A lake, another lake and natural springs

The alarm went off at 4.15 this past Saturday. That just seems inhumane, does it not? However, excitement turned out to be an effective method to getting out of bed and after a shower, I ordered my Grab-bike – the driver arrived surprisingly quickly – and went to the meeting point, from where the trip would start!

On this Saturday in November, I had planned to visit Kawah Putih, a lake located on a volcano. I went with an organized tour and the program also included some other sites. Needless to say, but I am going to anyway, I was psyched to finally get out of the city and see more of Indonesia.

While I sat and waited for my friend to arrive and join me, I enjoyed the relative silence that the morning in Jakarta brought, and was watching a girl next to me with fascination, who was slaying mosquitoes like a pro. Once we boarded the bus and took off, I was happily surprised to be able to doze off for at least an hour and a half. Even after that I was in a blissful state of half-unconsciousness, until we reached Bandung.

There I looked out the window and took in all the hustle and bustle of this city. The area where we drove was very different from Jakarta. From the main street you could see the lush green fields and there were no buildings higher than two stories, maybe three. After a while we ended up on the small mountain roads where honking before turning a corner is a must. The views were already incredible, but hard to photograph from a moving bus.

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Once we arrived at Kawah Putih, we took a small shuttle bus to the main site. Before going here I read some information on the internet and there were also some signs around the area, all saying the same thing. The smell of sulfer will be insufferable and you cannot stay near the lake for longer than 15 minutes, in case the heavy smell effects you. While we were driving in the area, I kept waiting for the smell to hit. When we were on a small hill near the lake, I carefully sniffed the air and when I was standing next to the lake, I was simply confused about what the fuss was about. There was no sulfer smell, whatsoever. It almost distracted me from the natural beauty, but then I came to a conclusion. Being a touristic site like this, I am guessing they don’t want people crowding the place. So, if everyone can only stay for 15 minutes, they will leave quickly and the amount of people at the scene of the beauty will be minimized. It is either that, or for some reason the smell was just absent for the day. There were people selling masks to cover your nose and mouth, and I politely declined. Doing so in Indonesian resulted in a few gasps of surprise, which is always good for some giggles. I still don’t really understand the use of these masks, especially in this situation. It does not keep out smell. And breathing in the sulfer never killed anyone… right?

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The entrance

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Even though people were around to take a picture of me, I could not help myself and took a selfie too.

After we walked around, took some pictures, watched a wedding couple get there pictures taken and sat around for half an hour because we did not need all of the allocated time, we continued our trip. The shuttle bus took us back, we had some lunch and waited for the bus to continue our journey. While I was sitting near the bus, some of the other participants of the trip turned out to speak English very well and struck up conversation. They had been to Amsterdam and they told me something about their trip to the Keukenhof, where I have never been myself. We discussed how strange it is that you don’t take the time to see the sights in your own country, but when you are abroad, you want to see everything. It strengthened my resolve to also start discovering more of The Netherlands. When I will be there for a longer time. In like, a year or so. So maybe it is more of a long term plan.

After Kawah Putih, we continued to another place called Situ Patenggan, a big lake. We needed to pay an extra entrance fee here, which turned out not so positive for me. First of all, it was a little strange for everyone that they had to pay an extra IDR 20.000, and that it was not included in the price for the organized trip. But my disadvantage was a bit bigger, because the price for foreigners was not IDR 20.000, but a whopping IDR 185.000. That set me back a bit, and when we got to the lake I was a tad disappointed. It was just a lake and really not that special after the amazing Kawah Putih. They wanted to go for a boat ride, but while we were walking that way, one of the locals started talking to me and telling me about a location nearby, where it was supposedly really special, called Kawah Rengganis. There were natural springs, and some of them were heated naturally up to 100 degrees Celsius. He showed me a few pictures, and though I was a bit hesitant, I really wanted to let him take me there. I was a bit worried about the price, but he told me the entrance fee was only IDR 30.000. Then I quickly discussed with my friend about what his fee would have to be, and he said I could give him whatever I wanted. My cash funds were running a little low, but I decided to go with him and see what I thought the private tour was worth.

