Getting there is half the fun

Hello from Indonesia!!

I don't know where to start this post so here we go....I told myself that I wasn't going to go into any internet cafe but I just couldn't resist. I just want to let everyone know how great of a time I am having and that I haven't been harmed or robbed (yet, knock on wood)!

I am still in Yogyakarta and have been here a few days already. I missed all trains Friday night so I took a night bus here. It sounds fine and dandy but that was one of my most frightening moments of my life. The taxi driver dropped my off in the middle of another world at 9pm: hectic streets, shady looking people, people just everywhere, people yelling at you, trying to sell you stuff, just tons of people. I got a bus ticket just fine but ripped off thoroughly. The taxi driver told me that I must ride on an "executive bus" but I ended up riding on a local bus. Initially the bus was empty but then quickly filled up, all 5 rows of seats. I started getting really nervous because this was definitely not the tourist bus and the taxi driver seriously warned me about travel on these buses and how I would have to watch my stuff and even pockets closely. Luckily I could fit my bag under the seat since I packed light, and also luckily I started talking to a friendly Indonesian before boarding. He sat beside me so the whole time I was worrying whether he was trying to play me. He seemed to be the only one on the bus who spoke English so everyone was asking him questions about "the white guy" and then laughing or pointing. To keep a long story short I of course arrived fine, but only after 2 buses and 16 hours of sitting on them! All in all the bus ride from hell was not too bad. All of the close calls and horn honks added to the fun of it. I learnt a few valuable lessons, talked to a few friendly people who wanted to practice their English, but got NO sleep whatsoever, got bruised knees from the short distance in between seats and the seat in front of me had cockroaches coming out of it!

Finally I got into Yogyakarta super stressed, tired and nervous. I wasn't in the city at all but 10km out in some bus station. I paid a guy on a motorbike to take my into town. He gave me a baseball helmet for a "helmet" and set off speeding into town. I must have looked like a grinning fool on the back of his bike. The trip was just nuts. The roads are so packed and there seems to be no road rules at all. At an intersection everyone just criss-crosses each other to get through, no need for a traffic light. Like the bus ride there were a lot of near misses. Half of the time we were driving on the opposite side of the road or even on the sidewalk! Actually there is no side walk (really), everyone just travels the same road no matter whether you are a slow old man, a horse or a bus. And yes there are horses here, they surprisingly use them a lot for moving goods.

Getting to my guesthouse in one piece I decided to try my luck one more time and signed up for a hike up a volcano despite recent activity. I got about 4 hours of sleep before it was time to pile into a van at 10pm. I met some really cool people here! Two Swiss girls, a British girl, a French guy and a German guy were the others in the van for the super fun ride to a small village on the mountain slopes. Around midnight we reached a tiny mountain hut which we all piled into to have some tea and get a safety talk. There were also 2 other Aussies who would be joining us, along with 4 guides. At 1am(!) we stared the hike up the mountain in the freezing cold. This was quite a surprise for me, I haven't been in below 25 degrees in over 3 months and suddenly it was 10 degrees but super humid still. To keep another super long story short we hiked for 3 hours up through tobacco plantations at first, then through sporadic trees and then into the open barren land of volcanic ash. We followed a ridge for a bit under the stars watching the moon rise. The trail then got super steep and required hands continuously. It was such a cool feeling hiking in the dark under the stars not knowing what is around you at all. Throughout the whole hike I had a mixed feeling of tremendous fear and complete joy, saying "this is the coolest thing I've ever done in my life" over and over in my head!! The hike wasn't without incidence though. We had lost Julia the British girl and a guide a long way back, and also the German guy and another accompanying guide due to the steepness. Both mine and Eve's flashlights broke while climbing also, making it both more scary and difficult, but later we took eve's bulb out and put it in mine for one extra light. Finally we reached the final plateau just below the dome at 4am. There were a bunch of graves here from past hikers that our guides told us to stay away from. It then started to cloud over incredibly fast. In no time it went from being a blissful starry night to a complete blackout. We couldn't hike any higher either, the guide got a radio from someone saying that it was too dangerous because of falling rocks and lava on the Westernside. So we were stuck in this complete barren wasteland in dropping temperatures. Plus our clothing was all super soaked from the humidity earlier. We had to wait for the sun to come up before we could continue down because the danger was too great so we all tried lying down on some garbage bags huddled under some rocks. For the next hour we completely froze our asses off. At this point there was the 6 of us plus a guide and a translator. It was the translator's first time on the hike and the poor guy was worse off than any of us, he was completely freezing. We tried to make a small fire out of the bushes around the area. This worked little though, the bushes were too wet and hard to rip out of the ground, and we couldn't go far too look for more materials lest we get lost or walk off the edge of the plateau in the fog. But the activity of making the fire took our mind off of the cold at least for a little while. We also had ourselves a mini aerobics class trying to warm up. Finally at 5:30am it was starting to get bright enough to hike down. In not much time we were below the clouds and yet above another layer of clouds, which made some of the best and most rewarding views of my life!! We caught the last bit of sunrise hiking down to the next plateau where we met the others, who had 'camped' there for the night, considerably warmer than us.

