Mudik'ng to Bekasi and my 40th day in Indonesia!

Today marks my 40th day in Indonesia. That's exactly 10 days past a normal tourist VISA which confirms the fact that I'm not a tourist but indeed, a temporary citizen of the country. I suppose you can say that it's finally settling in that I am here to stay yet, each of these 40 days have already started to blend into one another. I never thought that I would start thinking - What did I do yesterday? A remarkable change for someone who has lived so vigilantly by a diary for the past three years.

Alas, enough of my internal dialogue and epiphanies, time to move on to my recent adventure in Bekasi and brief stop in Bandung, West Java.

Sam, Timmy, Steph and I managed to score really cheap tickets with Garuda to Jakarta over Idul Fitri/Lebaran/End of Ramadan. It worked out be about $100 return and also meant free food! That clearly is the most important part of the tale, not the fact that we were flying with the now-safe again company, extra baggage allowance or actually having a flight fly on time. Of course, the food wasn't free but it was nice change to be given food unlike my usual budget airline flying. We arrived in Jakarta safely, despite the fact that I have never been so afraid of a take-off in my life. It was a really wet, drizzly day so I think the take-off was a wee bit faster than I'm comfortable. I don't think my occasional yelps during turbulence added to the ambience of the rather quiet and rather empty plane despite it being one of the biggest mass migration of people the world sees each year. Timmy and I were greeted by Tude, my distant cousin and good family friend. He and his girlfriend treated us to dinner and we were soon off to Bekasi.

It was so odd seeing the highways and streets of Jakarta so quiet and empty; quite a shell of it's usual self to be honest. As we left on September 8th, most Indonesians would have already begun their journeys to their hometowns or at least on transit hence Jakarta being so quiet. Tim and I soon arrived at Tude's house and Tim was warmly greeted by their dog, Klewan whilst he sniffed at me hesitantly. Tude and Tim bought us each a longneck of Bintang which sparked conversation until the wee morning as sadly, the call for Sahur marked that we had been up far too long although, my aunt had not come home yet as she was still on call delivering two new babies into the world. Unlike Christmas back home, Ramadan changes each year due to the calendar they use so those children may not always have their birthday during Ramadan. Wonder what it would like to have a birthday during ramadan. I imagine eating would be even more exciting because you would probably be not only eating delicious food but also made to wait the whole day until you were allowed to eat cake!

After a slow start to day, it was nice to be greeted by the sight of a home cooked meal and for once, not everything was deep-fried or overly sweet. Not saying that I haven't been eating healthy here whilst in Jogya but it is incredibly easy to fall into the trap of eating things that have been 'digoreng' which means, fried or 'manis' which means sweet. After a delicious meal prepared by Mbak Min, we were off to meet up with Sam and Steph at Citos - a cool mall/place to hang out. We wondered around the vast size of the mall before settling into a cool little Arabian themed cafe and indulged in apple tobacco shisha with orange juice filtering through. A Shisha or Hooka really makes you feel like a dragon when you blow out the smoke whilst the tingling taste of apple lingers in your mouth.


Things like that really highlight the fact that Jakarta is an interesting city since on one hand you have all the elements of Western Modernity: Shopping malls, expensive cars, tall high-rise buildings but yet, this is contrasted with Indonesian culture, Mesjids, shanty towns and extreme poverty. Mix in crazy traffic, big cars, little three-wheeled cars and a smattering of motorbikes, you have quite a crazy Capital city. This picture was taken by Tude of the view over-looking Jakarta from our Danish friend, Dani's Uncles apartment. Just after Lebaran, we attempted to check out the Jakarta nightclubbing life but sadly, as it was still Lebaran, all of the clubs were closed but we did have fun drinking with Dani's uncle and Tude chauffeuring us around the streets of Jakarta. Got to say, German Schnapps is rather lethal without any flavouring like it's butterscotch or peach counterparts and gila tequila from Mexico is really quite gila aka crazy.

After two nights living like a young person in Jakarta would, Tim and I were off to Bandung with Tude's family. It really was like a classic family holiday car trip. We all piled into two cars since Tude's cousin and her young family - such a cute 6month old!, the nanny, the cook, the two bule's and the rest of Tude's family were all coming for the adventure. In true Indo style, no accomodation was booked since it was too difficult to find somewhere due to everyone mudik'ng. After a few hours, outside our window were the rolling green hills of Bandung and we had arrived in the city centre. Tude's parents managed to secure a cute little roadside motel and we all dropped our small bags into our respective rooms. If the trip couldn't become more family like, my aunt began dishing out what I can only describe as the equivalent of an Indonesian picnic in her room. After eating a quick but still homely meal, we were off in the car again to drive the streets of Bandung.

