Buddhist Borobudur

We're beginning to get used to early starts but this morning we had to be up at 4am to be picked up at 4.45am so we could get to Borobudur early. Of course none of these places actually open before sunrise (unless you want to be pay a huge amount more!) so we witnessed sunrise on the 40 minute drive out of Jogja to the monument.

Now we had read that Borobudur is supposed to rival Angkor Wat and from looking at photos we were really excited. I have to say when we first got there we were a little underwhelmed! I think mainly because it was a lot smaller than we expected and having seen Angkor, very few places compare. It looks like a 9 tiered mountain,however and the reliefs that are carved in to the walls of the middle galleries are extremely impressive and tell the story of the historic Buddhas life. Borobudar is supposed to symbolise the Buddhist journey from reality, through 10 psychological states to nirvana or spiritual enlightenment. It took 75 years to build starting in the middle of the 8th century. It is built from volcanic rock that was taken from river beds and it is thought the carvings were done in situ. The Kings of the era enforced a 'labour tax' so each farmer or landowner in the area owed the King a certain numbers of days work from his labour force which were used to build the monument.

The top levels have 72 stupas, that get smaller as you go up the levels. Inside each stupa is a statue of a Buddha that is partially seen through holes cut in to the stupas. On each level apart from the lowest 2 there are statues of Buddha, there are 504 Buddha images in total! The first 2 terraces are square and plain, it is thought the bottom tier hides other reliefs, which were excavated and then built back to preserve the structure.

Overall, it was well worth seeing for the reliefs, especially at first light when it is comparatively quiet.

Yogyakarta- From South to North...To further South.

21.10.11

We started today with our free breakfast (Well not free but included in the price of the hotel)

and we were ready to go Exploring.

Our hotel is in the south of the city, on a road filled with 'mid range' accommodation called Prawirotaman. We were armed with a map we were given on check-in and 2 our flasks filled with already luke-warm water. We headed north (obviously) and quickly found ourselves on road names nowhere to be found on our map, however we knew which direction roughly to head and figured we'd be fine. We were busy comparing the city to other places we'd been and to India in general. It felt very different, the roads were smooth and had pavements, ones you could walk on at nearly all times and that weren't covered in rubbish and/or excrement (which is always a bonus!). Every few feet there was huge pots of shrubs and flowers, it felt a lot 'greener' than similar places in India. We began to notice many of the shops had bird cages hanging outside, I remembered reading somewhere something about song birds being prized possessions here.

Along the pavements there where vendors selling glass bottles of fuel and pouring them into motorbike tanks with a hosepipe. I guess access to Petrol stations isn't as common or easy as back home and the bikes have small engines, the guys selling the petrol seemed to be doing good business. There were lots of places making their trade through motorbike maintenance or similar.

We found our way through lots of little winding streets to places we could see on the map, but actually this pottering around, no real clue of where we were was the highlight of the day. We got to see lots of places you wouldn't bother to go looking for and we greeted warmly by the people, homes and businesses we walked past, with lots of people wanting to just say hello and wave as we walked past, with lots of smiles and giggles thrown in. Smiling seemed to be a lovely theme here, all in all it has to be the place we have been with the happiest looking people (possibly joint actually with the smiling and excited faces we saw in the slums in Pune).

So we made our way to the main street in of the town, which has markets and stalls everywhere, it is very popular with tourist and local students and also some of the markets looked to be doing very good business with the locals. This road leads from the area called Kraton (The sultans Palace and surroundings) up to the north towards the train station, we had missed seeing the palace on route up to this road as we had taken lots of little side roads. We walked up and down the best part of Malioboro road, although it is much the same as many similar roads in cities across south east Asia that we have seen. Now we headed back south but this time to find the Sultans Palace, which we promptly found a few minutes later at 12.20, only to find that today the palace shuts at 12.oo. No looking around there for us today but it was no drama as we can easily head back another day if needed.

