Casey Space

We went to Indonesia for almost 3 weeks over holiday break. Our trip started in Jakarta on the island of Java, where we joined 7 other tourists for a 8 day tour across the island.

Interesting things I heard about Indonesia: the #1 rule for citizens is they must believe in God. Your religion is on your ID, and most people are Muslim, but they do not wish to be an Islamic state because of the heritage of past religions including tribal customs.

Indonesia just passed a law forbidding unwed couples from cohabitating, and I asked how they would enforce this. I was told that citizens’ marital status is also on their ID and sometimes the police perform raids on hotels near university to catch young people in the act. Also, it is not unusual for married women to carry their marriage certificate with them, just in case. When I asked how they would enforce this with tourists/foreigners in hotels, there was not really an answer about that yet.

As vegetarian-type, I learned also that tempeh came from Indonesia (this is a moderately common meat substitute). They really make good tempeh.

Jakarta

We only had a half-day in Jakarta, so I guess there isn’t much to show there?? We made two stops, the first was at the docks where we looked at some old boats while men worked as usual in this very industrial setting. It was strange to me that with such little time, this was the first thing they wanted to show us. It was like going to Los Angeles and they take you to the port at Long Beach first thing.

The second stop was Dutch Town Hall and headquarters for the old Dutch East India Company. My favorite part was the numerous families riding hot pink bicycles accessorized with big floral floppy hats around the square. The site was where public executions used to be conducted.

We got to crouch into the prison conveniently located under the town hall. The top two photos are showing the men’s prison with a low ceiling, and the bottom two are showing the women’s prison with extremely low ceilings.

After the town hall, we got on a bus and travelled to Bandung, a favorite destination for Charlie Chaplin. The next day consisted of a long train ride to Yogykarta.

Yogykarta

Yogykarta was a vibrant city. The street art was fantastic. We were there for three nights and went on excursions to temples, a long bike ride, participated in a quick Batik tourist collab, toured palaces, and had delicious vegan food.

Borobudur

This is the world’s largest Buddhist temple, and, there is a lot going on here. If you have a moment, check out the Borobudur Wikipedia page to see all the symbolism associated with every detail of the structure.

We could not walk to the top because of overuse by tourists, so it is limited to just a few people a day. Typically, a devout Buddhist would walk around one level at a time, concentrating within like a meditation. The top symbolizes nirvana.

Batik Artwork

Batik fabric is used for sarongs, head scarves for men (udeng), apparel, and wall wart.

The Batik designs are drawn on the fabric with wax, then various dyes are applied. When the dying process is complete, the fabric is submerged in very hot water to melt the wax. The women working of course had a steady hand with the little cups of wax on bamboo handles, and gave a big thumbs up during their coffee break.

Our group did a quick collab project to create some interesting artwork, heh. I partnered with my new friend Hema, who is doing a six month tour of Southeast Asia from England.

Prambanan Temple

These grounds featured an enormous Hindu temple complex, but also several large Buddhist temples. This is a result of smoothing over family drama between conflicting ruling families whose offspring married each other.

There are supposed to be 200+ small temples on the main site of the Hindu temple, but most are in piles waiting to be rebuilt from earthquakes. They fit together like puzzle pieces, it took quite a lot of effort just to get the piles made, in figuring what what brick goes with what temple.

I guess in the past, village folk would come and take the stones to do home repairs, fix some foundation, or repair a bridge. So, restorationists needed to go around town identifying original temple stones, and inform the homeowner that they needed that piece of their house foundation back for Prambanan.

Below is a photo of the large Buddhist temple on the same grounds.

Awkward Rockstars

Throughout Java, the people in our tour group were often asked for photos or two do an interview in English for their class.

The desire for people to get photos with us has something to do with the people visiting from non-tourist areas of Indonesia rarely seeing white people in real life. They get excited when they see a white person with light eyes and hair and they feel like it is a photo with someone from Hollywood. That’s what we were told anyway.

Old and New Palace

We went to both the old palace and the current palace for the sultan.

At the old palace, our guide told us this hot springs pool was for his harem, where the beautiful ladies would bathe naked. He would watch from the second story window, then throw a flower and whoever it hit would be his companion for a while.

It is a custom that the sultan is also the governor of the province here. It used the be the sultan could have an unlimited number of wives, then it was limited to five, and now it down to just one wife because he is also the governor and the governor of any province can only have one spouse. I don’t fully understand how this is enforced since it seems the sultan has a divine right which is above state law, but, at this time, he does only have one wife.

Below are just a couple of interesting pics from the new palace, including a puppet show with live orchestra. Because the sultan is currently living there, we didn’t get access to much.

Ngadas Village

This is the highest village in East Java. Josh and I walked the narrow streets after dinner. The homes are either dilapidated or look brand new. Apparently people here get rich off potato farming, then buy nicer houses to create homestays or buy a Land Cruiser to take tourists up the mountain. Workers come from the town below in the valley to work the potato fields to make good money. It’s like opposite land.

At the homestay, the town chief told us about the community and some of their culture. Josh and I were brought to the front to be dressed in a traditional sarong and udeng head scarf I think because we were the only married couple in the group. For women, the sarong is tied in the front for married women and on the side for single women. For men, they can wear the sarong however, but they wear the udeng head scarf to show respect or for special occasions.

The sarong is an incredibly useful piece of fabric, they use it to ward off cold weather and the wind, as a neck scarf, as a bag to carry things, and as a baby carrier.

Mt. Bromo

We only stayed a few hours at the homestay because we got up at 1:45am to get in one of hundreds of Land Cruisers heading up the mountain to show the tourists the sunrise on the caldera. The sooner you get in the line of jeeps going up the mountain, the higher up the mountain you get by jeep because parking is limited.

We sat around in a tiny coffee shop perched on the side of the mountain for about an hour. Then we stood in the wet windy fog for another hour for the “sunrise”. Everyone knew we would not be able to see anything through the fog, but it is the obligation of the tour guide to complete the excursion as advertised, and maybe there is a faint hope the wind will blow the clouds away at the right moment.

Often I find myself ill-equipped for situations where I think about “Man, I have just the thing for this”…in a storage unit in Caldwell, Idaho. I thought of my insulated boots, parka, and a myriad of knitted caps as I shivered in lightweight travel pants with yoga capris underneath, two sun shirts with a thin rain coat, and sandals at the top of a mountain.

After the “sunrise” we cruised back down the mountain to “view” the caldera, which I didn’t really understand that’s what we were doing because it was all fog to me. I powered through the walk and marched up the steps to be hit in the face with sulfuric air, took a selfie, and then marched right back down.

All we saw was fog, but here is a photo our guide took from a previous tour of the sunrise on the volcano that he shared with us in the groupchat. Almost like being there. Heh.

What I have observed and have been told is that no one on this side of the world likes to walk. In Hanoi, no one walks, and people will ride their motorbike to go half a mile. At Mt. Bromo, we had to get up at 1:45am so that we wouldn’t have to walk at all at the top of the mountain. At the volcano viewing, there were men with sickly-looking horses to take you from your Land Cruiser to the stairs up the volcano.

The next day after this trek, on Christmas day, we took a quick flight to Bali. Stay tuned for more updates.