JAVA
|
JAVA |
On this page you can see some impressions of the following cities/places:
Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung, Borobudur, Yogyakarta and the Bromo Volcano!
| Chicken Market Bridge, Jakarta | ||||
| Home |  |
In
Jakarta, we were going to look for some Dutch history. In Kota we found this
Chicken Market Bridge. This model you will find on the Amsterdam canals
too!
After Kota, which is pretty nice (go to the square!) we walked over to the harbour, Sunda Kelapa. The Lonely Planet mentions about this place, that it´s one of the finest sights of Jakarta. We really did our best to find the beauty of it, but couldn´t find it at all! Yes, there are big sailing ships. But unforgettable...? Like the rest of Jakarta, I think. |
||
|
|
||||
|
Salak Mountain, Bogor |
||||
 |
 |
From Jakarta´s Gambir station, we took a fast and comfortable train to Bogor. This city is also called the City of Rain, since it´s got the highest annual rainfall. The climate is very nice though, after steemy Jakarta. There are several budget hotels along the Botanical Gardens. Good places to eat were harder to find. After a visit to the Kebun Raya, we made a day trip with our guide Rachman. | ||
Views over Bogor |
||||
| |
 |
He
took us to the country side of Bogor. On the previous photo you can see
the Salak Mountain.
The country side is beautiful. Apart from the Salak, it is quite hilly here. Lots of rice paddies, little villages, streems, waterfalls etc. |
||
|
|
|
The nice thing about such a trip is (first we thought it was too expensive, and of course it was....) that you would never have visited the places we did, if we would have gone out on our own. So, in a very uncomfortable bemo, we crossed kilometers and kilometers of beautiful landscape. We were brought to the family of our guide for a smal lunch, to hotsprings, to a nice river to swim in, and last but not least to a ´huge´ waterfall, which was unfortunately ´finished´ because of the dry season! And of course, our guides DID tell us that in advance. Not. |
||
|
A family in Bogor |
||||
| |
 |
This
is a picture of 2 members of the family of our guide Rachman. He told us
his family, including his wife and kids, live outside Bogor while
he lives in the city of Bogor. Only when there are tourist who go
with him on a tour, he can visit them. A sad story, but probably true.
When we arrived at his family´s, he told us it has been months since he
saw them last, due to the low tourist season (and the political situation
which keeps many tourists away from Indonesia)
I really like the contrast of this photo: smoking granny and a little muslim child. |
||
|
Papandayan Volcano, near Bandung |
||||
| |
 |
From
Jakarta to Bandung: a beautiful journey by train through nice mountains
and valleys and one of the most amazing rice paddies of Java.
From the nice and popular budget hotel By Moritz´, we arranged a day trip to the fabulous Papandayan volcano. Our guide Hery promised us a great day, and.....he was right! |
||
|
Me and some locals of Bandung |
||||
|
A becak-driver in Bandung |
In
the city of Bandung, we took a bemo to Jeans Street. This street is stupid, at
least it was to me. This is said to be THE main attractions of Bandung...
..well, I don´t hope so for the city!
After Jeans street we wandered back to the hotel, and found these people more than willing for a photo after we gave them some pens! |
||
| |
 |
Everything is negotiable, also transport, and especially these becaks. I thought I read somewhere that a ride with these becaks costed 500 rupiahs. So when the driver asked me 5000, I just couldn´t stop laughing. In the end, we couldn´t get to an agreement, since I was sure he was ripping me off. Later I read that it WAS 5000 rupiahs! Still only 0,75 $! | ||
|
One of the many ´Dutch style´ colonial buildings of Bandung |
||||
| |
 |
One
of the finest examples of colonial architecture in Bandung, is this
Governor´s Residence, behind the railway station.
Bandung is roughly divided in 2 parts, separated by the railway: to the south of it is the old and poor part of the city. to the north of it, the newer and richer part. Here, the Dutch lived in earlier days. |
||
|
Borobudur Temple, Yogyakarta |
||||
| |
|
After
a few days in Bandung, I headed east to Yogyakarta, by train again. The trip
took about 8 hours. There is a ´bisnis´ and ´executive´ class, and
both are okay.
From Yogya, me and 2 Swedish girls made an early morning ´see the sunrise´ trip to the Borobudur Temple. We miss sunrise, but the temple is amazing. |
||
| |
|
We arrived at the biggest temple at about 6.30, and we were the only ones there! This really added some magic to the beautiful location of the huge temple in between mountains and palm trees. Don´t go on a sunday: thousands of people visit Borobudur then! On the photo you can see me, trying to touch the Buddha inside. If you manage, you can make a wish! If it starts raining, there is a guy who sells umbrellas.... NOT. He RENTS them, but only tells you afterwards... Of course I thought I bought one, and we had a very uncomfortable argument when I found out, he wanted it back. |
||
| Bromo-volcano, the crater |
||||
| |
 |
From Yogyakarta, I took a bus to Bromo, which would take me to Bali, the following day. The tour operator promised me a comfortable tourist bus, which seemed nice to me, since the first part of the trip would take 12 hours. On the morning I left, the operator told me out of the blue, that I would be put in a public bus, and that I had to take care of my belongings, like photo camera, money etc. Oh, my god. Does it never stop with the ripping off?? I demanded my money back, and rushed over to the nearest agency who also had a bus leaving at the same time. Lucky for me I managed to get a ticket and off I went, to Bromo! In a tourist bus.... | ||
|
Around Bromo volcano |
||||
|
|
In a village near Bromo, we stayed overnight in a terrible hotel with wet sheets and pillows and dirty toilets. At 3 am we got up, to drive to the view point (one hour) and there we waited another hour for sunrise. The early morning view over the plains with its many craters must have been spectacular, but unfortunately, it was cloudy and we saw nothing. From there, we went to Bromo crater and when we arrived there, clouds had disappeared and we had an amazing view into the Bromo crater. |
||