Bandung is famous for it's factory outlets and we were off to our first mall. Tude,Alit, Tim and I split from the main group to go find Timmy some shoes which didn't take long since we have 220,000IDR ($30) Chucks - Score! I bought myself a pair as well since, who can resist a bargain like that? After some serious shopping, we were in the cars once more and on our way to Tude's family friend's house up in the mountains in Bandung. This was a real treat as we were actually Mudik'ng to a Muslim families house during Lebaran! After driving through the windy hills, we had arrived at a beautiful house with a matching bungalow in the front. Of course, true to Lebaran, visiting someone's house means that delicious food awaits and we were not disappointed. There was a vast selection of traditional Lebaran food like 'tupat', 'opor', a potato dish, 'Rendang' and a HUGE amount of biscuits and cakes! It was all so tasty and if the night couldn't get better, we got to let off fireworks! During Lebaran, you can buy fireworks off the side of the streets and it's not un-common to hear fireworks going off each night during the month of Ramadan and especially afterwards!
Tude was showing me how to capture photos at night on manual settings with my D90 and I managed to fluke one awesome picture of our fireworks. The other picture is of the Bandung skyline that Tude managed to capture. It was simply beautiful to be up in the mountains as the air was so fresh or in Indonesian, 'sejuk'.

We were only in Bandung for the one night and after one last stop for some shopping at the factory outlets, we were on the road again bound for Bekasi as Alit, my younger cousin needed to get back for a band practice since he was performing at Mal Metropolitan the next day. Watching him sing at his concert with his band was actually the first I had seen Alit perform as I had only heard his beautiful voice in many karaoke sessions, recordings or his obvious talent on display in the forms of many trophies at their house. For someone who is usually so quiet, the stage is really his element and he and his band definitely drew a big crowd. Alit's band performed an awesome two hour set of a mixture of Indonesian and English songs and the MC managed to get Tim on stage to act our a love story with a shy, teenage Indonesian girl. This was highly entertaining to watch both parties mutual embarassment, as well as the fan girls that followed Timmy around the mall to try and get a picture of him as a product of his five minutes of fame. Times like these really makes me love Indonesia and how I wish I had yelled out that Tim was actually Justin Beiber because of the Beiber Fever this nation has!


This photo was taken by Tude and I'm posting it because it's cool because of the composition and lighting! The next photo is of Alit singing whilst trying to encourage a fan to join in with him. I mean he was also offering chocolate, how do you resist that?This is a photo I took too :P

Post show, Alit and his friends invited us to watch the second instalment of the Indonesian Trilogy - Merah Putih II: Darah Garuda. This film was excellent! Tim and I were really chuffed since it was the first Indonesian film we had watched without subtitles and we understood the story! I was really impressed by the quality of the film, the storyline and the fact it is a film about the Independence movement in Indonesia and the conflict with the Dutch leading up to the Independence of Indonesia.

Just when we thought our last day in Jakarta and Bekasi was going to be relaxed, we were soon ushered off to Ancol - It's sort of like the Gold Coast of Jakarta since they have theme parks and it's on the harbour/beach. As time was of the essence since Timmy and I were flying out that evening, we only had time to go to Samudra - the theme park with a 4D Cinema, live watersports shows and aquariums. That was fine with us since had never been there before and as much as we love Dufan, it was nice to check out something new.

We watched the hilarities of Scorpian Pirates - a waterstunt drama with water skis but we avoiding being sprayed by water which was awesome since it was a gross brown colour, were jolted around in our seats whilst watching a film in 3D which made things seem just that more real, looked at crazy fish in the aquarium including Pirañas that suspiciously had no teeth. We soon found out that if Pirañas lose their teeth, they can grow them back in a day - hectic! Sadly, our day as big kids soon came to an end and Timmy and I had to bid farewell to my family at Ancol. We managed to find a taxi to take us to the airport, which was pretty tricky since traffic was picking up because of people both returning to Jakarta from their villages, as well as the fact that since it was a public holiday, everyone was at Ancol!

