So yes, week 41 was the last week travelling. Last week in Indonesia and last week with Marina. Although it seemed a pretty sad week, I wasn’t sad at all. I kept on thinking on the good things that happened to me the last months, and I can’t feel luckier. It all has been so amazing!
Anyway, last Sunday we headed to Pangandaran, in the west of Java. To go there we took a bus for 8 hours. 8 hours in the worst road I’ve seen in my entire life. Are you picturing it? It’s even worse.
Pangandaran is a touristic area for Indonesians, so there were not many western tourists. That meant that Ramadhan was way worse. But anyway, it seemed a nice town to spend a couple of days.
On Monday we did the Green Canyon tour. First we went to see how they do the coconut sugar and we saw a man doing the Wayang wooden puppets (different to the leather ones of the center of Java). We felt like japanese tourists a bit, but well, it wasn’t for long….
- clothes and coconuts
- Wayang puppets
After that we went to the highlight of the tour: the Green Canyon. That was pretty beautiful. We swam on the canyon and saw some local animals. It was really nice. Then we became japanese tourists again, they took us to the beach, to eat and we ended the day visiting a Turtle Recovery Center. The turtles were SO CUTE! I want one!!!
- little turtle
Me with a super cute turtle (not as little as the other one!)
On Tuesday Marina took a surf lesson. I just took pictures expecting her to fall every time. But damn it! She did it really well! She stood the first time she tried!!! After that, it was time for a massage. She deserved it and well, me too! 1 hour massage with Andy for 4 €. Awesome!
Later we went for a walk to town. Pangandaran is the area that was devastated by the tsunami in 2006. All the town is filled with alert signs and evacuation exits. Besides that, is a fisher’s town: really quite, pleasant, nice, and with an amazing beach.
- Tsunami evacuation
But we had to go back to Yogyakarta. This time we took the train instead of the bus. And as soon as we arrived we saw that the usually (because of the Ramadhan) empty Yogya was crowded with people and street restaurants and more people and thousands of becaks all around. What was that? Indonesia’s Independence Day. I’m sure there was a massive celebration in Bali. In Yogya was nice, but I guess if August 17th wasn’t Ramadhan, they would have done a way bigger party.
Oh, before I forget it: after some weeks analysing the food, Marina and I realized that Indonesians eat pigeons. And pigeons’ eggs. I don’t want to make any comments about that fact.
On Thursday we went to the other temple that we had to visit: Borobudur, a massive 8th century Buddhist temple in the north-west of the city. The excursion was at 5 am and we went to visit the temple before having breakfast, so it was exhausting. But anyway, the temple was incredible. Borobudur it’s a World Heritage Site for UNESCO, and it’s totally understandable. No matter how hard I tried to take pictures, it’s something that you should see with your eyes.
With nine platforms that represent a buddhist mandala when viewed from above, has more than a thousand panels with reliefs, 504 Buddha statues and 72 stupa with Buddha statues inside. It’s just impressive.
- Borobudur’s stupas
And well, the rest of Thursday and all Friday, what did we do? Nothing. We were tired and it was too hot to move. We just moved to get some food, and spend the rest of the day in bed under the fan. Hell yeah!
Despite Ramadhan, despite all the hassle, I have to say that Yogyakarta has something pretty special. Indonesia is amazing because every single place you visit is similar but completely different to the next one. With their languages, their religions, their different cultures. A huge country made of small little countries. So much to discover!
- Yogyakarta’s becak
And what I’ll probably miss more of Indonesia is the sound of Gamelan, a traditional musical ensemble that has accompanied me all around Bali and Java: in their temples, in their dances, in their puppet shows. It’s hypnotic. Everytime I’ve seen a Gamelan orchestra playing my mind has blown away. That sound just takes me to another dimension.
By the way, although I’m going to miss Indonesia, I can’t wait to eat CHEESE and drink MILK. And I’m never going to eat rice again.
Barcelona, here I go!!!
