Jogjakarta

On Saturday 14 May 2010 we took an 8 hour train ride to Yogyakarta for 4 weeks of language training before we start our assignments. Yogyakarta is commonly known as “Jogja” and is almost the total opposite of Jakarta. We are now in our second week in Jogja as I write this.

Top: Fare-evaders sitting on the roof of an electric train speeding past. Bottom: Paddy fields in rural Java

Jogja is a university town with about 6 universities within walking distance from where we are staying. It’s well-known for its arts and music and is particularly famous for batik and for Wayang Kulit(shadow puppetry). It’s also houses the palace (Kraton) of one of Indonesia’s last remaining Sultans and certainly one of the only Sultans to wield any real power as he is also the Governor of the Jogja district. There are in fact two royal families with one Sultan in Jogja and the other (lesser) Sultan in the nearby city of Solo. The federal government ‘s efforts to try and make the post of Governor subject to elections is currently being vehemently opposed by the people of Jogja who are proud of their Sultan and their status as a special district.

Scenes from Jogja including music, dance and wayang kulit at the Kraton

Jogja is probably the most popular tourist destination in Java – especially for local tourists. Two of the reasons for this are Borobudur and Prambanan, ancient Buddhist and Hindu temple ruins which are now listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. These temples predate the arrival of Islam and were really only discovered in the 1800s. Both are not far from Jogja. Local tourists come from all over Java and are usually just as interested in us as they are the sites. When we were at Prambanan and the zoo we were stopped every 10 minutes or so by people wanting their pictures with us. So far we’ve always said yes but it does get annoying. This happened when we were in Vietnam as well. There must be photos of us with random people floating all around Southeast Asia.

Prambanan

We have been entertaining ourselves by sightseeing, working out the public bus system, exploring streets and shopping malls, trying new eateries each day (a meal will set you back about 50 cents to a $1!!) visiting the salon and getting $4 pedicures (Candice only) playing futsal, otherwise known as indoor soccer (Nat only) and watching movies. Oh and we have also been studying Bahasa Indonesia at Wisma Bahasa, a language school. So all in all we are enjoying the city of Jogja – it’s cheap, interesting, has a lively underground music scene, and is easy to get around. Last week we went to see a local reggae band and they were awesome.

Hanging out with the AVI crew at Bintang Cafe for some live reggae

Our visit to the Gembira Loka Zoo was a little eye-opening though. We're not sure if they get the concept of animal preservation as people are queuing up to ride the elephants and the animals are forced to do tricks for the kids. Many of the animals were pacing back and forth in distress in their tiny stinky concrete and metal cages. Others have proper enclosures but which could definitely use some cleaning up as the animals usually have to wade through rubbish that is thrown at them by onlookers. We actually saw people throwing plastic bottles at the orangutans, who of course try to drink the dregs of left-over soft drink inside. There is no shortage of staff but nobody seems to mind that people do this. Having said that, there are some lovely animals there and a comprehensive reptile collection which includes Komodo dragons.

Baby orangutan eating rubbish and hanging on to protruding iron bar from broken fake concrete rock and a Komodo dragon hanging out.

People throwing rubbish at the orang utans who try to eat it

We’ve been placed at a homestay owned by a lovely retired Catholic Javanese couple, Pak Sunarto and Ibu Ning. It’s really just part of their home and they cook us meals every day and worry about us when we come home late. Apart from an American girl who’s only here for a week, we are the only guests here. We eat dinner with them every night and say grace before every meal. Pak Sunarto is very proud of the fact he visited Melbourne 20 years ago and has a large framed photo of himself in front of the Shrine of Remembrance.

Hanging out in Jogja

We can see Mount Merapi from our accommodation. Merapi is a seriously active volcano and there is smoke coming out of it on average 300 days a year. Last year in October it erupted and killed 390 people. However in saying all of this we are planning to climb the volcano tomorrow (Friday) night. Should be a great adventure! There will be more to come on Merapi in the next post.

