29 April – 2 May
We enjoyed our two hour flight to Jakarta, on the island of Java, first flying along the Straits of Malacca, and then over land, with few signs of habitation.
We were first off the plane and were directed to a bus for the baggage claim, to avoid a fourteen minute walk. We had booked a taxi for the forty minute ride to the hotel, as it was dark by the time we landed. Everything went according to plan.
We had chosen a large hotel only a fifteen minute walk from the railway station, which suited us well. We achieved more than we anticipated during our three night stay: sorting travel arrangements for Canada and the US, our laundry, and checking out the railway station that we were to depart from.
We even managed to print out our train tickets from a machine, with not an English word of help! Our biggest challenge was going to be crossing the immensely busy highway between the hotel and station. We would rather avoid the pedestrian bridge with steep, narrow steps – always desirable with fully loaded rucksacks.
We had a pleasant, if very warm walk to a nearby shopping mall, where we enjoyed a coffee and the obligatory ‘free’ doughnut at J.Co, and the blissful air conditioning. We also bought Peter some new trekking shoes as his old ones were looking very sad, and had developed a hole. We were fortunate to have the choice of three outlets selling trekking gear – they didn’t appear to cater for women, though!
Good Java… Goodbye dear friends
One evening we ate in the hotel’s Italian restaurant – excellent. The next evening we braved the heavy stream of cars and motorbikes to find a coffee shop/cafe with great vibes and Indonesian food to match. We even managed to order Nasi Goreng without garlic, for Lynne.
Busy outside hotel Cool vibe Game anyone?
On returning to the hotel we again took our chances crossing the road. There were subtle lulls in the traffic caused by traffic lights upstream, but those motorbikes don’t half race ahead given the chance!
Tuesday saw us rise early for another excellent breakfast, before negotiating the traffic to Gambir Station, very well-ordered, with platforms accessed by two escalators.
I know my station Surprisingly good!
We hadn’t done any sightseeing in Jakarta, but the pace of the long weekend was perfect. We managed to negotiate the uncertainties of communicating in English, just living with the ambivalence. The white wine in the hotel was really drinkable, with grapes from South Australia, but ‘vinified’ in Bali.
Our train journey to Yogyakarta is six hours, rushing in a tilting high speed train through the vast flat countryside. Hours of paddy fields, with rice in all stages of readiness – from thin bunches in the water, to lush deep green, to fading yellow, ready to harvest. It is hard to imagine how much rice is grown, but with Indonesia being the world’s fourth most populous country, at over 280 million, every grain must count!
First the line followed the plains in the north of the island, before crossing through lush trees to the south of the island. Our train was air conditioned, comfortable with reclining seats, and we enjoyed excellent coffee and an indulgent ‘spicy’ chicken and rice for Peter (while Lynne had a couple of small cheese buns we assembled at breakfast).
We’ve been in WhatsApp touch with our next guide Roszi, for our upcoming tour of Java. We even sent him a photo of the two of us, so that we can meet up at the South exit of the station; he’s unlikely to have much difficulty in spotting us as we alight!
