What I found interesting about this trip is how infrequently I came across other travellers. At times I would goes days without seeing another white person, yet the places I was visiting were great tourist destinations. Places like Surabaya are well-worth a stop… so why aren’t people checking it out? Well, I think I know the answer. There are hardly any travellers out there that are adventurous. Hardly any. The vast majority are more comfortable taking pre-arranged transport than public transport, eating at malls rather than warungs and staying in hotels found on hostelbookers rather than those listed in a guide book (or worse, finding themselves by walking around).

Gunung Bromo Savanna

It’s a big call, I know, but what else explains why people aren’t visiting the temples of Trowulan, the temples at Singosari or Gunung Semeru, the largest volcano in Java? This despite them being very close to other locations that attract quite a few visitors such as the well-connected Gunung Bromo.

Dwarapala in Singosari, Malang

So Indonesia has a problem. Foreign visitors generally aren’t going to be bothered heading to cities like Malang unless it’s easy to get there and once there, the sites are easy to reach. An example of the difficulties that one must endure is the process of seeing the Singosari temples near Malang. If you want to do it, you either have to hire a car and driver for the day or utilise pubic transport. A car and driver is usually quite expensive and people just don’t bother. To get to them all by public transport in a day is an exercise in perseverance. One has to catch at least 10 angkots. 10! So to speed things up, it’s best to mix it up with a few motorcycle taxis too. But most people just aren’t going to be bothered with this approach either. The better option would be to hire a motorbike, but I rarely see foreigner tourists on motorbikes in Java. I think I’ve seen one.

Huge, active volcano, Gunung Bromo

Anyway, it saddens me a bit and I wish Indonesia would try and tackle this problem. This is not a problem of visitors. It’s a problem of infrastructure and marketing. Hardly anyone knows about Gunung Bromo which in my opinion is one of the highlights of my experiences in SE Asia. And even when people do know about it, they really need to land in Yogyakarta to easily book direct transport.

Temple in Trowulan, outside Surabaya

These issues make Indonesia a brilliant place for those that are slightly more adventurous and determined. It means you can have authentic experiences every day you are here. It means you won’t be bothered by loud-mouthed drunken louts, teens in “in the tubing” shirts or fools reliant on hostelbookers/tripadvisor to get their accommodation ideas. It’s perfect really. But sad for Indonesia.

So what’s my point? My point is that Indonesia needs to do more to give its attractions the best possible chance of being seen. In the meantime, Indonesia is a virtually unspoilt wonderland just waiting for adventurous souls to come and try it out. Give it a go!

Note: The Indonesia view of this issue is slightly different because they speak the language, are familiar with the modes of transport and how things work.

Java is a petite-looking island home to 135 million (!!!) people nestled between enormous Sumatra and bite-sized Bali. The problem with viewing Java as petite is that it’s often easy to think that as a tourist you can breeze through in a week and more or less have it covered. Java is packed with activities for tourists such as enormous volcanoes, sprawling rainforests, white sand beaches and thousands of years worth of culture. A week is never going to be enough.

I’ll be trying to cover the entire island in about 2 and a half months and I will not be stopping to sun myself on the beach, spend late nights drinking with other backpackers or generally doing anything that wastes time. It’s a big job. And that’s a lot to do with how many cool places there are in Java, how slow travelling through the island is and the detail in which I need to do the research.

Java, here we come!

The Journey to Yogyakarta

Normally I don’t write about journeys between A and B — mainly because people like to hear about destinations and that is fair enough. But the train journey across Java is brilliant and is worth mentioning here. It really is part of the Javan experience to sit on the train outside of the toilet and just chat with all the people that wander past — or go to the toilet. And the scenery is to die for. Take a look at my short short short video if you’re interested in what it looks like.

Yogyakarta City

Compared to anywhere else in Java, Yogyakarta is absolutely packed with tourists. But even then, it’s not like many Asian destinations where white people outnumber local people. Yogya is an easy city to get around, a great place to eat nice food and undertake hassle-free tourist activities. There are a bunch of backpacker hotels located near the train station which I recommend as being the best area to stay. The other backpacker area is slightly more upmarket, but further out of town. That problem is countered by the fact that there are nice cafes around there. I headed over there 4 times during my Yogya stay and a fave of mine was…Via Via. Basically some hippy Western joint with ethical principles or some such thing. I forget. But the food was nice, the staff knew what they were doing and there was a good cause behind it.