Tude and Alit helped us negotiate with the driver to not to rip us off and use the meter but unforuntately, the instructions they sent to me to watch the meter and not to tip him was promptly read out loud by yours truly. To make matters worse, the message was in Indonesian so the driver was bound to understand everything I said. I'm not sure if he was listening to me but Timmy shook his head; I was pretty embarrassed.

Tim and I arrived at the airport safely and not ripped off - hooray! We met up with Steph and Sam and boarded our flight relatively on schedule. I must say, the touchdown in Jogya really felt as if we were returning home. I decided I happily call Jogya my home after Sydney and Tabanan.

So that concludes the chapter on Mudik'ng to Bekasi. The week ahead looks to classes going back to normal, without interruption and I'm currently trying to organise a hike of Gungung Merapi, the tallest mountain in Jogyakarta. A possible weekend at Karimunjawa - these beautiful and idyllic islands off the coast of Java, is also on the drawing board too. Of course, there will also be uni work once classes are in full swing. I'd hate for you to think that all I am doing here in Indonesia is having fun and not actually to study here :P

Jalan Malioboro, Candi Prambanan and Ramayana Ballet

After a party at Joel's and Nic's, followed by a late night coffee session at Kedai Kopi, I found myself at home at about 3:30am - just in time for Sahur (the first meal during Ramadan before the sunrise) meaning that the gate was open! I did feel sort of dodgy for wandering in just as some of the girls in my kos were waking up but it didn't keep me up so to speak.

After a snooze, Alex, Steph and I headed to Jalan Malioboro, most likely the famous street in Jogyakarta. Our mission was simple: to buy Batik, Shoes and presents for my family in Jakarta and for Ina's family in Sumatra. It is a lot of fun wandering down the long street since it is filled with street vendors, andong (traditional horse and carts; form of transportation) and Becak's (A bike with a passenger cart). Of course by wandering, it is more like being heckled down the street but it's something you just need to laugh off.

Our first stop was Mirota Batik - This giant store that has the first floor dedicated to Batik and the second floor dedicated to souvenir-like things. Another welcomed aspect of this store is that prices are fixed, unlike it's counterparts on the street where you can bargain for a better price. Perhaps we were cheating the Indonesian culture but the weather was so hot and it was crowded. These conditions meant that we were happy to pay a little more only for the comfort of staying sane. Spending the day shopping with Alex and Steph was probably the first girl-only day that we've had in a while. We enjoyed being able to try different batik shirts, look at touristy souvenirs without worrying about someone becoming bored. We all settled on a few batik shirts and moo-moo's (oversized batik dresses) and a secret stash of Monggo chocolate (it is a Belgium-style chocolate that is heavenly and made in Indonesia). You may notice that batik appears to be a motif within the blog but Jogyakarta is famous for it's batik and it's a tradition to wear it on Fridays, sort of like our casual Friday, as well as in formal situations. It's a must in every Jogykartan wardrobe!

We then had a mission to find both Steph and Alex shoes which we find in no other place like Bata (A staple Indonesian shoe store). We also found out that we all have the same feet size - uncanny! After a successful shoe hunt, Steph had a brilliant idea to get frozen yoghurt so we headed our way back to the shopping mall and indulged in fro-yo with the healthy option of fruit toppings and then the bad yoghurt, with oreos', chocolate caviar and lychee jelly. Both were excellent choices. The photo above is of Steph and Alex with our delicious frozen yoghurt. We bid farewell to Alex for she was leaving for Sumatra the next morning and was unfortunately unable to join us, along with the other ACICIS students, to the Ramayana Ballet at Candi Prambanan.

Steph and I decided that we would catch the TransJogya bus, Jogya equivalent of STA back in NSW but a fraction of the price - It is only 3000 IDR for wherever you want to go on the bus route! We piled on to a crowded bus but thankfully it was air-conditioned! After a few stops, Steph and I managed to get seats and were able to enjoy the passing scenery of Jogya or in my case, have a little power nap. We arrived at Prambanan and met up with our other ACICIS friends. They had taken refuge at some seats next to a Martabak vendor (kind of like an Indonesian egg filo pastry, v. tasty!) and were munching on freshly made martabak. Steph and I eagerly joined them, it's something that you can't get at home unless my mum makes it occasionally :P

With filled tummies, we crossed the road to Prambanan, just in time for the last tour. The best part about being a student here is the discounts to what is mainly tourist sites. Instead of paying 120 000 IDR for a ticket, we only paid 20 000 IDR = awesome! a lovely man showed us around the temple grounds and explained the history of the temples. I asked whether women were allowed to enter the temple after they built it but the answer to my question began more a story. Legend has it, there was a Princess that this King wanted to marry but she wasn't too crash hot on him so she told him that he would have to build 1000 temples before dawn in order to marry her. The King managed to get to 999 temples just before day-break but the Princess said the challenge was over since there was no way he could have finished the temples. So in return for her insolance, he changed her into the main temple that still exists today, as the temple for Siwa, as well as marking the 1000 temple. Story has it that if a young couple enters that temple, their time together will be cursed since the King and Princess could not be together, so neither should they.