Mount Merapi's shape can just be seen against the sky

Goodbye Australia, hello Indonesia!

Firstly we thought we’d give you guys a bit of information about what we’re doing in Indonesia. About 3 years ago we did a stint of living in Sweden and doing some travel around the world. When we got back to Australia and returned to normality we felt that living abroad had really given us the desire to do work overseas. We discovered Australian Volunteers International (AVI), one of a few government-sponsored organisations that pairs skilled volunteers with local partner organisations in various developing and underdeveloped countries around the world, primarily in our immediate region. Given Indonesia’s proximity to Australia and the fact that we both speak Bahasa Indonesia it was an obvious choice, the other being Timor Leste. We both set about applying for suitable volunteer positions in both countries.

After a lengthy application and screening process and some hiccups along the way, I (Nat) finally secured a position as a research editor at an Indonesian women’s rights organisation called Komisi Anti-Kekerasan Terhadap Perempuan (National Commission for Anti-Violence Against Women) or “Komnas Perempuan” for short. Indonesians absolutely love their acronyms. Given the position will involve utilising legal, research and translation skills I’m hoping my background as a lawyer and ability to speak Bahasa come in handy. Candice is still in the process of firming up the details of her position and we don’t yet know how that will pan out. We’ll keep you up to date when we know more.

The flight from Melbourne to Jakarta via Sydney was relatively uneventful and really the first time I felt really excited about moving to Indonesia. It was the first time either of us had flown Garuda and despite the bad reputation of the airline, we were pleasantly surprised to find the service excellent. Apparently they have really picked up in recent years. The picture above is actually us on the train to Yogyakarta not the plane but we thought it looked appropriate.

Jakarta airport looked very 1980s and we could already sense the humidity outside as we got off the plane. Jon, our AVI in-country manager was there to meet us with his team and they took us to our hotel for the first few days.

This intake of AVI volunteers in Indonesia comprises seven people – Candice and I, Horst and Alice, Dennis and Deborah, and Jen. Jen, Dennis and Deborah are stationed in Bali while the rest of us are in Jakarta. The first four days or so were spent mainly at the AVI office in Jakarta spent doing our orientation with briefings from local organisations, AVI, the Australian Embassy doctor, AusAid and really just getting set up. We didn’t see much of Jakarta except the traffic. It was almost quicker to walk from our hotel to the AVI office than to drive. In fact on a couple of occasions it would have been!

A layer of smog covers Jakarta most of the time

In terms of population, greater Jakarta is the second largest city in the world after Mexico City. The greater urban area is made up of about 26 million people, half of which commute in and out of the city centre daily. That’s more than the entire population of Australia moving around an area smaller than Melbourne. And it’s getting bigger! The infrastructure can hardly cope with the traffic and we reckon if most people didn’t get around on scooters, there would be no way the roads could accommodate that many cars.

There is an ever-present smog in the air (which we could see from the plane) that prevents you from ever seeing the sky or the stars and there are no footpaths. Having spent a lot of time in South East Asia, and in particular Malaysia, we had expected Jakarta to be similar to Kuala Lumpur given the similarities in language, history and culture between the two nations. We were quite surprised to discover how much poorer and underdeveloped Jakarta is in general despite the opulent wealth displayed by some people here and the hundreds of shopping malls.

Having said all that Jakarta is quite green and the people are very friendly and helpful. We don’t feel as if it is as dangerous as many other countries and violent crime is quite low.

Apart from Jon, the AVI staff based here are entirely Indonesian. Nova, Tuti, Slamet and Aurora were extremely helpful and went out of their way to help us settle in. We’ve now got Indonesian mobiles so send us an email if you want our numbers. It’s cheaper for us to call you though!

These are only our initial perceptions of Jakarta. I'm sure our opinion will change as we get to know our new home! We'll post another update shortly as we're actually already in Yogyakarta for language training as we write this.