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Still took the time to take a picture at the lake though

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So. I hopped on the back of his motorbike. This part was nothing new for me and even though maybe going off with a stranger should have caused some nervousness on my part, I was surprisingly calm. That is, until we hit the small mountain roads, varying from cobblestone roads to dirt-roads and there was a lot of wobbling involved. I told him ‘hati-hati’ (be careful) a few times, but he just smiled and gave a little more gas.

We arrived safe and sound, of course, and despite the nagging fear that took hold of me if I looked too closely at how close to the ledge we drove and how far we would fall were that that to happen, I took in the view and could only feel extremely satisfied that I took him up on his offer. We drove past some beautiful tea plantations and we hadn’t even arrived at our destination yet.

When we did, I finally got something I was waiting for all day. A sulfer smell. Now here was a place that is undiscovered by so many and there was nobody there, except for locals. It really gives you a kick when you go off the beaten path and see something new. There were a lot of different springs and the place was really humid. The fact that it started raining didn’t help, but also did nothing to spoil the adventure. Although, it did make walking a bit difficult. The guy hopped from stone to stone and was a few meters in front of me at all times. Sometimes he would wait and a couple of times he would just look back and laugh. Out loud. He grew up there, so of course he was used to the tricky paths, so I just smiled and told him I was nowhere near as fast as him. Although I am sure he already noticed and was thinking something along the lines of “really, Captain Obvious?”

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He’s bigger! Faster! And stronger too! 
He’s the first member of the DK crew!

Or at least that is what I was thinking when I saw this statue.

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We walked around a bit, took some pictures and I even put a bunch of mud on my arms en rinsed it with the water from the spring. I had a small conversation with a few local guys who were hanging out there and I could not help myself from wondering about how different their lives must be from mine. After a while we went back, because I could not be late for the bus that would continue on. The way back was even scarier, because instead of uphill, we went downhill and because of the rain, now the stones were wet and slippery. HATI freaking HATI.

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We made it down alive and he dropped me off at the place where we started, unharmed and a few experiences richer. I gave him IDR 50.000, which was all I could spare. I only had 14.000 rupiah left to get some dinner later on. I am still not sure if he was happy with the amount or not, but I guess that is his occupational hazard.

We were supposed to go strawberry picking afterwards, but because of the rain we all decided it would be better to head back to Jakarta. I really didn’t feel like I was missing out, because the strawberries here taste nothing like the strawberries in The Netherlands.

While driving to Jakarta, I looked back on a great day of exploring. And looking forward to many more.

Things I noticed about Indonesian people

I have been here for a little over two months, and in this time I have gotten to know a bit more about the Indonesian culture, about the people and the way things work around here. Time to review a couple of things that I learned.

Disclaimer: This does not apply to all Indonesians and there are of course exceptions.

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They are so very friendly. Yesterday I was at the food court where I could be considered a regular. After my standard order (nasi goreng) I made some Indonesian small talk with the lady who owns the place (which consists of her talking, me nodding/smiling and giving one-word answers). But because of all the smiling the conversations are actually very pleasant! As she was eating, I was wishing her a good dinner (selamat makan ibu!) and she offered me some of what she was eating. After checking there was no meat or fish, I said okay, and she put some in a plastic bag for me to take home. When my food was ready and I asked how much I had to pay, she just told me the amount for the nasi goreng. She owns a place that sells food, yet she gave me some of her home cooked food for free. And did I mention all the smiling? Like I said: friendly.

There is an exception to this (what appears to be a) rule, however. As soon as they get on a motorbike and start participating in the traffic, they become selfish and the friendliness is nowhere to be found. Luckily, you can always use the magical hand, when walking around in the streets. Because nobody would stop at zebra crossings, everyone just crosses anywhere. You get on the street, and put up your hand like you would if you would try to stop a car. Then you just walk. I have done this a lot of times, sometimes without using the magical hand, and I have not been hit. It’s always a bit of a yolo moment, but if you wait until there are no more cars coming before you cross the street, you will be there forever.

