drunk in indonesia

[afro poppa]

so right now I am in Jogjakarta in central Java, in Indonesia

just stumbled across the street from a restaurant to my first internet connection in a week to tell you all about my travels

I arrived in jakarta a week ago and have since taken a train across java island for about 10 hours to get to jogjakarta, from there taken a bus to this temple called borobudur

if you can google borobudur, it is one of the most stunning places on earth...my mexican friend and i spent two nights at a guesthouse more or less at the foot of the temple..and then we went back to jogjakarta (which is a big town in the middle of java island) and have spent a couple days here just hanging out and buying local art (batik) and just enjoying life...tomorrow he goes to malaysia and i stay in indonesia but go to bali for a week...then its back to hong kong!!!

i hope everyone is doing well

ari

[Baj]

wish i was right there with ya brotha

keep having the time of your life

[phorbesie]

neat! borobudur is on my list of places to see, one of the great temple complexes in asia.

sounds like a great vacation!

[Calamity Jane]

Awesome to hear from you Ari!!

So glad you made it to borobudur...such a marvel...especially when you consider it was rebuilt from a tumble of ruins much like those 3-D puzzles you can now buy.

yogakarta was one of my fav places in indonesia for sure. hope the good times continue!

[Calamity Jane]

oh, btw Ari...if you can, get to the small town nearby called Solo..rent a bike and tour around the countryside, keeping your ears open for the sound of gamelan....there's a raft of small fabrication shops (basically the back rooms of family homes) where you can watch traditional artisans making the various sizes of gamelan gongs(?) which are then sold all over Indonesia.....

oh yeah...eat plates and plates of gado-gado for me!

[edger]

Sounds beautiful Ari! Glad to know that you are safe, and enjoying yourself. Ah... to be able to get away like that...

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Ditto on all of CJ's points; there's also an old Hindu temple (restored ruins) in the neighbourhood (the name of which eludes me right now) that's also worth checking out.

Keep having a blast!

[\/\/illy]

[Sarahbelle]

dude... it sounds amazing! temples are pretty breathtaking I have to say.

I'm glad ur seeing as much as U can

[phorbesie]

CJ/DEM did you do a lot of biking there?

do you think indonesia would be tough to bike across? in terms of condition of roads, mountains, parts, etc.?

i know a dutch dude that did it but he is crazy and biked from holland to australia so his opinions don't really mesh with someone like me!

i thought indonesia might be an interesting bike trip for me and V to do sometime, before we get too old

[paisley]

right on dude... thanks for the updates, sounds just awesome

definately gotta get over to that corner of the world one day soon

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

CJ/DEM did you do a lot of biking there?

do you think indonesia would be tough to bike across? in terms of condition of roads, mountains, parts, etc.?

i know a dutch dude that did it but he is crazy and biked from holland to australia so his opinions don't really mesh with someone like me!

i thought indonesia might be an interesting bike trip for me and V to do sometime, before we get too old

We only ever (gasp) rented a car, for a day, when we were there (eek - left-hand drive), but took the bus and train everywhere else. All the islands have their idiosynchrasies; Java I seem to remember being very flat, Sumatra all hilly and forested, Bali particularly hilly in the interior.... Poppa could probably give a good play-by-play on all that, though .