Posted 01/01/09

Hello all, it's been a long time acomming, but finally here's another update.

First of all, I'd just like to say a big thank you once again to anyone who sent me any form of Christmas wishes, greetings, or even who spared a thought for me.

Christmas this year was almost a non-event.
After a small, informal party on Christmas eve at which we (myself, a few white people and some locals) consumed strawberry fanta, fried tofu and all manner of other un-christmassy things, I spent most of the 25th day of the final month of the christian calender darting around town and going into any open motorbike dealer I could find. Call it Christmas shopping if you will, albeit with extra stress. Happily though, it ultimately resulted in the purchase of the best Christmas present I could imagine - a rather funky motorcycle, complete with new brake pads and battery. The whole process was rather taxing, and I'm eternally thankful to Yanika, who dedicated numerous hours of her day to aiding me in the pursuit of two-wheeled transport.
Having forgotten all about Christmas, I finally started to get back into the mood when I returned home and was given a present to unwrap. I didn't linger at home long, however, as I had to head to the airport, where I received my two brothers, who visited me for a painfully short 5-day period between Christmas and new year.

Yes, that's right - I have a motorbike.
Yes, that's right - I've had visitors already.
So, where have YOU been?

Rest assured that my thoughts were with all of you back home - my Bristol friends, school and university classmates, family, and other assorted people who fall in to either none or several of the above categories. Post invariably takes at least 2 weeks to get here, so it's possible there's more stuff to come. So thanks in advance.

Before getting into details of other things I've been up to, I'd like to wish you all both a Javanese and a western happy new year. Javanese new year's day fell on 29th December. So now you know.

And so onto the time I spent with my brothers. Check out photos for visual documentation. Read on for verbal description of the highlights...

The first day featured a late start for Tim and Phil to aid adjustment to the time difference. Meanwhile, I sorted remaining bike business, pottered around and dealt with other bits and bobs that needed seeing to. I broke them into the local cuisine gently at a nearby restaurant, and we then returned home to celebrate the Christmas we'd all managed to evade the previous day.
Father Christmas seemed to be able to cater to our adjusted plans, and sure enough stockings had appeared on our doors on their first night here. So naturally we started by opening them, followed by a combination of presents that my brothers brought and those that had arrived in the post and we had stashed under the house Christmas tree. All in all, it was a far more festive experience that I had anticipated, which came as a pleasant surprise.

With that, Christmas was done however, and we set about making the most of the remaining time we had together. We headed to town, albeit a little late, arriving at one of the solonese palaces just as the museum had closed. The lack of museums was not something my brothers had trouble coming to terms with. Next we headed to a market, except that wasn't there either, as some construction work had forced it to move to the other side of town.
Determined to glean some form of Javanese experience from the day, it was becak (bicycle rickshaw) time. In a convoy of 3, we headed to near where the market had moved to, but rather went sandal shopping in the large, air-conditioned shopping mall. We also had food while we were there. "Spicy?" the girl at the counter asked. "Er... Yeah, ok, just a bit" Tim replied. This answer turned out to be erroneous, as not only Tim, but also Viane, of Indonesian origin, found the food to be too hot. We took extra measures to specify food as not spicy for the remainder of the week.
Upon our return home, and with an evening to spend, we headed to the so-dubbed 'crazy mansion'. Dwelling place of several other exchange students, the atmosphere is relaxed and the door almost always open. The evening in question was particularly well-chosen, as one of the residents had a troop of friends visiting from Jakarta, and in combination with my brothers and various other spontaneous visitors, the evening turned into quite a gathering. So there we stayed until sleep called us the retire to bed.

And so to day two. After another late start and a certain amount of faffing, it was time to put my new bike to the test. We slung Phil on the back with me, and Tim jumped on the back of a bike with Yanika, who had once again offered to accompany us for the day. As a tandem tandem, we headed for the hills. Specifically towards a waterfall. I had advised them to bring a change of clothes. Little did they realise they might be wanting it before we even reached the waterfall. Within minutes of our departure, Tim and Phil had their first tropical shower, leaving anything uncovered soaked to the skin. The rain eased off however, and in the warm equatorial air, we dried as we drove. The cool mountain air was less kind though, and it was chilly at times to say the least.
Shortly after our arrival at the waterfall, it started raining. Then it rained, continued to rain, and rained some more. And it wasn't light rain either. Phil sums it up nicely: "I can't believe this much water can actually fall from the sky."
Having left later than intended, and with our progress marred by falling water, we failed to make it to another waterfall and a couple of small temples that were on our possibles list. On the plus side, we headed back down the mountain at a leisurely, safe speed considering the roads were wet, but still managed to make it home before dark.