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People in Indonesia can create a job out of anything. There are people on the street, directing the traffic (and trust me, the traffic does not have any use for being directed), they help you find parking spots, they can sell everything on the street.

An example: in the office where I work, there is this guy that comes to visit almost every day to sell us some gorengan (fried stuff). He just goes by the office to sell some of his home made food, and makes a ton of money (and a ton is actually not a lot in Indonesia).

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An even better example: there are a few roads in Jakarta that can only be used if there are three or more people (tiga orang atau lebih) in the car (see picture above). This is supposed to make the road less crowded, allowing people who carpool to pass quicker. However, before you reach these roads, along the side of the road you will find a lot of people, who you can pay a few rupiah to hop into your car, and they will get out after the road ends. This way, even if you are just one, you can pay some people to be your fake companions and still use this road!

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Indonesian people could be described as a little lazy. They walk slowly, at least, compared to my western tempo. They go everywhere by motor bike, taxi or bus, as long as there is no walking involved. But I also realized that this creates a lot of jobs, which is very necessary in a country with so many inhabitants. People who don’t want to walk create a need for drivers. Being too lazy to cook creates work for people such as the gorengan guy. In the foodcourts of malls, people don’t clear their own table (which is how we would do it in Europe), but they leave it there. Someone else will come and clean the table and voilà, another job is created. They don’t have machines to sell tickets for the bus. We tend to try to replace everything that used to involve human contact with a machin
e, because it is supposed to be cost-effective. Here, they need the jobs. And I am guessing the wages aren’t that high, so possibly it is even cheaper.12074757_1685263878377337_4912718028118543686_n

Indonesian people are very proud of their country, even though there is also usually something to complain about. They want to tell me everything and most of them know all about their own history and the current events. As a person who chooses not to read the news paper, I noticed this immediately. They know where everything comes from. They have so many provinces and every place has their own signature dish, a dance (or several), songs, clothes, houses… It almost seems too much to remember, and yet… they all know.

Another thing… even though they can at times be more polite than direct, often I find them very honest. If you ask them what they are doing this weekend, it is not uncommon to hear someone shamelessly admit that they will sleep all weekend. While in Europe, if you don’t have exciting plans, parties to visit or people to meet, well… let’s just say you are not the definition of cool.

The people I have met also sing. Just because they are happy, or because they can. I have looked up with some confusion when I would hear somebody singing out loud in The Netherlands, but here it is very common. And not just when under influence. And it doesn’t matter what you sing, either. I have heard somebody sing “I like big butts” with a straight face and an angelic voice.

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Most of the people living here don’t seem to have an environmental bone in their body. When driving on the street, if there is something in the car that you don’t need anymore… No worries. Just throw it out the window! But also, if you are not in a car and just walking around, you can also still toss it. There is a lot of trash IMG_8200everywhere. Plastic is used for everything. I have a huge collection of plastic bags in my drawer which I try to re-use as trash bags, but even I have had to throw some away (not on the street, mind you).

Finally, I noticed that nobody does organized chaos better than Indonesians. The traffic jams look like they will never ever get solved, but somehow they do. In the foodcourts everybody is shouting at each other, ordering from different people… And yet it works. You get your food, there is hardly any trouble and the hardworking peoIMG_8187ple get payed.

This seems to be the way things work here. From the outside, it looks like chaos. But there is certainly a system in place. Just because we don’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

Some things they don’t tell you about Indonesia

Before I got to Jakarta I did some research, because even though I like to just go somewhere without preparation, I also wanted to know what to expect of the next five months of my life.

