The 5000 Project

Jogja us the university capital of indonesia, wealthy families pay for their kids to be sent to this city – as such the bus transport system is excellent, traffic is still insane however everyone gives way to the public bus – makes for an extremely cheap (30c a trip, no matter how many bus transfers you make) and smooth ride.

The first two nights I stayed with a couchsurfer who is a friend of a housemate back in perth, he lives in a student sharehouse in a pretty ghetto suburb, considering the lower-than-upper class (hard to tell at times) area the rent is very cheap (well, from my perspective), his room in a four bedroom sharehouse costs ~$130/yr, electricity is $1.50/month each. Unfortunately I contacted him during a busy assignment period for uni, I could see that he was a bit stressed but he still offered everything and helped with directions, offered pickups etc. I tried to stay independent and out of the house for as long as possible.

During the last two days I explored two ancient hindu and buddhist temples, first one being Prambanan, which was just a 20min bus ride from his house:

Prambanan is the largest hindu temple in indonesia, it was built during a similar era (9th century) as the Ankor Wats (9th->12th century) and I could see the similarity – it is very impressive, just as good as any of the temples at the ankor site.

The next day I traveled 1.5hrs to a much larger site site, and one of the 7 wonders of the world, the great borobodur temple:

This massive temple is too large to capture on photo, really need an aerial shot, better off google image searching. So yeah “The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues” (thanks wikipedia!).
Oh here’s something interesting: “Evidence suggests Borobudur was abandoned following the 14th-century decline of Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms in Java, and the Javanese conversion to Islam”
Who needs to pay for a tour guide when you can just wikipedia it afterwards ;) (Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobodur)

To be honest though, since seeing the ankor wats, every ancient temple looks similar, still very awesome, but the initial indiana jones feeling has faded just a tad.

I decided to move on and let the couchsurfer study for exams, I finally replied to the malang family’s constant barrage of text messages asking me to stay with their friend, in a more upper class suburb. After using google maps on my phone with GPS, I managed to take 2 busses and walk to the house (quite impressed ;D). Last night for dinner I tried chicken intestine on a stick, as well as many other things which I have no idea what they were – and it was all free! also free entertainment, some guy playing a traditional harp and a perth based indian music group rocked up on a tour – I’m still not sure why it was all free, there was mention of it being a social club, and sometimes they just make it all free to the public. I like this place.

Today is museum and water castle (?) day.

cya!

As I sit on the floor in this netcafe cubicle, with the computer mounted close to the floor and no chair; while I move my body into different positions every few minutes in order to get some comfort; I have been thinking about interesting observations thus far:

Muslim people are required to pray 5 times a day, each time there are loudspeakers set up eevverrywhere blasting out the praises to Allah; I have noticed is that a lot of indonesian people sleep very heavy, on the bus people’s phones would go off, sometimes for minutes, with loud ringtones until the call drops; many people blast out music from their mp3 players (never seen anyone using headphones) which doesnt seem to wake the sleeping people.
I believe there are two reasons for this:
1) Most people work hard for long hours and are extremely exhausted when it comes to sleep time
2) They are so used to sleeping through the loud 5am prayer that their brains are conditioned to ignore loud noise when sleeping

A member of the malang family I was staying with, mentioned to me one night that he has to go see his second wife. I was a little taken back, I heard about this kind of thing in islamic culture but never would have thought it actually happens today. He invited me to go with him to a semi-primitive village in a jungle near a nice isolated beach about 4hrs travel from malang; I was tempted to go but I really needed to hit the road, the family were being far too hospitable that I felt like I had to leave else I’ll lose my independence each day, slip into a comfort zone, plus it was a little weird. I’m thinking back now that it would have been a pretty interesting experience. He mentioned that he feels a bit weird about the two wives situation and sometimes finds it difficult to manage; however, from what I could gather from the broken english, it strengthens the first marriage as it is an occasional break when needed. He has two children with the first wife and one child with the other wife. Cultural difference.

