23jan (yes I know I am posting this a month later, but I've had such limited access!)
I must say, Indonesians are some of the friendliest people I have encountered on this trip. Everyone wants to say hello, ask where you are from and how long you are traveling, etc. Being by myself, I was definitely a bit of an oddity, people were very surprised to find a single woman traveler in Indonesia. But I guess because of that, people were ever more inquisitive and friendly. While I was walking around Prambanan (huge temple complex) by myself several people called out to me to talk to me and shake my hand, including a couple who talked to me for ages.
Ever the adventurer, I was the only foreigner on the public bus (taxi schmaxi, I want to take the bus!), and except for the ticket conductor trying to charge me 4000 rupiah instead of 3000 for the way back (why not pocket an extra 1000 if you can, I guess), people were generally helpful. There was always someone to speak English if I needed help.
And, they took good care of me. My Florida professor friend Heather’s Indonesian student Pulang put me in touch with a few of his friends in Jogja. Silvia helped me find a homestay and arranged for a car and a friend to take me to Borobudor. And Daniel, well, Daniel was my savior when I was sick. He called and text-messaged me to see if he could accompany me while I was in Jogjakarta. I was still sick so I said I’d see how it goes. But he was pleasantly persistent, and while I said I felt horrible, he still asked If he could come by to at least say hi (he wasn’t a stalker, he was being helpful). He even offered to drive me to Solo instead of having me take the train, since I was still unwell. I mean, this guy I don’t even know offers to drive me an hour and a half away just because he told his friend he would look after me. Where else are people this nice? Okay, Australia maybe. But I digress.
So Daniel and his friend Seto picked me up and took me to do a batik painting (they were determined that I at least have a little bit of fun while I was sick in Jogja). Daniel teaches English, and one of his students paints Batik (the traditional painting of Java), so they let me have a go. It was super fun. We picked out a pattern that was drawn in wax on a white background. This fabric (quite like sarong fabric) was then stretched over a wooden frame, and we did something quite like a paint-by-numbers, only we chose the colors. We used a water-based paint with small brushes or q-tip like brushes that we just blotted in to the various sections of the drawing. The wax kept the colors from bleeding from section to section. After we finished painting the picture, we colored the background all in black. After this, we dried the painting so the colors wouldn’t run. Normally it dries in the sun all day, but we were running out of daylight so used the heat from a propane tank (hey, we had to improvise!) After that, we crumpled up the painting and put it in this liquid that melted off the wax borders. It was pretty cool … then again more drying via propane and voila, I have a beautiful batik painting. It was really fun, despite feeling like arse. To get an idea what I am talking about, look at Islandbatik.com or www.indobatiks.com.
Afterwards, we went to Solo and they dropped me off at my hotel, helped me check in and made sure I was okay. They were so helpful and made sure that even though I was unwell, my trip went as smoothly as possible, and with as much help as possible.
All the Indonesians I met were great ambassadors for their country. There are a lot of travel warnings against going there, and yes you hear rumors of how safe it isn't for females, but really, it was fine. People were great. I am so glad I went!
