Jakarta TimeI occasionally keep track of full day activities (chosen not to put these it on the blog because they are long!) to remember all of the highs, lows and oddities that happen in a single 24 hours of my present life. On my return to Pacitan I thought it appropriate to chronicle the full weekend so all could best understand my FULL journey.. as the whole weekend felt like one VERY long day.
Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early for arguably the best run I’ve had while here, 7 miles in the morning heat through the botanical gardens. I am literally high on endorphins and ready by 9am for our journey to visit Puncak mountain and the well-known Taman Safari Zoo several miles outside of Bogor. Being on Indo time, 9am turns into 11am, and we head out on angkot (public transport=small crowded vans) for the mountain. Despite warnings from a few folks about traffic due to the school holidays, we head out later than we should have. And we suffered for this mistake. Looking later I realize that Lonely Planet calls Puncak Pass “pandemonium” on the weekends. All signs point to epic fail on this mission.
Our first ankgot took about 45 minutes to travel roughly two miles. We end up walking another mile or so to get to the second angkot that we need and at this point, Dan starts warning us that we should turn around. I’m not believing him.. not yet. It’s before noon and we have the whole day ahead of us, how long could it possibly take??
Crammed in van #1, still all smiles
So it’s hot. I’ve already drank close to 3L of water for the day. We struggle to find an angkot for the second part of the route, one that’s not too crowded. But they all are packed, it’s a matter of just how uncomfortable you want to make yourself. Now it’s roughly 12:30. I’m starting to do the math. Another hour or two of traveling, several hours of waiting and crowds and heat and then several hours home and we may not be home until 10 or so. This isn’t working out well for my plan of an evening nap + 3rd place World Cup game + going straight to a 4:30am airport bus for my 7:45am flight to Jogja + several hours more travel to Pacitan. Realizing this, I jump on Dan’s bandwagon that we should abort mission. After we finally find one, angkot number two similarly is at a dead standstill. It appears that every man, woman, child and tourist in Indonesia ALSO planned to visit Punak this day. After another half an hour and a little whining on my part, Daniel exercises fantastic judgment and decides we really should abort and head up another time. So you have a sense of the journey…
Cars, people, motorcycles EVERYWHERE
On the way home- you can see the traffic we were sitting in earlier!
Upon our return to Bogor we have a marvelous lunch at Apple Pie, a uniquely themed restaurant that serves, you guessed it, mostly pies. By 3pm I’m happily home to nap a little and finish packing before dinner. The heat totally exhausted me and after our 3 hours of traveling to go nowhere, all I can manage to do the rest of the day is eat and nap and drink water.
Dinner is equally marvelous, a middle eastern restaurant with hookahs. Sisah in bahasa. We don’t have one but I am just happy to be in the presence of sisah. We head back to Dan’s house around 10, chat with the bros about music and and Obama and food safety and pollution which is enlightening. Apparently there is an Indonesian equivalent of the FDA but their rules are far less strict. I tell the bros who are studying agri-business and food safety that improving this problem should be their mission in life. Despite the stimulating discussion I am pooped. I decide to nap again before the 3rd place game and I get up to catch the second half AND importantly to skype with the EHT folks before Gina’s wedding. Skype is awesome. Seeing everybody all dressed up pretty and smiling was such a delight! Still so bummed to have been away from home for this!!
The bus to the airport is not too crowded and the AC is freezing. Apparently the only way to beat traffic is to head out before 5am. I arrive at the airport before 6am and its packed. I am convinced that 90% of travelers have the push carts full of huge stuffed suitcases and duct tapped boxes. It makes me feel like I actually pack lightly. Where are they going and what is in those boxes? Delightful things about travel here: security is painless and airport workers are helpful -including the very polite man who checked my boarding pass and told me I am beautiful, despite my messy side braid, glasses and bags under my eyes from lack of sleep. This is another clear case of attention invoked only by my US Passport. I also love that I can carry on as much fruit and water as I like. At that moment I had a fresh 1.5L bottle of water, three bananas, two apples, and an apple pie from Apple Pie some 16 hours ago.
On the flight, I sit next to a lovely couple who lives in Jogja. The husband’s English is pretty good and he strikes up conversation which I politely engage in despite the fact that exhaustion is really hitting me. He asks me about Obama- my second Obama conversation in less than 12 hours. I must say, most people love our President here (remember, Barry lived in Jakarta for a short time growing up) and it continues to be a pleasure traveling with a well respected President.
I arrive ahead of Galih who is coming to guide me the rest of the way to Pacitan where English gets less and less common. The Jogja airport is tiny. The food stinks (which is heartbreaking considering how wonderful the food actually is just a short cab ride away). Cabbies bug the hell out of me for a ride. I still love this airport because I’m familiar now and I got here all by myself. I sit down at a cafe to wait for Galih. It’s barely 9:30 in the morning. I’m hot, tired and hungry. My body has no idea what time it actually is, so I order salty meatball noodle (basko) soup and it is perfect.
Galih, set to meet me at 9, finally arrives at 12:30 due to traffic . Rahmi was due in around 11, she arrived at noon, also behind because of traffic. The car ride takes approximately 4 hours and I’m not entirely sure why, traffic partially to blame in Jogja city. On my trip home two weeks ago it took 2.5 hours roughly to get to Jogja from Pacitan I’ve decided that when I think I know how long something is going to take, I should add approximately 2-4 hours to that, and that is when I will arrive.
Sunday evening we had a little birthday party for Galih, his birthday was Friday the 9th. Last time I was here he told me (as we discussed our family and holiday traditions) that he NEVER had birthday parties growing up. I decided we needed to put an end to that. I make dinner and we celebrate with the apple pie I dragged here, as well as party hats, candles and noisemakers. I think the pictures speak for themselves.
By 9pm I am completely exhausted and as much as it pains me to admit it, I slept through the World Cup Final. Kick off was 1:30am my time and after my long weekend of heat, traffic and traveling, there was no way I could do two nights in a row of minimal sleep. Also I wrote earlier about the debacle of watching games in Pacitan on my last trip. It would have involved us crashing the neighbors house in the middle of the night, something else I wasn’t incredibly in the mood to do. I chose health over soccer, and considering how fabulously rested I felt on Monday morning, I know I made the right choice. We had a busy week of interviews ahead! Many more pictures and stories from it to come.
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