java 1

jakarta...the capital of the island, and the capital of the country...java is the most populated island in the country...jakarta is a big city...jakarta isn't known for anything in particular, at least nothing that would interest a traveler...it's a city, but not an exciting one...i arrived later than i expected, after dark...fortunately there were a couple british boys on my bus, so i walked with them to the area where we all hoped to stay...because jakarta is the capital, they do get some tourists, and there is an area where most of the hotels are clustered, fortunately it wasn't far at all from where the bus dropped us off...it's nothing like khao san road in bangkok, but the few restaurants there are definitely geared toward travelers...i found a room quickly, which was a relief...
the day i arrived was also the first day of a street festival on that particular street...it was scheduled to last the two days i expected to stay in jakarta, which was awesome...nothing super exciting, but quite a few food stands, a couple stages, and lots of local families walking around...i enjoyed the food most of all...i tried a few things i didn't recognize, several of which i saw through the rest of my time in indonesia...
jakarta has a monument called monas (i think?) in the middle, it's the national monument...built by one of the former presidents...it's an unfortunate shape, sometimes called his last erection...ooops...it's in the middle of merdeka square, a wide, flat area, where locals gather to hang out...(a great spot for people watching)...when i visited the monument i was interviewed by two local uni students, who recorded the entire conversation on their phone...the monument was also where an indonesian guy just wouldn't listen when i said i didn't want to talk to him...he wouldn't listen when i said my boyfriend doesn't like me talking to strange men...he wouldn't listen when i said go away...he FINALLY went away when i would say nothing but "go away"...i think i said it 12 times before he finally left? and that was after asking "can i know where you're from?"...GO AWAY...
also in jakarta is a large mosque...i read that it's the largest mosque in southeast asia...but i thought i already saw the largest mosque in malaysia? i guess it depends on the definition of largest...the number of people it holds, the space it takes up, size of the building, etc...
buying a train ticket in jakarta reminded me a LOT of india...it took a while to find the proper ticket office, and then the request sheet was entirely in bahasa indonesia...someone helped me fill it out, and was quite surprised that i wanted an economy class night train...but it was cheap!! queueing up was just like india too, people sliding in every which way...the train was even cheaper than i expected, YAY...
it wasn't until i got on the train that night that i realized why the train was so cheap, and why they had been surprised when i had said i really did want that particular train...i did indeed have an assigned seat...there were 2 seats facing each other, 3 could sit on one side, 2 on the other...not comfortably, and definitely not with enough room for our legs in the middle...the five of us ended up with legs intertwined through most of the night...it was indeed a seat i had, definitely no way to lay down...i was lucky to have the window, so at least i had something to lean against...there were people in the aisles, in between cars, etc...a very very crowded train...i didn't get much sleep, but oh well...it was an experience...
i arrived in yogyakarta in the morning, and chose to hire a becak (bicycle rickshaw)...he said 5000 rupiah, about 50 cents (american)...upon arrival, he tried to demand double that, indicating my pack...um, right, like you didn't see my pack when i walked out of the train station? i stayed in the traveler ghetto...a lot like the area in bangkok, perhaps not quite as busy and crowded...but this area still had all the budget accomodation, internet cafes, laundry places, travel agencies, etc...not much street food in the area though...
yogyakarta (pronounced jogjakarta, and usually shortened to jogja) is supposed to be the cultural capital of java...because of this, it's a majour tourist destination...because of that, it's really aggressive...it's impossible to walk more than 100m w/out someone asking you where you're going, or offering to drive you somewhere...argh...they also want to get you into stores selling batik, which is mass produced in and around the city...batik everything...purses, pajamas, shirts, cloth, etc...
the best part of yogya for me were the two temple sights i went to see, slightly out of the city...the first, prambanan, is mostly hindu...(though there is a buddhist temple there)...prambanan is really a temple complex, there are a number of temples to see...unfortunately several of the major temples were damaged in a 2006 earthquake, so you can't go in them...they've been rebuilding these temples, and i think they've done it really well...generally i don't enjoy rebuilt stuff, but this time i did...prambanan is also nice because it's easily accesible by public, local transport...there is absolutely no reason to sign up for any of the overpriced tours offered...i also went to see borobudur, a buddhist temple...according to lots of the postcards, it's the biggest buddhist monument in existence...i don't know about that, again it probably depends on your definition...but it is big, that's for sure...there are a number of levels of the temple, and if you walk all the way around each level, the total distance is 5km...not bad for one temple!!! all the way around each of the lower levels are carvings, and i think none of them are alike...like prambanana, borobudur has been rebuilt, and again, i think they've done a great job...i saw pictures before the rebuilding, and it wasn't much more than a pile of rocks...the entrance fee to borobudur and prambanan were both ridiculously high, especially in comparison to the cost for everything else in indonesia...howeva, the entrance fee to borobudur meant that i got to go through the foreigners/VIP entrance...normally, i wouldn't care, but this one was actually nice...slightly air conditioned (air con doesn't do much when doors are constantly open) and free tea and coffee...little packets of sugar and non dairy creamer as well...plus, there was a bathroom...a clean bathroom...a nice smelling bathroom...AWESOME!!!
one of what is supposed to be the highlights of yogya is the kraton, the palace in which the ruling family used to live...but there wasn't much of anything there...the whole time i walked around i had the feeling i was missing something...the best part of the kraton was taking pictures with some local girls who asked me to be in pictures with them:)
overall, i wasn't very impressed with yogya...because it relies so heavily on tourism, it's quite aggressive, and not very enjoyable...the street food was great though!