We then went looking for the Water Castle, which was used by the Sultan to bath. Before we could find it a 'Guide' found us and showed us to the temple. He followed us in and when we explained we did not want a guide and could not pay for one, he said it was included in the price of the ticket and we would not have to pay. So we allowed him to show us around, he was very nice and quite informative as he ushered us around the Sultans water palace. This was built as a kind of playground fore the sultan, with 3 pools, sauna rooms, a tower that the sultan could watch his wives bathing from and underwater tunnels. There was even an underwater mosque. Much of the area is in ruins, a recent earthquake causing part of it to be inaccessible. Our guide actually lived in the grounds of the Castle. He took us around the narrow streets and showed us his home and the homes of his family members, most of which were employed by the current Sultan as he is. The current sultan has 1 wife and 5 children and one of his daughters had just got married. The royal wedding was held on the 18th October in Jogja, so we just missed it! Our 'guide' did take us to various Batik and puppet making emporiums, but there was no problem with us not buying anything.

From the Water Castle, we continued south along a wide, busy road hoping to find the Bird Market. The Bird Market is permanent and there are rows of small stalls/shops selling mainly birds in beautiful decorated cages. There were all sorts of birds, including huge cockerels, owls, ducks, pigeons, tiny songbirds, ducklings tied all kinds of weird and wonderful colours and more colourful parrot like birds. It was fascinating to walk around although quite upsetting at times, as the cages were usually tiny and quite often had large numbers of birds inside. There were also bats, lizards, ants, maggots and crickets on sale. At a couple of other stalls we came across gerbils, that were quite entertaining as they kept standing on their hind legs and then toppling over backwards!

By this point we were really quite tired and had been sweating buckets all day so we walked back to the hotel for a refreshing swim before going back to Via Via for another delicious meal!

Our first train journey in Indonesia.

20.10.11

This morning we had to tackle the buses to get to the train station. So we left at 6.30am to avoid rush hour, this was a good move! We potentially had 2 changes at progressively busier stations but at our first stop one of the conductors helped us out. He told us to wait to one side and he would tell us when a direct bus to Gambir came. He then let us get on the back of the bus after everyone had got off instead of with the crush of people at the front doors. This was good news as I would have struggles to get me and my backpack on safely. It was pretty rammed none-the-less and we were glad we only had a few stops.

At Gambir we had a wait of an hour an half which was fine as there was a plug socket so we could do some blog writing.

WE had booked ticket in Executive Class which we had debated on because it was so much more than Business Class. But we thought it would probably be worth the money if Martin was comfortable on a 8 hour journey. It was definitely worth it! We had plenty of space with reclining seats. There was aircon with a nice citrus scent pumped in every so often. There were TV screens playing Indonesian music videos with the odd Westlife/Alicia Keys/Foo Fights song chucked in, terrible slapstick comedy sketch shows and cheesy horror flicks. This was a bit odd considering there were several young children on the train. We had 2 waiters in the carriage who were constantly coming up and down the train with snacks and beverages for sale and we bought lunch off them. This was edible and served to us at the exact time they said it would be!

During the 8 hours we travelled about half the length of Java. We only travelled a few minutes at any one time without seeing some kind of settlement. For most of the journey it was overcast and the landscape was flat, mainly rice fields separated by trenches, some flooded, some bright green and some dry. Throughout the fields were dotted small shelters where workers could take shelter. Along the train tracks we saw many towns and villages, which generally seemed to be alot better off than some of the areas we past through in India. I don't remember seeing any apartment blocks apart from on leaving Jakarta, unlike India where the main well-off areas seem to be made up of apartment buildings. The roofs here were mainly pitched and a lot of the houses had beautiful teak doors and window-frames.

As we got further towards Jogja the sky became more overcast and there was a good few miles of torrential rain. The landscape became more mountainous and there were more trees. We arrived at Jogja about half an hour late at 5pm.