After hiking down exchanging horror stories of the night we reached the first mountain hut where we got some more tea and waiting for a ride further down mountain to our starting hut. Back at the hut we had the most delicious pancakes and got some superb views of the surrounding volcanoes. Arriving back in Yogya at 11am it had now been over 2 days for me with only 4 hours of sleep! Me and Europeans decided to celebrate a great/horrible night (depending on how you look at it) and head to the nearest pub. To keep another super long story short we all sat sharing beer after beer for almost 4 hours until we were sufficiently drunk/sunburnt. My mantra now changed from "coolest night ever" to "best time of my life". After having too much beer before 2pm we headed over to a hotel and paid the guys to use their pool, which made for some interesting swimming. The next day is basically just a blur too. I went out for dinner with "the girls" that night after swimming, and then went to a bar with Eve and one of the guides to drink this really potent Indonesian liquor called arak. It used to be some sort of a moonshine but the stuff we had was only (only?) 40%. It doesn't sound like much but it is since you drink it though a straw!! Then it was basically time for bed for me, Eve and the guide who we call superman. It had then been almost 3 days with only 4 hours of sleep and too much alcohol.

This then brings me today! I was going to go see the temple with the German guy (Peter) but slept in. Instead I went to see the palace. I paid a guy on a 3 wheel bike (tuk-tuk like thing called a becak) to take me to the Karaton. I thought I made my self clear, and even showed him on the map where I wanted to go, but this guy was really old and didn't speak a word of English and I couldn't understand his Indonesian despite now at least being able to describe where I am going. So he ended up dropping me off in the middle of fucking nowhere, way off of my 3 street tourist map on the back of a pamphlet. Not knowing what to do I just walked though a super sketch neighbourhood with a smile saying good morning to everyone while quietly trembling inside not knowing if they wanted to rob me. Finally after a while I found another guy on a bike who took me to the palace. Not being disorganized I arrived at 2pm, 15 minutes before closing. They didn't want to let me in but I pleaded for just 10 minutes since I was leaving in a day. Inside the place was devoid of tourists so I just ran around trying to see as much as possible. I ended up meeting a "man of the palace", plus a really old man who kept wanting me to take pictures of him for some reason. Well I started talking to this man about this and that thinking he was just the curator for an exhibition. It turned out he was almost like royal family. Born in the palace ground, where he is to live forever, as will his children and so on. He is not really a servant but more of family. This turned out to be a super lucky day. The guy was so friendly and he took me to many places in the palace where tourists and even Indonesians are not allowed to go, and then also around this sort of town within a town where all of the people of the palace live. I saw all sorts of extravagant rooms, the Princes' area, meditation rooms with intricate wood carvings for walls, you name it. After he took me around the place where his people live, through small alleys, by royal fountains, and then to the tallest building (4 stories only!) where you can see all of the city and even the volcanoes had it been a clear day. We also went to a place where people were training pigeons to race. It was quite amazing, they seem to treat the birds like crap but they always fly back. Also, they tie a whistle to the birds so when they fly around they sound like a missile going overhead. The first time it happened I was actually convinced! He even took me to his house and we had a drink together. He showed me all of his artwork and Batik paintings. And this wasn't a scam with like so many of them are. He didn't ask me to buy anything and was really informative. After I wandered though the palace living area alone saying hi to all of the friendly people who always say hi first! At the main street and back in the sketchy area I took another becak back home, had some dinner and then met Peter at a cafe. And then here I am, in the internet cafe!

This probably all is written like crap but I just wanted to let you all know how good of a time I'm having. This has to be the best trip of my life! I love Indonesia, adventure, people here, you all back home, you name it (and no I am not drunk nor on any sort of drugs now). I really should get off this thing and back to life! Tomorrow I am going to see some of the largest religious monuments. And then Wednesday I might be going with Matt from France (from the volcano hike) West to a small town on the sea!! Until then everyone take care! Peace!

Posted by Evan at 5:07 AM