Friday, March 22, 2013

People I Met From Jakarta to Yogyakarta

People I met along the way always contributes to the memorability quality of the trip. It just happens that my last year's accidental solo backpacking trip to Indonesia has brought me to meet awesome locals!(Accidentally solo because my travel-mate came down with diarrhea and flown home the next day!) And I wasn't even a member of couchsurfing.org yet. =P

I've spent two full days in Jakarta. My contact person there was a guy named Helga whom I met during MSS2011. Our second meeting was when he and his other friend, Singgih came to Kuala Lumpur where I happily toured them around KL and Putarjaya. (Entry here) And months later, we met again. This time in Jakarta, the city in which at that time was working at an IPTV company.

With Adik Helga. This picture is from this entry. His hair didn't change much. He he he. 
I arrived in Jakarta via train from Semarang. Before that I spent my days in Semarang with a couple of doctors from Palembang who were there on a holiday. Helga picked me up from the station and we headed to his office. I had the good fortune to sleep in Helga's friend's house and was brought to some places of interest as blogged here. The part I forgot to mention was meeting up with fellow tweep and blogger named Aditya Eka Prawira. ( @aditoo )

We arranged to meet up at Sabang, a walking distance away, near the food stalls called BSM. It was my first time meeting Adit and boy, was he tall! 184 cm! He was attending a function nearby and went to meet us afterwards. Like all the Indonesians guys I've met, he had a clean face (no face hair, no acne. LOL) And I noticed he had very long fingers! *runcing siot!
With Aditoo. Pictured at Helga's office where we hang out until way past office hours. And YES, he's that tall! 
After spending the afternoon with Helga and Adit (well, I spent most of the time napping on the couch! hahaha!), I was a bit sad that we had to part ways with Adit after such a brief meeting. Maybe we could meet next time when I'm in town ya Adit? Hehe.

Helga in the meantime, had to rush for his night classes, so he brought me to meet his girl friend named Dani. She was working in the same building and I was delighted to learn that she'll be hosting me for the night! (gratis!) I had to wait for her to finish up her tasks first. But luckily there were free drinks and wi-fi, so I didn't mind that much. Only moments later did she bring me to her humble room, blocks away from the office.

I've learnt that rooms for monthly rentals in Jakarta are very costly. A room that can fit a pint size bed, small table, a closet and with just enough room for another person to sit on can cost about 500,000 rupiahs per month. I'm thankful that despite of Dani's small room, she was willing to take me in for the night. (Thanks! *sob!) The rent includes a shared bathroom outside, used by maybe 10 other occupants in that area. Hehe.  

A humbling experience indeed. 

I especially liked her TV though, because with only a CRT TV, she can still enjoy IPTV services! More advanced than what I use in Malaysia! Opps.. forgot, I don't have a TV. T__T

The next day, Dani, Helga and I spent the day touring Jakarta as blogged by Helga here

I managed to catch some pre-nuptial pictures of them during that day. he he he *naughty grin

Pictures taken during the rides on Trans-Jakarta and also some at TMII (Taman Mini Indonesia Indah)
Note: Hel and Dani, please don't kill me. Hehe.

After that, Dani and I rushed back to her room so that I could pack for my 12 hours bus ride from Jakarta to Yogyakarta!
12 hours bus ride! 

Helga picked me up at her place and we threaded through Jakarta's traffic jams to meet up with Singgih. Riding on the back of a scooter with my big rucksack flailing wildly on my back through the hectic roads of Jakarta was the scariest experience ever as a backpacker thus far.

Seriously.

Singgih (left) and Helga. with their scooters. Also my main transport in Jakarta. =)
I'm not quite sure where we boarded the bus. Not even sure if the place was actually a central bus station in Jakarta. Hehe. All I know was that Singgih bought the tickets, refused my money later and we boarded the bus from the side of a busy highway. Helga will be joining us in Yogyakarta the next day via flight.