As we exited the train station we expected to get mobbed by taxi and rickshaw drivers. However to our suprise they were all stood patiently by their rickshaws smiling! We got in to a cycle rickshaw. The cycle rickshaws here are different to those in India. Instead of the bike pulling the rickshaw, here the bike is behind the rickshaw. We were cycled all the way through the middle of Jogja down the main road so we could get a good feel for the town. It is a young persons, being the educational capital of Java. The main street is full of stalls selling batik and is very lively. The hotel, Duta, we wanted to stay in is about 3 km away from the main street.

When we arrived there it was more expensive than we anticipated so Martin went for a hunt around the other hotels as there were loads nearby. The cheapest we could find was about £1 less than Duta and wasn't as nice. So we took the room at Duta, the first room on this trip without it's own bathroom. But the hotel itself is so worth it. The rooms are arranged around a small but beautiful pool, that has a 12 foot waterfall that trickles in to it. The whole hotel is beautiful with lots of communal space and each room has seating on a balcony. You also get free wifi and breakfast so I would recommend this place!

This evening we went to find the ViaVia restaurant up the road. This is a worldwide chain of restaurants that puts its profits back in to the local community. The food was amazing! Another recommendation!

Negotiating Jakarta

19.10.11

Today turned out to be quite a lot more stressful than we anticpated!

We decided to brave the bus system today as we needed to go to the train station

to buy a ticket for tomorrow. William had said the bus shelter was very close,

across the road. So we made our way to the main road hoping to see the

shelters. We saw a footbridge over the road so we headed for that. There

were buses pulling up at both side of the road at the foot of the bridge.

But it was impossible to tell where they were going and there was no shelter

to pay like William had described, so we decided this wasn't the correct

system!

Determined not to give up, we went back to our apartment block, which in itself

was trecherous-trying to cross the roads. From there we called William for

clearer directions. This time we walked towards the mall and around the

side of the main entrance was another footbridge. This time when you crossed

over the slip road and went down the steps you got to a small shelter

with a ticket booth and clearly marked signs labelling the routes. A route map

looks similar to a underground map and the buses go up and down the routes,

in specially designated lanes, continuosly. You pay for a single journey

on entering the shelters and can change bus routes within the shelters without

paying again. It was still slightly confusing, even with a map, as it wasn't

always clear what direction on the route the buses were going and sometimes it was

difficult to tell which stop we were at. It was also a bit scary trying to get

on the bus at times as the shelters are a good few feet off the ground, the gaps between

buses can be a couple of feet and then you have crowds of people shoving

to get on the bus!

Anyway, after changing twice and feeling quite smug we got to the station. We

found the correct ticket counter and the lady spoke good English. This was all

looking pretty straight forward! Until we realised we'd only bought my wallet

with us, with half our money and 1 bankcard. We didn't have enough cash

to pay for the ticket so we had to find an atm. No problem! So off we

trundled to the atm only to find my card was rejected. Panic began to set in

as we realised we couldn't buy a ticket and get back to our hotel. So

we either had to go all the way back to our hotel and then back again or

phone the bank and get it sorted.

So luckily we did have a sim card and credit so I called Barclays. Before the call

had started I was panicked because I knew I did not know my telephone banking

code and did not have any information with me. Got through to 'Personal

Banker 1' and got through the first few security questions okay and then he started

to get progressively ruder, talking down to me , being really abrupt.

I asked him not to speak to me and that way and explained for the 2nd time the

situation I was in and that I was already quite stressed. The next question

I didn't quite catch because of the line and he shouted at me...at which point

I burst in to tears! Brilliant! In my head this is not the person I am!

In my head this situation doeesn't phase me, it's not a desperate situation.

Anyway..apparently I am a big pansy so I just cried!

Martin took the phone off me and demanded he speak to his manager, who he told

how cross he was for having staff that made pathetic girls like me cry!

I then pulled myself together and answered the same questions again to get through

security and he was just putting the call through to the fraud department

when.....the phone ran out of credit! Great.

So we bought some more credit with the little money we had left and I tried again!