The next day was temple day. I figured we'd head to Borobudur, the worlds largest Buddhist monument, and then visit Prambanan (a similarly impressive sight/site), which was on the way home if we had time. A taxi took us Davieses into town, from where the first step was catch a train to Jogjakarta. For Yanika and another friend who joined us, the whole day was nearly a non-event as they almost missed the train in a spectacular fashion as I thought only I was able - the train almost pulling away as they jumped on. This was all a rather exciting start to what was otherwise a rather long and somewhat tedious public transport experience.
Numerous bus rides later, and we arrived at Borobudur, which, due to it being peak season, was utterly thronging with people. We nonetheless had a wander around, and on numerous occasions were stopped by Indonesians asking us to feature in pictures of 'me and the white person'. Then there was the school trip with hoards of kids asking anyone vaguely foreign-looking if they could, as though they hadn't already, disturb and take up a moment of their time. An affirmative answer lead to "Where are you from?", "Do you like Indonesia" and "Could I have your signature?"
As we escaped the throng, we figured we'd best get going if we were to make it to Prambanan. And make it we did. Admittedly it took longer to get there than calculated, and we did so with a mere 5 minutes until closing time, so we settled for wandering the market for such cool items as carved wood place mats and a rather lethal blowpipe. For ornamental use, of course... well at least that's what we told customs. :-p
Upon our return to solo, we still managed to stop by a wayang orang (go look it up) for a while before we grabbed some fried noodles and collapsed into bed.

After a visit to the diarea museum... I mean... one of the solonese palaces (see photos if confused), and not satisfied with the previous day's lethal weaponry, Monday featured another market trip. This time, it was Indonesia's largest batik market, where, ironically, Phil and Tim discovered batik wasn't really their thing. Bold Indonesian women squawking Javanese at an alarming rate and intense volume wasn't really their thing either, so we moved on to
the antique market, which sold, amongst other things, worthless old currency, pulse dialing telephones and spiritual ceremonial blades.
while the day resulted in a poor haul, it was a taste of the everyday happenings of solo, and the way of life here.
My brothers' day continued in the relaxed vein as I organised and they had an early night in preparation for the day to come.

And so to the final day, and the climax of the Javanese experience. As though to prove that Java is indeed a tropical island, we hired a car and went south. And south we continued until we found ourselves presented with the open expanse of the pacific ocean. It's not like the scenery on the way there wasn't spectacular enough, but with banana trees to one side, and palms on the other, as we summited the crest of a hill, the view left us awestruck. Against a sapphire sky, rolling green hills cease abruptly and cliffs cascade into the foamy waves pounding at their base.
We soaked up the scenery and atmosphere as the headlights ran our car battery flat, which of course we realised upon our return when the car wouldn't start. With six grown men however, we calmly push-started and continued merrily along our way. We also got stuck half way up a hill and all had to get out to make the vehicle light enough to make it. Fun, fun, fun.
And on the topic of fun, we arrived at our second beach for the day - this one was for swimming. The waves were large but forgiving, the currents strong but not off-shore, and most importantly, the water was as warm as the air we were breathing. The sun, even through the clouds, was warm too, mind, and we all caught the sun - even the Indonesians had tan marks :-D.
After that, we sook fuel, both for ourselves and the car, before heading back to solo via a man-made lake. At dusk, the atmosphere there is serene, almost romantic despite the lack or apparent privacy. No wonder it's a popular making out spot amongst the locals.
We moved on and admired the fiery sunset as we arrived back in solo. A fitting cadence for the week.

The following morning wasn't quite so fun, mind - alarm clocks at 4am, but I'm reliably informed my brothers have safely arrived home, and haven't been complaining too much, so I guess it can't have been too bad an experience.

To take a step backwards, other things I've been up to since my last decent update include watching various gamelan performances as well as performing in one, the odd trip here and there, and the acquisition of both a girlfriend and a motorbike. See pictures for more details.

As one of my longest updates, I guess that'll do for now, but I have a month of holidays before me, which means anything's possible - I might do a tour of Indonesia, I might become a gamelan meister, and you never know - I might even post another update.

Stay tuned.

Pelog that is.

Rob

P.S. What is pelog? Answers on a stamped, addressed comment...