Jakarta . . . Woah.
It’s an ugly city that’s hard to get around in; Dirty and ramshackled, with illogical city and road planning, and most definitely high marks on the smelly scale; and I mean more than just smelly toilet water and open sewers. There's more trash burning in Java than anywhere I've ever been. To top it all off, my brother, Sam, & I arrived during their Independence Day celebration which closed either part or all of many streets for their local celebrations which included games for the children.
I arrived a day early and settled into our awesome hostel, though it took forever for my taxi driver to find the place. I think he stopped at least 7 times to ask directions from people on the street. Then the next day I had to go back to pick up Sam which turned out to be another crazy effort. Getting to and from the airport without spending a fortune is difficult and time-expensive. I tried to take the bus twice, but that was just a futile effort each time. Everyone kept sending me on different buses to get to the right bus until I realized that I was being lied to or there was some serious miscommunication going on and there was no way I was going to have enough time to reach Sam. I took a cab and found the exit and sat and waited . . . And waited . . . And began to worry that Sam was jailed or held up in customs or something. But no, apparently I was waiting at only one of a million different exits and Sam smartly figured this out and began walking past every exit until he found me.
We had some cheap and delicious local Nasi Goreng Ayam (Rice, Fried, w/ Chicken) and Mie Goreng Ayam (Noodles, Fried, w/ Chicken) for dinner down the street for a pittance and then went to bed. The next morning we got on a train headed for Yogyakarta (or Jogja, depending on pronunciation) where we wanted to explore both the city as well as the ancient Borobudur temple.
The first day we walked around the downtown area for hours. I had read in many places that this town was a backpacker favorite. Sam and I weren’t so sure why after we explored it. True, there were lots of shopping opportunities and interesting places to eat and the juice was fabulous, but for the most part we were left a little confused. However, we had a great time talking and walking and catching up on one another’s lives.
Sunrise at Borobudur was great. We woke up around 4am I think and had a driver take us to the temple where we were given flashlights and led to walk up the steps to wait for the sunrise. It wasn’t a fabulous sunrise, but it was still great to sit and listen and watch the world wake up while we sat amongst such old and interesting architecture.
I know I don't usually educate much on this blog, so here's some info: Those dome-things above are called "Stupas" which are found all over in Buddhist construction. A stupa holds relics or remnants of the dead; usually the spiritual elite, like a monk or a relic of Buddha. In each of the stupas in Borobudur you will find a statue of Buddah.
Borobudur was built in the 9th century mostly dedicated as a shrine to Buddha.
While on site, Sam and I were approached by two young students who wanted to practice their english. I had read about this ahead of time so I wasn’t my usual guarded (and sometimes dismissive) self when we were approached, which was a good thing because they turned out to be very sweet kids and we had a lot of fun conversing with them. They asked us about where we had visited in Java, what traditional food we had tried, where we were from, how old we are, etc.
When we were done exploring the temple, we were identified by some men and guided to a special exit path, which I was worried was going to lead us to a long gauntlet of souvenir shops, but once again I was pleasantly surprised. Part of the sunrise tour included a small breakfast and even a little souvenir scarf! We had no idea!
The rest of the day we spent relaxing and planning our route to Bromo and then on to Bali. It was going to be another long day of traveling (an entire day in a packed van) for us to get to the famous volcano, Mt. Bromo, but I wasn't worried. Sam and I were turning out to be great traveling companions!! Love you lots, little bro!
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