This time I was even more flustered and didn't get through the security questions

with 'Personal Banker 3', but I begged him and was about to start crying again

when he put me through to the fraud department. Luckily i got through security

questions and she agreed to reinstate my card (lucky me being to access my own

money!). So £15 quid or a days budget later we managed to buy a train ticket

to Yogykarta or Jogja.

After that we had some lunch at the station and then decided we would head back

to the hotel. We did consider trying to navigate around Jakarta on foot as we

were now more central, but I think Martin worried that the smallest mishap

now might push me over the edge!

When we returned to the apartment we went for a relaxing swim and then got ready

to go for dinner. We didn't go to the cinema in the end because the times

were different from the night before and we missed the film we had planned to see.

So I let Martin loose on the chocolate aisle of Carrefour instead!

First impressions of Jakarta

18.10.11

We were sad to be leaving Singapore this morning but looking forward to coming back in

1 month time and to our month in Indonesia.

It took under 2 hours to fly to

Jakarta and we had arranged to be picked up from the airport by a taxi and taken

straight to our accomodation, which we had booked in advance.

The first thing that struck us about Jakarta was the traffic. We were on huge

trunk roads, with 3/4 lanes (they made their own lanes!) and they were overloaded.

We also noticed a system of bus lanes, with shelters in the middle of the

carriageway, people stepped off the shelter about 3 foot off the ground on to

buses. The shelters were connected by walkways across the manic roads and

down the middle of the carriageways were wide, filthy canals, strewn with

rubbish. We had read that Jakarta was very large, with no real centre and

notoriously difficult to get around on foot and what

we were seeing confirmed this.

It took us about an hour to get to our appartment block where we were met by the

notorious William. This was an ordinary residential

unit with 32 floors, there were 3 other identical blocks with a pool complex in

the centre. We were in a condo on the 16th floor, with a small kitchen/lounge,

2 bedrooms and a bathroom. We could see the amazing pool down below, it appeared

to be almost olympic size, with a moat like pool around it and surrounded

by paths and raised flower beds; very picturesque.

We wanted to buy a sim card so William very helpfully took us to a store in the

basement and helped us to buy one. There was also a supermarket so we

picked up a few bits for a snacky lunch, before we headed down to the pool.

There were lots of children in the moat and other more serious swimmers in the

pool. I realised that my bikini wasn't going to be appropriate, as many of the

women were wearing shorts and t-shirts to swim, so I didn't get in.

Later that afternoon we ventured to the mall which was only 5 minutes away.

Again it was very grand, housing a 5 star hotel, cinema and Fun-Land! There

must have been about 50 restaurants aswell, most of which seemed to be doing

good business. We decided to get dinner in the food hall. It was interesting

trying to decipher what was on offer, we had no idea what the dishes were

and there was little English spoken. So we pointed to couple of photos on the

menu and hoped for the best! I ended up with a Gado Gado, a cold vegetable salad, served

with a boiled egg and covered (swimming) in peanut sauce. It was very tasty

but the sauce got a bit much. Martin had something similar but it was a

noodle salad in the same sauce.

Afterwards we went to check out the cinema. The normal seats cost around £2 each.

There was also a Velvet cinema, where seats were like matresses with pillows

and a small table so you could lounge. These seats cost a tenner. We

decided to come back tomorrow night to watch a film as we were tired. So

we went back to the apartment, watched a film in our lounge, novelty, and sampled

some local largers, Bintang (cost 10,000 rupiah or about 70 pence) and Anker,

which were very pleasant!

Singapore

17.10.11

We had both been really excited about our day in Singapore and we were not

disappointed. We felt quite relaxed as everything seemed strangely familiar

compared to India. The roads were more predictable: people drove in lanes,

obeyed traffic rules, stopped at traffic lights etc. English is also widely

spoken, shops were more modern and western like. It's amazing how 2 ex-English

colonies can be so different!

So we headed to the restaurant from last night for lunch before heading to Orchard

Road. We found the Aljunied MRT station about 10 minutes walk from our hotel.