Pecel

So why do people go to Yogyakarta anyway? Well, there’s a few temples around that are pretty famous and spectacular and stuff. I didn’t see them this time, but have done before. Number one on the hit list is always Borobodur. Number 2 is always Prambanan. There are plenty of others, but it’s not always easy to get to them unless you’re on some sort of comprehensive tour, hire a car and driver or ride a push bike there. And that is possible if you’re a cycling fiend.

The other cool thing to see in Yogya is Gunung Merapi. If you’ve never seen a volcano before, this is a sight to behold. The volcano towers ominously above the surrounding landscape and erupts with frightening regularity often killing many.

Taman Sari, Yogyakarta

In the town itself there are bunch of things to see such as the Sultan’s Palace, some old swimming pools and a the bird market. Forget the bird market. There is absolutely no touristic value there. The swimming pools are good and I didn’t get into the Sultan’s Palace.

In fact, I didn’t do a whole lot when I was in Yogya. I just hung around and chatted with fellow travellers, rode a bike for many kilometres, ate good food and got a lift to a restaurant in Bedhot’s fantastic VW. And absolutely fantastic vehicle.

Bedhot's Amazing Volkswagen

Out of all the cities in Java, Yogya is the one that most foreigners will feel comfortable in but it is still a very local city, not a tourist city. That really just says that other cities in Java are not tourist cities in the slightest and you will feel uncomfortable — which is good for some, not for others.

Yogya has it all…temples, swimming pools and good food. Give it a go!

This video is an advertisement for instant coffee, but it does a pretty good job of summing up my passion for the country. It’d be a fantastic tourism advertisement as well, but I’ve never seen one of those for Indonesia — that’s another story.

Email: mariaimlac@yahoo.co.id

Address: IMLAC, Jalan Gunung Agung No. 16, Bandung 40142, Jawa Barat, Indonesia

My advice is to contact Maria via email. She is the office manager and can help with visas, visa advice, schedules, costs etc. These are the contact details for the office in Bandung, but Maria can put you in touch with the other offices (eg Salatiga) if you need those details. Maria can speak English, so don’t worry about any language barrier.

A brief note on costs. You can get away with about 4,000,000 rupiah (US$440) per month per person when living here in Bandung and studying at IMLAC. That is the costs of visa, tuition, rent and food. You can probably do it slightly cheaper, most will spend more than that (mainly to eat at restaurants, hire a maid, do fun stuff, buy nice things).

Happy to field questions.

This freedom has given rise to the emergence of my passions. Things I really couldn’t identify with prior to giving up full time work. Further, I’m now starting to identify my natural behaviours in the big bad world now that I have the freedom to do whatever I want. And it’s very interesting and totally not what I expected. When I was working a proper job, I was happy to stay put for years and years on end. I was going to die in that job. I was comfortable. I was in a routine. So when I quit work,  I feared I’d miss that routine (I did) and I feared that I would end up vegging for years on end, doing nothing. Quite honestly, that happened for about 9 months. Most of that 9 months was spent travelling.

Since that time, I’ve been flitting from one project to another (not always paid) and it has been a rollercoaster ride like no other! What is so interesting about it is that I realise my attention span on certain activities lasts about 3 months and then… no I don’t bored, I get inspiration for a new plan, a new trip, a new project. It’s crazy, because I’m loving learning Indonesian at the moment, but there are a bunch of other things on the horizon that are getting me very excited — even more than the learning Indonesian thing. I’m going to force myself to stick with the Indonesian thing whilst dabbling in the new projects, but it gives a very interesting insight to the type of person I am when the shackles have been thrown clear.

The other thing I think is interesting is that I find it much more difficult to be free in Australia. Basically because everything is geared towards people not being free despite the glossy brochures. I feel free in Indonesia like I have never done before. That’s not to say I don’t love Australia — I do. But it is such a refined, productive society that opportunities for great projects are difficult to come by and are usually extremely risky. Here in Indonesia, opportunities are everywhere and the risks are minimal. I’m loving it.