Another member of the family showed me his ~7 credit cards, which he was able to acquire due to having a registered graphic design business. He admitted that he is the cause of the financial crisis and understands he shouldnt have spent so much money which didnt exist :P He bought flash cars with it, you’ll often find the roads full of fancy new cars which i assume large savings or debt have been thrown into, value systems changing rapidly. Could also be that new flash cars are really cheap here :P

From what I can gather (as in, this is my biased opinion) developing countries are trying so hard to be materialistic from what they can see on american TV and movies, they are trying to live a comfortable life away from the smog and dirt outside which they feel as if they have deserved for such a long time, unfortunately the approach is dangerous in this current age; just as the western world is becoming less materialistic due to the age of awareness of the environmental impact that the unsustainable lifestyle holds. I can foresee difficult global challenges in the future.

Nothing to blog about jogja yet, nothing interesting enough happenin’ – maybe tomorrow :)

Ok, so I hopped on this bus to malang. After the first 10min of the ride, the south east asian traffic triggered memories of the past… almost like a nightmare :P

There seems to be only 2 road rules:
1. The bigger the vehicle, the more right of way
2. overtaking is to be done at all times, regardless of dangerous oncoming traffic in the other lane, dont worry; if they see you they will slow down! (somehow this works… I figure due to the intense congestion at all times it is kind of required to fill every tiny bit of road, slow cars must be overtaken immediately.. according to the drivers)

400km in Western australia would take ~4hrs
400km from bali to malang takes ~12hrs

I chose to stop at malang instead of going directly to yogjakarta, as it will take a day and a half to get there directly – from past experience with bus trips to and from china, I’m not too fond of the ridiculously long trips, unless its on a train.

Without knowing anything about malang, I sent a couchsurfer request off before i jumped on the bus. After the agonizing trip, I got off the bus at 5am to the loud prayers on loudspeakers set up pretty much everywhere; This was the transition from the hindu bali to the highly islamic indonesia. Feeling a little uneasy considering how the media seems to portay these areas, I hopped on a barkor (unique personnel transportation vehicle, every country in SeA seems to have something similar with a different name)

I requested to be dropped off at a netcafe so that i can check the couchsurfer response and plan the day, turns out no netcafes were open, one guy in the car spoke reasonable english and offered for me to stay at his friend’s place, just to rest before heading to a netcafe. At first I declined, but regretted it considering i couldnt see any open netcafes, he asked me to get off when he got off – and so I did. He took me though old alleyways full of old buildings, when we arrived at a small house I was introduced to the entire family; as it turns out, this guy’s friend is getting married today!

After consuming a generous gift of coffee and food (and thanking them profusely) they invited me to attend the wedding! I asked if it’s ok and if I would be intruding, apparently islamic weddings are open to all (well, later i found out it was just friends and friends of friends etc) so, off I headed, on the back of a motorbike, through old colourful buildings and mountains in the backdrop – I found it odd that there was not a single westerner or hawker to be seen.

I was greeted with much hospitality with a purely friendly and welcoming aura , I started to notice that people were taking photos of me with their friends in the picture – I began to wonder how often westerners actually visit this amazing untouched place. As it turns out, they very rarely do.

I have been offered food and accommodation as well as tours, I ask if there is anything i can do to repay this treatment, they refuse any money – I helped children of the families speak a bit of english, so far that is all I have done :|

So, yeah, in 15min theyre going to take me up to the mountain to check out the view of the city at night. I have many many fantastic photos, they will be uploaded soon – as soon as I can get as connection with acceptable upstream :P more to post about malang soon, I’m getting a lift to yogjakarta in a car, as jenga (the guy who i met after the bus) will be going back to jakarta then, and its on the way.

I got a response from the couchsurfer, got a sim card so I’ll call him tomorrow – it would be rude to decline.

My perception of islamic culture has improved greatly.

** EDIT **
My lift to jogja by car was delayed for a day (’till the 26th), as the newly weds needed a lift too – I decided that I shouldn’t stay here for too long, esp when they were giving me food and accommodation for free. I’m currently in a netcafe near the train station with a ticket to jogja booked for 3:30pm.