Pretty cray huh?

It soon became sunset and we bid goodbye to the beautiful temples and our lovely tour guide. He showed us how to get to the Open Air Theatre for the performance of the Ramayana Ballet that evening. We paid for our tickets, although no student prices and decided to eat some dinner at the Buffet Restaurant conveniently next door. Dear Yasmin thought she heard that the dinner was 20 000 IDR (about $3) but when we received the bill, it was actually 70 000 IDR (About $10). Yasmin was shattered as she was so excited for a cheap dinner but it became more of a reminder to practice her numbers. It made for a good laugh and for the food we ate, there was no way a meal like that would be cheap back home!

We then went in search of our seats and we were positioned towards the left of the stage but in the slightly elevated section which made for a great viewing of the show. The story of the ballet is the love story between Rama and Sinta, as well as the perils that occur because of the rival King, Rahwana who kidnaps Sinta because he wants to marry her. The costumes of the ballet were all so intricate and so vivid in colour. The ballet had a live Javanese gamelan playing which really helped the story come to life! I wish I could have taken some photos but I only had my iPhone on me, which was useless in the dark.

If you are interested in the story, I'd recommend looking it up as it is quite a famous story in both Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. Though I'm sure with the migration of the story between the countries, there are bound to be different interpretations.

All 10 of us were lucky to find cabs on the main street, with the help of a nice man who helped us usher them, though, I think the taxi drivers gave him some money for helping us. In the taxi on the way home, I couldn't help but think I'd like to learn more about Hinduism because of the history of the temples, the Ramayana Ballet, as well as a personal interest with being half-Balinese.

Today was most definitely a culture-packed day and I'm hoping for a few more days like these. I think the next culture trip is to visit Affandi Museum, followed by an episode of the Ramayana Ballet but in Wayang Kulit form (Javanese shadow puppets).

:)

Get your Angkot on!

Thursday night began with chilled beers at Bar Bintang and Lucifers on Jl Sosro, bailing out of Republik, a nightclub to only end-up chilling outside a convenient store. Whilst my friends drank on the streets, it soon became 2am. It was time to head home, or at least Yasmin's floor for the night as we had a 9am INCULS opening lecture and we both were not going to make it unless we had each other's motivation. I have a feeling that her floor might become my surrogate home away from my kos over the next six months.

After a struggle to wake up, Yasmin and I had to speed our way to Jl. Kaliurang, thankfully near her kos, to meet Steph and Dave to catch an Angkot! I'd never taken what I can only describe as a minibus except the doors are always open to allow people to jump on and off the bus quickly. The Angkot we boarded was the magical no. 7 - it apparently goes everywhere in Jogya and for only 2500 IDR (about 30c?). It was a fun experience watching people pile on and off the bus, nearly falling out of it when the bus stopped and chatting with the kids on the back seat who would burst into fits of giggle when we asked them their names or how they were. Indonesian kids are some of the cutest kids you can find!

The bus arrived at our stop or rather, came to a sudden holt and we swiftly jumped off as usually the bus will continue it's course if you aren't quick enough! We arrived to the lecture theatre, all a little worse for wear I might add and the lecture soon began. The lecture was on a basic overview of Indonesian history, culture and food, tips to stay healthy, what to avoid wearing at uni and what to do and what not to do at uni. The lecturer was this lovely, smiley lady who gave the lecture in a mixture of Indonesian and English. Made it just that little bit easier to understand which was nice. The lecture finished an hour early - woohoo, and Yasmin and I, along with some of the European International students headed off to the food court! After some delcious and cheap food, a plate is roughly 6000 IDR (less than a dollar), I headed home and ordered my first Aqua galon!

The above photos are the insides of the bus, the mad seat covers and my beloved Aqua galon and pump from Carrefour :)