Travels through Java

Ok we knew our idyllic island lifestyle couldn’t last forever so back to reality now - with a very large bump! We caught the boat from Gili Trawangan at 10.30am across the Bali Sea back to Bali which took just under 2 hours. All ok so far. When we arrived at the boat port though, the first thing we find out is that the onward transport didn’t actually take us to where we wanted to go despite being promised by the ticket agent. We only wanted to go to the main bus terminal - not somewhere really strange. so after a lot of toing and froing they finally put us on a bus and agreed to drop us at another bus terminal. From there we had to catch a Binto across the city to the main terminal. These are tiny little mini buses which zoom around everywhere. We bought our bus/ferry ticket to Java - Surabaya which would be an overnight bus arriving at 5.30am. groan. but it was the only way so we had about 4 hours to kill which is hard for Bryan as he has never learned how to sit still! anyway our ropey old bus took 5 hours to get us across Bali & to the ferry port. Our ferry left at 11.00pm The ferry didn’t take that long but believe me when i say it certainly isn’t the ‘Pride of Dover’!!! we stayed outside in the night air. So after a 1 hour crossing we had to wait almost another to dock and get off on Java - our 4th island of Indonesia. there are about 3,000 altogether. Our bus ride then took us to Surabaya in East Java. it shouldn’t have taken the 6 hours that it did but the bus broke down twice. I’m quite glad it did though as even 6.30am is too early to arrive anywhere if you ask me! A taxi was waiting though and took us to the train station which is really where we needed to be - across the city - they don’t put travel these things together here! So at 8.00am and after a cup of tea, Bryan went off to find somewhere with internet access as we had no idea where to go from there. We found a really helpful friendly man in customer services who explained ‘trains al very busy’ of course we had completely forgotten it is Easter weekend, they celebrate it here too even though it is primarily Buddhist & Muslim. Then we dragged our bags half a mile to a lovely air conditioned hotel and used their wifi to look for our next place to sleep. We wanted to go to Yogyakarta (or Jogja as everyone here calls it) and to see the famous Temple at Borobudur so we had to research it and make sure we could stay somewhere if we could get that far. It all worked out in the end, we managed to get accommodation in Borobudur for 2 nights (after a dodgy telephone conversation) and a train to Jogja at 4.30pm, arriving at 10.00pm. (Remember we have been on the road 24 hours already at this stage). So we had about 6 hours to kill. We found a large indoor shopping centre where we had lunch. Noodles which were delicious and Bryan’s dumplings were the best he’d ever had! We crossed the road and saw this giant submarine which we went into and whilst we were waiting this man came up to bryan and started chatting to him. he was friendly so we chatted for a while. He tried to teach Jody some Indonesian which she has promptly forgotten! This man (who’s name was Dicky)says if we ever want to go to Indonesia again for a holiday, don’t stay in a hotel we can stay with him. but we didn’t have anything to write his address on. Shame!!! So after about an hour we finally lose him and go to the train station. We planned to sit in the executive lounge where it was air conditioned. we are at the station, waiting for a train to go so we could cross the tracks when we hear ‘Brown, Brown (he couldn’t say Bryan!)i found something to write my address on for you’ We both took a deep breath, smiled and said oh great - Tremagassi - thank you (see i didn’t forget the Indonesian straight away!). well he was just being kind so we chatted for another few minutes before we made our excuses and made to leave. Well he just followed us, all the way to the executive lounge and bought us a drink. We really didn’t know what to do. So Bryan gave him his telephone number! it is lovely to chat to the locals and after all that is what this trip is about - mingling and seeing the real world, but we really didn’t expect that. Finally on the train, business class, what does that mean? You get a seat and the train has fans in it! So we settled in for a five hour journey to Jogja. Every time the train pulled in to a station lots of street sellers would jump on to sell their goods, aqua, tea, plated meals, corn on the cob, and various other much needed goods that you most need on such a long journey. We however did not need anything as we were well stocked with water and food. We finally arrived in Jogja, a 1 hour taxi ride to Borobudur and 37 hours after we set off from Gili T, we finally arrived at our next bed, Bliss!