Yesterday was a public holiday (being easter, even though nearly noone in the city celebrates it, its still a day off) so the whole family took me out to the hot volcanic springs in the highlands… on the back of a motorbike. 1 Bike had 2 kids aged ~6 plus the parents, they seemed to think having 4 people on a scooter was a safe thing to do, while weaving through crazy traffic. I was on the back of another bike, for the 1hr30min drive each way, I was shitscared most of the time.
The views from the hill/mountain were pretty awesome and the hot springs were flooded with people, I was the only white guy in a large pool of indonesians, very where’s-wally-esque. Made for a good photo :)

Ah speaking of photos, unfortunately my SDcard become corrupt halfway through trying to upload the first photo to facebook last night :( the card is wiped. Thankfully Zain (the first guy i met at the bus station) copied a lot of the photos to his laptop, mainly the ones with people; I’m going to meet up with him in jakarta to copy them off his HDD. I really need to copy photos to external HDD whenever possible to prevent issues like this occuring with unstable flash memory :P I took some photos today and have uploaded them to facebook now.

** EDITEDIT **
other card corrupt now too, must be the card reader :( looks like I’ll be buying a new one soon

After the whole airport shenanigans, woke up in a hotel in kuta.

Kuta is soooo identical to patong in thailand that it was a little too freaky. Constant flow of hawkers flood the streets high, between the streets are expensive hotel sanctuaries for the _mostly_ perth tourists, every hotel has enough facilities to bunker in and survive the long haul of whatever dirtyness and pollution is occurring outside of the fine thick walls. From the hotel-tourist perspective it could well be like surviving a zombie hoard, while in a fortified bunker of total luxury at a much cheaper rate than home – a sacrifice they’re willing to take for the good of global exploitation.

I left kuta after walking around with the germans I befriended – the beach had rubbish and the constant ‘you buy’ brought back memories of my previous travels, and it occurred to me that there may be quite a lot of this kind of thing for most of my trip. From this point I thought that maybe i should keep most of my journey staying with couchsurfers if possible, fffaaarrr away from any kind of tourist location; my thoughts at the moment are undecided, see what happens.

I fled kuta and headed to an address written in pencil which a flatmate in perth gave me on the day I moved out of the house. He stayed there for a month but has been there multiple times in the past.
– I arrived at the address and walked down a long driveway/laneway until I met a family outside a large collection of rooms in a joined building. I mentioned that the name of my flatmate and their eyes immediately lit up. The father of the house invited me to drink coffee with him and smoke some local cigarettes (gudang gurans) coffee was served and we talked about many subjects including religion and philosophy, he mentioned a saying that he goes by “Friend of my Friend is my Friend” – which needless to say explained the hospitality. He offered free accommodation, I refused and paid the standard rate (which was still very cheap, 100,000 rupee; $10). That night he took me out to dinner at a local market, not a single tourist in sight I ate what can only be explained as every part of a pig (in small sections) on a plate. pork with pork blood and coconut, pork crackles on the side, dried pork blood, pork fat. We had murtabak (two folded pancakes with vegetables and mince) on the way home. A most excellent change from the chaos of kuta, I thank him often for his generous hospitality.
The room was simple and local, manual flush toilet and shower that didnt work (they fixed it today though, got home to a freshly plastered large patch in the wall covering a hole) I loved it :)

The next morning the germans managed to get a taxi for a day which cost 400,000 ($40 shared between 3) they rocked up at my address and away we went on a magical tourist adventure, which included:
– picturesque views of a volcano
– awesome ancient temple, which in my opinion is on par with angkor wat
– large waterfall
– the usual local customary trades, which revolve around tourists buying stuff (wood carvings, paintings, bamboo, gold and silver crafting)
– traditional dance which involves men chanting in tune sitting down and moving their arms about in the air (it is a lot better than what it reads, if anyone has seen the movie ‘baraka’ they will know all about it)

Bali is eating a bit of my dosh, so might head to malang tomorrow, yogjakarta is a bit too far for one trip. That is if I get a bus tomorrow :P

*** EDIT ***
For the record:
– The temple was Tirta Empul, the locals go there to cleanse in the holy springs, which is similar to confessions to nullify sin :P
– The traditional dance is called ‘Kecak’. youtube it.
– Something I missed out in the original blog post is a visit to a traditional coffee house in the highlands, they use coffee beans that have been digested from a luwak (similar to a possum), the stomach acids add to the flavour of the coffee. Yes, they clean the poop off and dry it out – apparently it’s an upper class delicacy around the world, as only some luwaks decide they want to eat the beans, plus the luwaks themselves are rare. I had a sip, tasted like coffee :P