For some people, this will make perfect sense. I have a feeling, though, that this might not make sense to the vast majority. Make sense? Or absolute load of rubbish?

After almost 2 months of learning Indonesian, learning about the culture and living in a kampung, I can honestly say that I could never have understood the subtlties of this culture on my own. It would be impossible. And I now feel for many of the expats living in Indonesia who are regularly frustrated by some of the little things in day-to-day life when dealing with Indonesians – it’s really all about cultural misunderstandings.

So what am I talking about? Well, I’m talking about understanding the way Indonesian people think and feel and how that impacts on the words they use, the way they use them and the body language that accompanies that. There’s an obsession with status in Indonesia that I never really understood before. But it’s complex. It’s not just about wanting to be at the top of the hierarchy. It’s also about being polite about it and not boasting about your wealth or social standing. There is a constant struggle to lower oneself to ensure that other don’t view you as being a snob.

It also goes for things like new clothes or shoes. If you complement someone on the new clothes, the person will be embarrassed and will say they’re cheap, not good or were on sale… anything to devalue them so that the person doesn’t appear to revel in having someone praise their wealth or social standing. It’s all very strange and very complex.

By the same token, even though you’re lowering yourself at every opportunity, it’s only on the surface. You really do try and move up the social ladder while acting as if you’re not and that it’s not important. So you might buy an ipad partly because it increases your status in the eyes of others, but you’ll try and say it’s rubbish and not that good knowing that it still makes you look richer and more important. I love it.

So why is this important? Well, if I want to be something other than just another white guy living in Indonesia that can throw around a few dozen Indonesian words, I need to fit in. I need to cocok. And I think it’s every person’s responsibility to cocok if you go and live in another country. In Australia when we see immigrants stick within their enclaves and fail to embrace the local culture, we castigate them — we discriminate against them. The same happens in Indonesia and I think it’s fair enough.

So this culture thing is all important. It can’t be learned from a book, it can’t be learned from the people. It has to be taught to you, you have to experience it and you have to be pulled up when you get it wrong. And that is something that is not likely to happen from an Indonesian person as it’s embarrassing to correct someone when they do something wrong. Especially a bule. Which is just another one of those cultural complexities.

So today I show to you Bali’s culture. Before visiting this small island which is a speck in the vast Indonesian archipelago, most people have visions of an exotic culture of bare breasted women carry offerings to temples, men tilling verdant ricefields and kids playing joyfully with archaic toys. Well, of course that’s fallacy, but a similar feeling can be experienced if you try hard enough – albeit of the more modern kind (ie no boobies).

Rice Offering

So this is one of the small rice offerings put out by Balinese people at the start of each day from the rice they have cooked. A thanks to the gods for the food.

Rice Field Temple

These “temples” are placed all throughout rice fields for purposes that are too complex for me to understand. Probably something to do with the rice goddess, Dewi Sri.  Needless to say, they are everywhere.

Pura Melanting

Pura Melanting is a large temple near the coastal town of Pemuteran in northwest Bali. When I was there, it was decorated coloufully and looked fabulous.

Balinese Penjor

Penjors are used for a variety of reasons, but most tourists will see these around Galungan – a 10 day period of great importance to Balinese. Usually lots of pigs are slaughtered as well and made into lawar and sate. If you get a chance, eat the raw blood version of lawar – it is an experience.

Human Skulls at Trunyan

Skulls are cool. Especially when they’re on a black flag and you ponce around with a peg leg and an eye patch. Better still, you can get up and personal in the village of Trunyan where local people don’t really bury their dead. Well not all of them anyway. Some of them just decompose above ground and the resultant skulls are placed on a wall for all to see. Cool!

Carved Temple Box

Balinese have quite a few artistic specialities. They carve, they chisel, they weave and they paint. Sometimes all on the same piece. This temple box is similar to many you will see all around the island.

Balinese People Praying at Pura Lempuyang

Finally, Balinese people pray. A lot. And it’s not uncommon to see scenes like this when you get out of the main tourist centres. The settings are usually unbelievably peaceful and the devotees completely focussed. Bliss.

So there you have it. Bali really does have culture in spades and many people fall in love with it. Wanna go to Bali?

OK OK, say what you will. But this is how life turns out if you don’t agitate for change.