So I googled, like any good college student learned how to do. I found a lot of different things that people either warn about or are very excited about. I will list some examples:

  • They tell you people will rip you off. And even though that may be true a little, everything is still so cheap that it doesn’t really matter. Let the nice man with a smile that charges you 30 cents above the rate for the locals have his extra money and eat for two days.
  • They warn you about the different toilets. You will do a lot of squatting and you better bring tissues with you everywhere! Well, this is probably true in the more rural part of Indonesia, but in Jakarta there are a lot of western toilets and a lot of times they even have toilet paper. However, the tip to keep tissues at hand all time should never be disregarded.
  • I’ve read about the friendly Indonesian people, but even though I was a little prepared, I never could have braced myself for the heartwarming smiles I receive everywhere and the offer to help me when I need it from everyone around. It is just something you have to experience, because even if I would tell you now, you would not be able to imagine it to the full extent.
  • A lot of sites mention that the food is so good, but because I mostly eat vegan, I was still a little worried about that. But now I found all the good dishes and there are a lot of vegan options here too.
  • Although, there are also a lot of warnings about the streetfood. It could make you sick and puking all day would seriously ruin your trip.
  • You learn online that a bule is something of an attraction here and so when walking around, you can feel like a famous person. Also, this is something you really need to experience to understand. It can make you really self-conscious, but no worries. Immunity will soon kick in. I guess they never heard of the resistance you can get to certain things when you get too much of it.

So with all this information, I was a little prepared. But here are some of my own findings, that I would not have expected here. Things that people don’t tell you about Indonesia.

  • There are ants everywhere. I was afraid to find a lot of gekko’s and/or cockroaches and even though I did also see some cockroaches, in the city there are no gekko’s (that I have seen). BUT: So. Many. Ants. Everywhere. So many.
  • People will call you mister, with no regard for your gender. In Indonesia people are very polite and they often use the words ibu (f) and bapak (m) to address each other. So I get that they want to address me as something in English too, but why they cannot learn to leave out the -ter for females is beyond me.
  • Indonesian people have magic. They can make things just appear out of thin air. In the food court, for example, you can ask for anything and they will get it for you. You don’t know where it comes from, you don’t know how it was prepared (if it is food). But it is just there. And when I needed a doctor to take a look at my foot, all of a sudden a medical care center magically appeared on the 27th floor of my office building, just by asking one of my colleagues.
  • You can get people to do anything if you give them some money. Sure, I heard about bribing being more common here, but it doesn’t just stop at bribes. In most western countries, if something isn’t part of the services a business offers, you cannot get it done. For example, if you want a hotel to do your laundry but they have no laundry service, you will just have to figure out how to do it somewhere else. But here, if they don’t offer it, you can just pay them a little extra and they will get it done. No questions asked.
  • You are not the only one who will have a culture shock when visiting Indonesia. Indonesian people will experience the same thing by talking to you. Telling them about daylight saving time blows their mind and they are very confused by the fact that in the summer, it is light out until late in the evening. Here, during the entire year the sun rises at 6AM and sets at 6PM.

At this moment I cannot think of any other things that really surprised me and I am a little bummed that my initial wonder for all things Indonesian faded. I walk around the streets that used to be so strange to me now and feel at home. A friend of mine told me to take many pictures in the first days here because after a while the things just wouldn’t seem special to me anymore and I am sorry to not have listened to her. But on the other hand, it makes me feel really comfortable to know that you can adjust to any place and make it feel like home.

All by myself

Let’s start this blog with a video of my recently discovered talent…

Dubsmash, of course.

I know the start of this blog may make you think I am feeling lonely, but don’t worry. I did that on purpose.

I have been AWOL and haven’t posted anything in a while (thank you, Facebook, for the constant reminder). Well, this is basically because there was nothing to tell. The last two weeks have been pretty uneventful. And the one event that caused the uneventfulness is that I slipped and fell in a pool (well, more like at the pool, not in the pool, that wouldn’t have resulted in the injury). I have a tiny fracture in my foot, which sounds cuter than it feels. It’s still healing and I cannot wait for it to be fully recovered.

