful and kind. We went on a spontanious trip with him and some other guests to a pine forrest, the dunes and the sea in an oldtimer Volkswagen van with matching music like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. We opted for sunset on top of the hill eating all kinds of fried fishes with a coconut you had to take both hands to hold and a great view over the beach. The whole day was a mix of a tacky retrospective roadtrip and stops at places the locals spend their free time. The other days we spent exploring the temples around the city: Borobodur and Prambanan. The first one we did with a driver whereas the latter we did on our own by scooter. We also viseted the palace on Sunday to see the cultural dance. Afterwards we drove to Prambanan and we got very wet due to an outburst of heavens. Another thing to mention might be the Python we had for dinner. Taster like an ocean chicken, quite nice.
Then our east Java adventure started. 10 hours crazy driving by minibus, 1.5 hours by a different minibus, late dinner, get up at 3 am, get into a jeep to see the sunrise from a viewpoint up above Bromo, drive down into the caldera, walk up to the crater, back to the hotel, get breakfast, get our bags, drive down, wait for two hot hours for the big bus, take the big bus for 5 hours, wait at the ferry terminal for almost 2 hours, cross over to Bali by ferry on the bus, get off, walk around lost for 30 min. while the clock gets set ahead one hour, take the driver that has been following us around and creeping us out, drive a 2 hour route in one hour, get to guesthouse in Lovina, Yay. And every single minute of transport was worth the view of Bromo!!!!
Pictures coming soon!