von-nation's Weblog Site • NuTang.com

The trip to Indonesia was 'OK', it had its ups and downs. The first day when I landed in Jakarta I was so tired and jet lagged...I just wanted to get out of the airport. But we ended up with so many problems with immigration and we got lost in the big complex. Also there were so many ppl hassling us to take our bags and offer a taxi ride because they knew we were tourists and wanted our money! I didn't have any rupiah ready and wanted to make a phone call to Yo, because she was coming to pick us up. I was so frustrated at that point that I burst into tears when I saw Yo...the language barrier and culture was a shock. Finally I had found a familiar face, someone who didn't want to take my money.

Fernando was just as frustrated and didn't like to be followed around by these 'porters' who just wanted to earn some tips for pushing a trolley around. It angered him. Anyways the stay in Jakarta got better, with me staying at Yo's place and meeting her family. It was great to finally see my best friend's home...in all the 8 years we have known each other I have never step foot in her house. I got to see the mega HUGE shopping centres and the international brand names that I cannot imagine coming to Perth. I also tried the best sushi in my life in Jakarta...because Perth's quality is just the pits. I also tried wagu steak on a hot lava stone...it was a different experience for sure. Yo was working most of the time, but took time out to take us around eating.

We also stayed 2 nights in the 5 star hotel - Hotel Mulia...which was really comfortable and relaxing. Yo's mum had paid for our stay in the hotel and another 80 guests because weddings are BIG over in Jakarta. 3000 people attended Aristo's (Yo's brother) and Sianny's wedding , it was like a BIG Ball with people standing and eating and chatting. I also had my first taste of Bintang beer which was great!

The day after the wedding I had to leave at 6am to catch an internal flight to Semarang (Tiff's home town). The flight was delayed for 6 hours...my patience was running thin again and my holiday spirit was almost broken. The rains were just so heavy in Semarang and had flooded the runway! Sofia was such a good girl for those 6 hours, we had to constantly keep her occupied so she would not be upset. Relaxed in Semarang and Tiff took me out the next day to get a full body spa...1.5 hours for AUD$20!! Fernando had stayed at Tiff's home on the net.

We checked out a haunted house in Semarang, which was really an old Dutch colonial Government house, which had a few hangings and tortures there when the Japanese took over. The feeling was eerie and disturbing, but kinda cool at the same time. We went for a road trip to Jogya a 1 hour drive from Semarang. There we stayed at a hotel, and gave me the creeps because of the events of the day.

After we went to the Sultan's palace and bought some batik. Then Tiff drove us to the airport to catch another plane to Bali. Landed in Bali at 3pm and we relaxed...I thought Bali would be better but we got gastro and it made our time really crap. We did do some shopping and sight seeing of the villages, volcano and rice paddy fields and Bali impressed me with it's artistic flair. Again we were greeted with annoying sales people, really giving us a hard time for our money. Plus alot of people trying to cheat us for more cash. It wasn't pleasant.... I enjoyed the swims in the pool at the Bali Dynastry Resort, and the buffet breakfast. Sofia did not like it when we went shopping, cuz it was boring for her. Instead she wanted to stay in the hotel and watch Dora dvds all day long! The dvds were dirt cheap too and we bought a dvd player for $30.

6 days in Bali and we already had enough! We wanted to go home to Perth...feeling sick and frustrated that we didn't do everything we had planned we just wanted to go home. I don't think I will go back to Bali anytime soon. I would rather spend my holiday in Malaysia.