It was all so simple! We bought a ticket at the machine, found where we wanted

to go on the map and followed the signs to the correct platform. It's as simple

as the London Underground, but much cleaner and less crowded. They don't use

paper tickets either, you get a plastic ticket which you return after your journey

and get a 1 dollar refund.

We got off at Orchard station which is exited through the ION mall. Orchard Road

is a road of malls. From what I can gather there are ---- malls. Walking down

the road you can smell the money! We passed Dolce & Gabbana,

Calvin Klein, Louis Vutton, Chanel, Versace, Abercrombie and Fitch...all the big

ones! We spent a happy few hours window shopping. We were amazed at how busy each mall

was and how much business they must get to all stay open, I don't think we saw

any vacant lots. There must be huge amounts of money in Singapore, when you think

about Southampton when not all the shops can afford to stay open in West Quay.

Anyway, we then got back on the MRT at Somerset and went to the Marina. The Marina

is'nt particularly picturesque, but is surrounded by hotels, office blocks and

a grand, upmarket mall. Along the promenade there is also the Art and Science museum, which

was unfortunately closed. It is housed in a very unnusual looking building shaped

like a bunch of banannas or an open hand facing palm upwards. Inside the mall was

a man-made canal and a gondola making trips up it, there was also a skating rink.

We walked over an elaborate bridge which was like a metal rope, from the bridge

you had a good view of Singapore's version of the the Eye. Across the river we came

to another mall where we decided to have something to eat. Eventually we picked

Sauce, to have a burger each, as we'd both been craving meat. The setting for

our meal was wonderful; sat outside with a view of the marina andd the light

show that started. The burgers were immense and washed down with a couple of beers-

it doesn't get much better than that! However the price put a bit of a dampner

on things (even though it was english prices, this came as a bit of shock

compared to India!).

Another Long Day!

15.10.11 - 16.10.11

We got a taxi to Delhi airport at around 8am for a flight at midday. It took

nearly 3 hours to get to Bangok and our flight to Singapore was not til

7am the next morning. We had decided that it was not worth the money to pay

for a hotel and that we were going to stay at the airport. I think we both

regretted this once we got there and of course we couldn't check in for the

flight til 4am. So we found some benches near the check in desk to try and

get some sleep. Unfortunately it was freezing because of the airconditioning

and we ended up putting loads of layers on and getting inside our sleeping

bag sheets. But we managed to doze for a few hours and at 4am were able to

check our luggage in and go through to departures.

It was only a couple of hours to fly to Singapore and as soon as we arrived

we realised the next couple of days were going to be a much different

experience to what we had grown used to in India. We went straight to the

shuttle bus desk to enquire about getting to our hotel. They said instantly

that they could take us straight to our hotel door and to take a seat, they

would come and get us when the bus arrived in 10 minutes. Within 10

minutes we were on the bus and 15 minutes later we were dropped directly outside

our hotel. As simple as that!

Our hotel was pretty basic especially for the £35 we were paying per night!

We got a couple of hours sleep and then went to explore the local area with

bags of washing as we were told that there was a laudrette nearby. We had

read that the hotel was in the red light district and as soon as we got to

the corner of our road this was apparent! There were crowds of men hanging

around and the cafes nearby were full of men. There seemed to be a shortage

of girls working. Despite this it didn't feel threatening. Along the main

road there were lots of foodcourts with tables on the road and loads of people,

mainly men, sat eating, drinking Carlsburg and socialising.

We eventually found the laundrette and spent an hour and half washing and drying

our clothes. After dropping our clean clothes back at the hotel we went to

find something to eat. We found a foodhall that seemed very popular and

examined all the menu boards to decide what we wanted to eat. The boards were

in English and Cantonese (I think). We decided on pork with rice and a wonton

and noodle soup. We didn't quite feel brave enough to try the pig intestines

or chilli crab just yet! It was a very enjoyable meal and we sat for a while

with some beers people watching before we headed back to bed.