Want to see a creepy x-ray of the bones in my foot? –> Click

I know you’re looking for the fracture, but don’t bother. It’s hardly visible on the real thing, let alone on the photo of the photo. Like I said… tiny.

Anyway, this resulted in me spending the whole weekend not doing anything (which had its own advantages, trust me). But as I was lying on my comfortable bed, I came to an important realization and on some level I guess I was always aware of this.

If you don’t take action, nothing will happen.

In the first few weeks that I was here, I met so many people, I saw so many things, but most importantly, I tasted so many great food (sorry, again with the food. I will dedicate an entire post to this soon, I promise). But these past two weeks, I hardly did anything. I was at home, not feeling so well and I let my foot get me down.

The big difference is my lack of initiative. Maybe I could have done some easy activities that didn’t require any walking, but I didn’t put in any effort to arrange this. I have spent a lot of time in my room. And don’t get me wrong, I am one of those people who is very comfortable just being on their own. I like me and I don’t mind spending time with me.

But being here in Jakarta and doing nothing… I just want to do stuff! I don’t even care what it is, I just want to get out and explore. I want to make memories and I want to experience anything and everything I can before I have to leave.

And that makes me wonder… Why don’t I live like this when I am at home (wherever that may be at this point). At home I used to love spending an evening at home and sometimes I could do absolutely nothing for a whole weekend (read: hang on the couch, watch tv shows, write and/or read). But here I feel like I need to live every moment to the fullest and right now I am hoping to take that mentality with me to… well, everywhere really.

So if you are one of those people who wait for the good things in life to come to you, just stop. Make it happen. Do it yourself! You cannot wait around for other people. If you want something, you have to make sure you get it.

And so when my foot is fully healed, I will. But in the meantime, nobody needs to walk much to go out to dinner and have some of that amazing food with some of the amazing people I have met so far, now do they?

I thought it would be harder

It’s been a month now. And I really – really – really – like it here. I heard a lot of stories from people going abroad, that they would have moments where they would get homesick, they missed Dutch food, and most of all they experience culture shock.

I am not homesick. I’m sorry to all my friends back home, but I am just not. I don’t miss The Netherlands at all. I do miss my friends but we still keep in touch and Skype whenever I can. Maybe I don’t miss it because I prepared for this for so long, I was ready to leave it all behind and start over.

I can write a whole post (and maybe I will some time) about the food. But here, suffice it to say… I love it. I am in love with it. Everything I eat is so good and it is all so cheap. You can buy it everywhere and anywhere and it never fails to amaze me. I tried to discover why it was that I loved it so much and I came to a conclusion. It’s because everything they use is pure. It’s just vegetables, herbs, rice… Okay, sometimes they add some oil (or a lot of oil), which is the only downside, but still. The ingredients are not processed and that really improves the taste. I have to say it again, I really love the food. Really.

I have not experienced any culture shock. But I think that is because I came very well prepared. I had already seen a little bit of the world and I actually made everything way more scary and different in my mind than it really was.
I also have a theory that the culture shock will be bigger if you try to hold on to your Western beliefs and ideas. I like to think I am a very open-minded person and so when I got here, I just let everything happen and I literally went with the flow. I wanted to eat what the locals ate, travel the way they travel and learn as much about the culture as possible.

I imagine if you intend to find the Western food and culture here and you don’t find it… that might be a shock. But I immersed myself in everything Indonesian and that made it really easy. I was looking forward to all the cheap fruit, the rice and the joy of not having to cook. I wasn’t looking forward to going around on the back of a motorbike, but I gave in to that experience too and now I love it.

And I discovered something very important along the way.
I love Indonesia…Honestly, I didn’t think I would and I don’t know why. I figured I would miss the comfort of home, having people around you who you can count on and knowing your way around. But a new place is only new for so long until it becomes something else…
It becomes home too.

