Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Indonesia has been great thus far. I am really enjoying it here

Im in Yogyakarta at the moment, hiding in an Internet cafe from the day's constant rain.

I just arrived here last night on a train from Jakarta. The train took 9 hours from Jakarta, West Java, to get half away across the island to Yogyakarta. Java is a big island. Overall, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, just behind the US, with a population of 255 Million People. Half of them live on Java. 15 Million people live in Jakarta alone. On the train, it felt like we were going through the city 'suburbs', more like slums, for close to an hour. The central part of Jakarta didnt feel overcrowded though like I imagine Hong Kong or Shanghai would feel.

On my only full day in Jakarta, I was just walking around on my own and I had four different people come up to me and ask where I was from and just walk with me. The first guy came up to me just outside of the Freedom Square in the middle of town. He turned out to be a tour solicitor in the end, but was still a really nice informative man. And when I turned him down he just said thank you and walked away. In Thailand, he would have begun to curse me before my back was turned.

The other two men I just met while walking around near the Harbor. I walked past the guy and we made eye contact so I said hi and he said hi back. And as I kept walking past him, it started to rain and he waved me over to an awning to keep dry. It let up after a minute or two and we walked together for an hour or so around the pier. He walked to my left with his arms folded behind his back and his chin in the air. It was a good experience. He thought it unusual that I wasnt married and that I didnt have any kids. The conversation eventually turned to Religion because there was a festival going on that night. He asked if I was Christian and I said yes. He said he was a Muslim and quickly followed it up with 'No Problem'. The Muslims in Malaysia and Indonesia have been the nicest people thus far.

The fourth guy was a motorbike driver. He worked for the tourist office there and when he saw me walking by he came out and gave me a taxi ride back to my hotel. I told him I was heading to Jakarta next and he came with me to the train station to help me buy the ticket. Great People.

The man that I was talking/walking with called the holiday, I believe, 'Sacrifice Day.' If that is the official name I dont know, but the night before I left there were goats all around town tied up outside Mosques for the nightly prayers.

The next day on the train, you could see the local people slaughtering the cows and goats from the window of the train. You could see a cow on the ground with blood on its mouth and neck and a man standing over it. There were goats strung up from house roofs and the local children gathering around to watch their fathers go to work. At some points, it looked like a whole town was gathering over an animal.

. . . .

Last night, after I got back to my hotel from walking around a bit, I lie down on my bed and put my arm under my pillow to begin to sleep when I found an empty bottle of Durex 'Pleasure-Enhancing Lubricant.' Disgusted, I immediately through the bottle across the room. I just sat for a second wandering what to do. My imagination began to take a hold of me but I maintained composure. It was late, I was tired and the sheets smelt OK so I just shut up and went to bed. I couldnt be bothered. I mean what probably happened is, the maid picked up the bottle from ANOTHER room and it fell out of her shirt pocket when she was putting down the clean sheets in THIS room, right? Thats the only reasonable explanation . . . . . . ha, I doubt this place has a maid or even a washing machine to wash its sheets. Whatever.

. . . .

Tomorrow I am getting on a bus for the Volcano in East Java, Bromo. Ill spend one night there and then head further east across the island, onto a ferry and Ill arrive in Denpasar, Bali by 6 pm. Im eager to get to the beach.