Kabar dari Indonesia - News from Indonesia

Day 1 & 2

On Wednesday we flew from Canberra to Sydney to Jakarta.  The flight was just over 7 hours.  It was a cloudy and overcast day in Canberra and though I was looking forward to the warmer weather of Indonesia, it was still a shook to be met with a wall of humidity as I walked off of the plane. 

Many of the signs at Jakarta airport were labelled with a number of languages.  I was pleased to realise that I was able to read three of these languages.  We all collected our bags and made our way through customs.  It was great traveling with people who had been to Indonesian before, because waiting at the baggage carrousel was a number of people who would kindly offer to help you carry your bags and then expect payment in return.  We collected our own bags...

While waiting for our transfer from the airport to our hotel for the night, we had our first taste of what Indonesians call "Jam Karet" or "Rubber Time".  As we had to wait the better part of 30 minutes for the transfer to arrive.  However, the following morning our transfer to take us back to the airport arrived early.  This resulted in me hauling my bags in a wild dash through the hotel in order to make it to the bus before it left.  These are the moments I like most about traveling.  

We then flew from Jakarta to Yogyakarta.  This flight took about an hour.  When arriving into Yogya we met a bit of turbulence, which made for a bumpy ride.  This turbulence was caused because Indonesia has two seasons - "Summer" and "the Rainy Season".  I had be perviously told that it could be bumpy flying into Yogya during the Rainy Season.  

We were able to explore Yogya a little today.  We found the University where we will be studying and met the other people who are also completing the course.  Yogya has made a good first impression on me.  It is definitely and interesting city that has a lot of character.  Its streets are filled with kaki lima's, beca's and many other things.  I hope to explain these in more detail over the next three weeks.  One of the funnier signs that I saw today involved a Durian fruit.  The Durian is a tropical fruit, that is known for its bad smell.  Out the front of the Yogya Plaza Hotel (A five star hotel) was a sign that read "No Durians" other wise a fee of Rp. 500.000 would apply.