Singgih is a specky, very quiet guy who plays PSP and collects anime collectible items. But a very good guy. Through out the 12 hours journey together, he waited for me to finish my prayers before eating together, almost paid for my food (but I managed to stop him) and tucked me in on the bus!

Tucked me in? Hehe.

I was shivering from cold on the bus and Singgih told me there was a blanket on the top of the seats. He pulled it out for me and as I gathered the blanket around me, he actually helped tucked it in at both sides of me. Aww! So sweet! Haha! Slept peacefully after that...

...until we reached Yogyakarta...... and met with Fauzan... Helga's pre-arranged couchsurfing host there.

Clockwise from upper left : Gudeg (Yogyakarta's special dish), the boys at Mailoboro Street, Vredeburg, Pos Indonesia Building, statue of a big foot there, and onde-onde bought at the food market,
Fauzan lent us a motorbike to use and with him on his own motorbike, showed us where to eat Gudeg (as seen in the above picture). Since it was a Friday, we only went out to explore Yogya's city after the Jumaat prayers. We did this by using Trans-Yogyakarta, a much smaller sized bus compared to the ones in Jakarta. Thankfully, Fauzan's house was very near to the bus station. =)

After much delay on his flight, Helga joined us only after Maghrib. By then, we already covered a lot of area.

Singgih at Alun-alun Kidul Kraton Yogayakarta during the evening.
I particularly liked this picture below even-though there's no sunset to be seen. But the colors of the evening took my breath away!
Some where on the way to Alun-Alun Kraton. 
When we finally met up with the tired and late Helga, we headed back to Fauzan's place and ate dinner there. Stalls selling food were open when before were not, and mats were set up all over the place. We just chose a spot to sit and ordered our dinner. Thanks to whom who paid for mine! I forgot who though. Haha!

The night was spent in Fauzan's room he lent us (Fauzan would be sleeping in his housemate's room). There were overall four rooms in the house. The other three were occupied by Fauzan's housemates which consists of a married couple and two other single guys. Being the gentlemen that they are, Helga and the other guys gave me the room while they crashed outside in the living room. That was so noble of them to do so! =)

The next person I met in Yogyakarta deserves a whole entry on it's own. Aisehh.. till then... thanks for reading this very long post!!! 
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11 comments:

Anonymous said... [Reply]

best bangat ni...

Yunus Badawi said... [Reply]

Panjangnya entri. Boleh buat buku .... huhu

ruggedmom said... [Reply]

yg bulat tu apam bijan kan? enak bangat sih! Tak dgr muzik kat malioboro st malam tu ke?

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ anon ... kamu siapahhhh??? hehe. emang best bangat !

@ yunus badawi... on the way yb. cita2 memang nak buat satu buku. =P

@ ruggedmom.. kat sana diorg panggil onde-onde kak. mmg enak. aku makan dua kot. hahahaha!

muzik? terserempak jugak dgn org main gitar sambil menyanyi di tepi2 pejalan kaki.. itu kah maksud kakak?

helgaindra said... [Reply]

hahaha sudah saya baca semuanya
itu foto terakhir keren kak
next time jumpa lagi ye


:p

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ helga... hehehe.. bila nak jumpa hel? tak sabar sudah neh! =P

Adiitoo said... [Reply]

Jardddddddd... Miss you! Hahahahaha... Esok kalau kamu ke Jakarta lagi, aku sudah tumbuh kumis :p

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ aditoo.. kekekeke.. kumis pula. Bila kamu mau ke Malaysia? ha'ahhhhhh??

Anonymous said... [Reply]

Such a nice experiences you have with a nice friends as well.

-@p49it-

syieda said... [Reply]

saya pun sempat makan gudeg. masa kat malioboro tu, tak nengok show ker?

Lily Riani said... [Reply]

the sunset pics are awesome. so thats how adit looks like. hehehheheh....