Righto, well, before I blog post about bali; I’ll start with the comedy of errors that I made to start the trip – ignoring advice isn’t advisable, but it does make for interesting happenings and amusing read :P (this is just a smooth cover for my inability to admit stupidity)

Advice #1
From: My brother
Advice: “oh nic, just letting you know that you need to get a return ticket for indonesia or proof of exit in order to enter the country”
My thoughts: (naahh, that doesnt sound right, every country in south east asia doesnt have a silly rule like that)

Consequence:
I arrive to check-in at perth international airport, the guy at the check-in desk declines my ticket due to no return ticket in itinerary. I go on the net to somehow find a way to purchase a ferry ticket to singapore from indonesia online using credit card, obviously no luck there. Admit defeat and purchase a return ticket to aust, departing in 1 months time :( plan now is to lapse the ticket and catch the ferry before the 30day travel visa expires.

Result: $166 wasted :(

Advice #2
From: Everyone
Advice: “Always keep some USD on you and aalllways make sure you exchange money before you fly out, to prevent issues with visa purchases on arrival”
My thoughts: (before land border crossings, of course I would do this; However airports have ATMs/Shops, I want to arrive with no AUD or USD so that I only have one currency straight from ATM upon arrival. Bali is perth’s main holiday destination, there’s bound to be stupid people like me who don’t prepare money beforehand)

Consequence:
Arrive and approch ‘VISA on arrival” purchase counter. Unfortunately I am unable to use eftpos, cash only; no problem, I’ll head to the one of 6 (thats right, SIX, all lined up) ATMs for people to extract money.
Not one ATM works. Error “Communication link down”. Met two other germans with the same issue, found it odd that noone else was experiencing the problem, was surprised that most people were more prepared than us.
Let the information guys know about the problem, they couldnt fault it – but offered to use my camera as collateral in trade for the $22 VISA fee. I declined.
One of the germans found enough cash for a VISA and offered to get money out for both of us, with an airport escort letting him back in.
Immigration officers rocked up 30min later, I was asked to go to the immigration office; Harsh questioning in a very dodgy office, after about an hr he said that if the german isnt back in 30min, he will send me back home (which i assume would mean a black mark in my passport?).
10min later… german comes back with news! All commonwealth ATM transactions in bali were down, all three of us had commonwealth bank cards, will be down for the next hr and a half (after the security guard next to him phoned commbank, once he noticed many others outside having issues)

eexxtremely happy with news, I extract funds from ATM – get out of the airport with no further issues, other than having to stay at an expensive hotel in kuta as nothing else was open at 3am :(

Result: Met two awesome german backpackers (who have been living in perth for a few yrs) who I have been touring around the island with for the last couple o days :D

Well, tomorrow I fly out at 8pm from perth international airport.

At this stage I just want to be on the plane. A little anxious waiting to get out there, considering how amazing my last big trip was I’m also wondering how this one can match it. Crazy talk really, I’m sure it will be an awesome experience.

Main thing is to try a different route compared to last time and get to europe with enough funds to survive, possibly sticking around in china for a while to figure out the europe transition (and to figure out visas). See what happens.

Anyhow, I have packed the bag. Everytime I travel I seem to pack lighter and lighter, this time I’m not even taking shoes as my last trip they were stuck in the bag most of the time – once I hit the cold climated countries I’ll upgrade my bag and stuff it full of warm clothes, It’s going to be interesting experiencing true cold for the first time – far too conditioned to perth and south east asian climate :|

Over the last few days I have familiarized myself with client/server opensource netcafe software, the software along with anti-spyware/virus applications will be on a thumbdrive – the plan is to liberate the unsuable computers in many of the hostels in asia, in exchange for possibly free accommodation/food. See what happens, it could also be far too much effort for the reward :P

Below is a tagged photo of the contents of my bag before I head out (click to see tagged items):