Today I make my second-to-last stop before heading home...
I am flying to Bandung this afternoon to visit my sister Lia and her family (AFS exchange 1995). Once again I am flying; as New Year holiday time in Indonesia apparently results in trains and buses being almost completely booked (and the queues to enquire prohibitively long and tiresome!)
I have now been reunited with my bag (which will hopefully be filled with clean clothes - assuming they make it back from the laudromat this morning...)
So far, I have spent 6 days in Indonesia, and failed (rather spectacularly) to do anything of much 'touristic' value.
- Dawn at Bromo didn't happen
- Most of the Surabaya city 'attractions' were closed
- Yogyakarta is home to the Sultan's palace (didn't go) and a short drive to the most visited tourist site in Indonesia: The Borobudur is the largest Buddhist monument in the world, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and has been included in the list of the Seven Wonders of the World... and I haven't manage to get there!
Despite failing to do the things I thought I 'should' do/see, despite my sequence of travel disasters (lost luggage, lost ATM card - cash flow headache) and despite discovering that everywhere is 'Penuh' (Full) at New Year in Yogyakarta, I have had a really good time! - Or maybe it's because of those things that I've had such fun... rather than rushing about and seeing the sights, I have hung out with some fun people, and conversed with the locals in my incredibly limited Bahasa (Indonesian).
It has been quite strange to travel in a country where I can manage to pick up a few phrases - my language skills are rather poor; and I haven't managed much more than 'Hello', 'Thank You' and the essential food-related vocab in any other country. Typically, the reaction to my language attemps has been surprise and approval... though I do sometimes have to stop the enthusiastic replies: "maaf - bahasa sedikit sedikit saja" (sorry - only a little Indonesian).
I have been surprised at how few Western tourists are around. The crowds I have encountered have been largely Indonesian tourists - so once again, I've been stared at and photographed on numerous occasions. I've found the Indonesian people some of the friendliest I've encountered during my travels (other travellers I have met agree with this assessment).
The primary reason for heading this way was always to catch up with Lia (after 17 years!), so I'm not too worried about the things I have 'missed'... I will just have to come back:
- Providing material for dreaming about the next adventures, even as I face the realities of heading home!