I think a big part of me loving it here is the food and the other part is the people. Because making friends is not that hard. Great people are everywhere and the Indonesian people are just so nice. It is impossible to not feel good here, when everywhere you look you can expect to find a smile on someones face. Where in The Netherlands something would be too much effort for someone, here they do it for you without complaining. They even offer!

I do have to admit that another part of my love for Indonesia has to do with the prices. Everything is so cheap here. You can take a taxi or ride on the back of a motorbike to go to places, food is super cheap and the rent is cheap.
I feel like I get such a good deal every time I buy something and really… It all adds to the happy feelings!

So, if you were wondering how I am doing here, the answer is great! I’s been a month and even though I still have four months left, I am already dreading the moment I have to get on a plane to leave it behind (but then again, it will be to travel, so maybe excitement will overrule my dread).
Regardless, I already know I will definitely come back to Indonesia after I leave it this time.

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Visiting an orphanage

As an airplane takes of from the nearby airport, the sounds of kids shouting fill my ears. I can only imagine what they must be thinking when they see a plane. Maybe of the exotic locations that fill their fantasies or maybe they just wonder where all these white people just came from. There is a whole world out there, and – at least for now – they won’t get to see it.

Yesterday I visited an orphanage in Jakarta, together with seven other Dutchies. So with all those strange people all up in their grill, it was no surprise that the children were a little shy in the beginning, staring and whispering, but not yet convinced they wanted to talk to us. I feared that maybe they just wouldn’t speak English, which is understandable.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Some of the children I spoke to had a bigger English vocabulary than most adults I met on the streets of Jakarta. After they got used to the company, one by one they started coming up to us. The six puppies that were running around were a great conversation starter – not that the kids needed this. They asked so many questions and really wanted to know all about you. Even if they didn’t speak English well, they would run to someone who would and came back blurting out the question as soon as possible, before they would forget it again. I’m not sure if they understood the answer, but they never failed to smile whenever they nodded and said ‘yes’ – no matter the question.
During dinner we sang the cup song, and afterwards they played the Wilhelmus on a traditional instrument, which felt a bit surreal. The ambitions of these children are amazing. Their dreams are big and their dedication to these dreams is even bigger. Stewardess, architect, actor and even governor where some of the career choices that a couple of these kids where very deliberately working towards.

Let’s take a sidebar here for a second. Because hearing these kids having their life figured out like a roadmap, made me realize that they know what they want better than I do. At this point in my life, the only thing I know for sure is that I would really love to finish a story and publish a book someday, but that is not exactly a solid plan. I have no clue what I want to do after all the adventures that I have planned so far, and even though I’m trying to figure it out… I haven’t yet. And it bothers me. Because without a goal, there is no way to get to that goal in an efficient manner. And I’m a secret – not so secret – fan of efficiency.

After hearing all about their ambitions, hobbies and favorite animals, we ate the pancakes that we made for them. They loved it and decided to thank us with a song. They all wrote down our names to add us on Facebook and some wanted to take a picture with us, before it was time for us to go.

Doing an internship in a skyscraper while sleeping in my fancy boarding house – where they do my laundry, I might add – is nice and all. But these are the activities that make you see the real people, the culture and the daily life of Indonesia. Even though these children have so much less, they have the capability to be so much happier. It all comes down to appreciating the small things.
And even though I already was, a reminder like this never fails to make me grateful as well.

A daytrip to Bogor in pictures

Sign in the train. Don’t eat smelly durian!
Trainstation Bogor
So. Many. Motorbikes.Everywhere.
Tree Besar
Cuteness Overload
This qualifies as a slow day.
In front of the most beautiful tree ever.
Jaywalking = yolo
My future husband. Just kidding. But I am in love with his streetfood.
But first… Let THEM take a selfie.
Bamboo!
What we wouldn’t do for a good picture…
Jackfruit in the wild.
Bogor
The best Martabak so far!
One of the fancier ‘restaurants’ in the streetfood department :D
Nasi Goreng
Foodcourt.