Jakarta

Having visited both Bagan and Angkor Wat in the past two years, it was time to settle the score with the last one - Candi Borobodur. Yes, these are the three major Buddhist ruins in Southeast Asia, and visiting all three of them have been in my bucket list for long!

If you ask me, I have to confessed am not a major fan of Indonesia; most of it resembles Malaysia anyway - food, culture, language, etc., except that they still preserve well one of the most significant Buddhist ruins in SEA, which is the Candi Borobudur. Aside from that, Bali still practices Hinduism despite being part of this Islamic archipelago, also known as the most populated Muslim country in the world.

I managed to persuade an ex classmate of mine to join in this expedition, where we would arrive in Jakarta first and get used to it in a couple of days before we transverse Java island to Yogyakarta to honour the majestic Candi Borobudur. After that we would hike up the smoking Mount Bromo and later take a peek on the blue flames of Ijen Kawah, before relaxing ourselves in the sandy beaches of Bali. All in just 10 days. Sounds great, doesn't it?

On that very day itself, I rushed from my hospital to the airport to catch my 150 minutes flight to Jakarta. The flight itself was uneventful as we touched down in Jakarta around 11.30pm, and reached our hotel around 1am via taxi. I was too exhausted to venture this city at such wee hours, so we collapsed immediately after we checked into our rooms.

Our first morning in Indonesia was spent on readjusting our travel plans; as I was pretty much distressed by an awful relationship which ended up with a depressing breakup, I had not invested much time planning this trip. And yes, it was a public holiday on that day, hence, we could not get a flight or a train out of this chaotic city to Yogyakarta. After discussing at length with my buddy, we decided to stay an extra night in Jakarta and take a flight to Yogyakarta the next day morning, in order to save time since taking a train somehow would take up 8 previous hours.

Then, we started exploring the old city of Batavia, starting off with the old habour of Sunda Kelapa. Unfortunately, the museums are closed on Labor's Day, so we ended up wandering in the labyrinthine slums of Jakarta, making our way back to our hotel by foot, with small stops at local stalls to try out the local delicacies.

Well, Jakarta is just not my cup of tea. I just could not wait for our flight to Yogyakarta!