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Yogyakarta - The Sweet Smell of Bakso December, 2007 |
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 What
am I doing on this bus as I watched the person across from me dig at his
toenail with a broken matchstick? All I could think of was how am I
going to survive 15 hours on this executive bus? We had signed up for
the 15-hour night bus from Bali to the center of Java and were all set
to leave at 3:00 in the afternoon. As I watched all the other buses pull
away from the terminal, ours remained unmoved, but since no one spoke
English, I could only imagine that we were waiting for other passengers
to show. Unfortunately, we were unaware that you get advance seat assignments on this bus, and our bad luck put us right behind the driver, which had the least amount of legroom than any of the other seats on the bus. Moreover, of course, Marge and I were easily the tallest people on the bus. Not to mention there was this large and annoying red digital clock mounted in front of the driver, counting down the minutes until would arrive at our final destination. Now imagine the largest bus you have
ever been on, and then imagine this bus driving down a 2-lane highway in
the dark with the driver intent on passing every vehicle in front of
him. The rules of the road appear to be that someone p I really don't understand how those
15 hours went by - I certainly was entertained much of the time by the
driver and I'm sure I slept a little bit, but when we finally arrived,
there was a sense of relief that somehow we had survived without killing
someone on the road (at least no one I saw).... We spent four nights in Yogyakarta
(commonly called Jogja which is pronounced ‘JOGH jah’) after being
dropped off in the area of town where many guesthouses seem to be
located. Again, our room karma uncovered the only boutique/coffee house
hotel in this city, a nifty accommodation that served as a coffee shop,
restaurant, guesthouse, internet center, and library. We were not so
impressed with Jogja. Supposedly, the cultural center of Indonesia, it
seemed to lack the charm and cultural attractions we were expecting to
see. Great cultural cites outside of the city, but not much
The Indonesian bus system is one of resourcefulness and cunning - everyone is in competition for the 20-cent paying customer - the more you take you more you make. Private individuals, who rent them out for a fixed amount, own the buses. Any amount that the driver and collector collect above that is theirs to keep. No tickets are given out, nor is there any toll box So, it's in the best interest of the driver and toll collector to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible with as full a bus as possible, many times racing to the next stop before the other guy to get the customers. It is a fast paced race and really quite interesting to see the interaction between the money person and the driver. There are no signed bus stops, just
wave and the bus will pick you up. Same goes for when you want to get
off, just let the ticket person know andhe
yells to the driver while banging a piece a metal on the handrail!
Moreover, you better be quick getting on and off the bus. Remember their
objective is to get as many passengers as quickly as possible, so it is
best to jump on and off as soon as you can. It reminded us of that movie
from prior years, the one where there was a bomb on the bus, and the
driver had to maintain a certain speed to prevent We also had our first rides on a
becak, a man powered bicycle with a two-seat carriage in front. For the
equivalent of a twenty-minute walk, the cost was fifty cents. Most of
the drivers were older men and we felt guilty riding. Thought we weighed
t “ All the King’s Horses and All the King's Men, couldn't put Prambanan Together Again" echoed through my mind as we toured this Hindu temple outside Jogja. Despite the impressive surrounding, I could not help but wonder how they are going to piece this thing together after the quake damage. It was as if someone took a one million-piece jigsaw puzzle and threw the box up in the air. Everywhere you turned, broken ruins lay littered across the fields. Prambanan is a Hindu temple complex
built in the 9th century AD, Mysteriously abandoned soon after its
completion, the Shiva Temple is the largest and most lavish, with the
eerie spires making this site very dramatic. Amazingly, the stone
construction required perfectly cut rocks, each carefully fitted
together without the benefit of concrete or mortar. The Buddhist temple Borobudur is ranked with that of Angkor Wat, but on a much smaller scale. Borobudur consists of six square bases topped by three circular ones. It too was constructed in the early part of the 9th century AD and thanks to a generous infusion of $25 million from the United States, it has been restored to its former glory. Adorned with nearly 1,500 narrative panels illustrating Buddhist teachings, another 432 Buddhist images sit in chambers along the darkened stone on the terraces. Due to the many earthquakes in the area, these sites are in a constant state of repair. Both areas are stunning in their majesty. Personally, I liked Prambanan better than Borobudur - just to see the ongoing efforts to reconstruct this great temple is worth the price of admission. Very glad we made the effort to see these! We spent the last
of our days in Bali at the seaside town of Sanur before our exciting
fifteen hour bus journey to Yogyakarta, and it was such a lovely area,
that I wanted to say a few words here. Sanur has a curious mix of
upscale restaurants and hotels, local merchants and warungs, and
residents. Runs in front of this activity for approximately eight miles,
so as you walk you go from local family to fancy restaurant to fisherman
village to local merchant to outdoor bar and so on a boardwalk. I tried
walking the entire stretch of boardwalk one day but never did get to the
northern terminus. I am not sure why this area has not been fully developed into five star resorts, but we are glad it has not. Found a great little place to stay down this unmarked alley, which turned into quite the nice place to spend four days. Our final night in Bali, we ate at the local night market for about $4. In a few days, we will board a flight from Jakarta to Singapore, a quick one hour hop across the water. When we acquired our two-month visas for Indonesia, we needed to show proof of onward travel. Way back when, I found these cheap flights on Lufthansa for $80/each one way and purchased them, just to satisfy the requirement of having proof that we intended to leave the country. It all seemed so long ago. 'Warm smell of bakso rising up through the air' will be my lasting memory of Indonesia. You find these bakso vendors everywhere, and the sweet/spicy smell of the broth permeates the air in any urban setting. We loved the diversity of Indonesia, although I was disappointed we did not make it out to see the komodo dragons. Perhaps next time.
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the bomb from detonating. Along a similar vein, the objective is to take
on and discharge passengers without having to come to a complete stop.
The long distant routes are a real joy in chaos, as these buses speed
and honk their horn at anything in their way!
