Adventures with Jack and Julia

Jakarta, Indonesia

Day 1:

Fresh off a sweltering hot plane into an even hotter climate, we caught a Grab straight from the airport to our hotel in Jakarta. Fun fact if you didn’t happen to see our last blog post: Jakarta was just named the world’s biggest mega city with 42 million people living in the metropolitan area. And boy were they ever right about that! We’ve never seen so many people in one place at all hours of the night. We went straight to sleep after the travel day so we could get up bright and early to explore the city.

Day 2:

Post-travel day, we went to a fancy hotel to work out first thing in the morning and had some tasty coffee at a shop called Alter Ego. We felt the itch to explore in the afternoon, so we took a streetcar from our hotel to Chinatown and the Old Town. It was at this moment that the wealth disparity came into full view. Since our hotel was located in the financial district and we checked in on the weekend, it was pretty quiet and everything was sparkling clean. However, once we headed outside our zone, we found people living on top of each other in various levels of filth and an extreme mixture of scents coming from every which direction. Walking through a street market was like being in a crowd crush coming out of a concert so we quickly made our way out of there. Talk about a culture shock! One thing we will say about Jakarta though is their transit system in fantastic. The roads have designated bus lanes built into them going both directions with stations in the meridians between directions for easy access from cross walks. We flew through the traffic and it was for the most part a very pleasant experience.

We also noticed that we’re getting a lot more attention as tourists from the local children. They are so excited to try to speak English with us and always psych each other up to come and approach us to say hi and to interact with us. They either call us “bule” (pronounced boo-lay) with means tourist or Mister since the male article is what is most often taught in school as a polite greeting. After we got off the train, we stopped at the popular Cafe Batavia. Due to the East India Trading Company, you can find quite a lot of Dutch colonial architecture around Jakarta with this square in particular showcasing a variety of beautiful old buildings. We walked around the square, walked to Jembatan Kota Intan bridge, and learned how the area used to be a hub for trade in the past, and how it has now become a tourism spot symbolizing Jakarta’s heritage.

It also became apparent to us that Indonesia is home to a lot of vegan restaurants and they are aware of gluten allergies as well so we had a really delicious vegan meal for dinner at Burgreens.

Day 3:

We only got one full day in Jakarta, and today we took a 9 hour train ride to the next city on our list called Yogyakarta.

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Day 4:

Once again to shake out the travel day legs after a long day of sitting we went to the gym. We then needed to exchange some Thai Baht for Indonesian Rupiah so we went for a walk to try and find a currency exchange. As luck would have it, we stumbled upon a street festival happening with a big parade and the streets were shut down from cars with vendors selling various foods and trinkets. It was a great intro to Jogja! Part of the festival was also to showcase batik art from the local school and we were invited in to an exhibit to learn all about it. Batik originated in Yogyakarta and the process of making the art hasn’t changed in over 300 years since it was first invented and the colours are still so vibrant today compared to when they were first made. It’s quite an involved process that involves pigments made from various plants, spices and herbs as well as bees wax and it was fascinating to learn all about it from a local artist. We really wanted to bring a piece home with us but with our tiny backpacks we can only bring home memories so that’s what we did.

For dinner, we tried some Indonesian foods with Julia having gado gado and Jack having mie goreng. We watched the sun set and all the passers by on Marlioboro street below us while we settled in to our time in this city.

Day 5:

Today was a huge exploration day. Due to our limited budget, we do a lot of walking to save money to splurge on coffees and treats so we set off on a 6km walk this morning. Aside from saving money and all the health benefits of walking everywhere, walking’s allowed us to explore some really cool side streets that we otherwise would have zoomed right by in a car. We took a really cute walk way that zigzagged through a beautifully painted area full of friendly people and homes. It was such a pleasant surprise that we found ourselves remarking on it multiple times as we made our way to our destination of Jl. Prawirotaman street. Jl. Prawirotaman is a notable street in the area for tourists as it has a bunch of cafes, clothing shops and boutique hotels and we couldn’t help but stop on at Via Via bakery for some gluten free cookies. From there, we walked towards Space Roastery 1890 but not without stopping at Monggo Chocolate to sample and buy some Indonesian-grown dark chocolate.

Space Roastery 1890 is so named because it is in an old heritage building built in 1890, and is worth a stop at for any coffee lover. They have at least 15 different coffee varieties to choose from and they let you taste and smell them all before you pick which you would like to have for your beverage. Much better than picking blindly off a wall menu as we’ve become accustomed to and allowed us to learn more about their coffee. They also let you buy individual packets of coffee so you can take home a selection if you so choose.

Next up, we decided we needed a break from all the food and drink and should probably do something cultural for a change. We made our way to Taman Sari where the Sultan used to live with his 30 wives. It’s a beautiful palace full of swimming pools but the thing that made it extra worthwhile was that the palace has been connected to neighbouring villages and you can wander through the streets chatting with the shop owners and helping to support the local economy. We also made our way through the underground waterways that used to feed the palace pools, and stumbled upon one shop selling the world-famous “kopi lewak”. Kopi lewak translates to weasel coffee and is so called because the process to make the coffee involves a weasel eating the coffee beans and then pooping them out. The beans are then dried out and turned it into coffee! The shop keeper was nice enough to let us try some since buying a bag was out of our budget and we couldn’t leave without trying it. It has a unique taste to it that was actually pretty enjoyable but we couldn’t help but wonder what was going through the head of the first person who decided to drink weasel poop! In any case, we met the weasel whose product we drank and he was pretty cute. He was napping after a hard days work but normally he is out of his cage and roaming free (and feasting on coffee beans)!

Day 6:

Today was a productive day. We went to the gym, went to the hospital to fill a prescription for Jack, and then did a ton of trip planning for our time coming up in January in the Philippines.

Malang, Indonesia

Day 7:

Another long travel day as we made our way to Malang. It took about 7 hours by train but it was quite a scenic journey through the Javanese countryside.

Day 8:

Today, we walked through Kajoetangan Heritage Village which is right in the middle of the city and home to lots of cute buildings, decor and shops. They charge a nominal fee to enter the area so we didn’t mind not buying anything while we wandered the streets. A lady with two cute daughters wanted to get a picture with us and we felt like celebrities which was pretty funny.

It’s also worth noting that Java is predominantly Muslim, so women are often asked to cover up when entering shops and restaurants. This meant that Julia had to wear a long skirt and cover her shoulders most of the time and it was a little uncomfortable that the same treatment didn’t go for Jack. Different cultures have different sets of norms and it’s something we find ourselves constantly making an effort to be open minded about. We couldn’t say the same for the live animal market that we witnessed, however. It’s really tough for us to see animals being treated so poorly around the world and it’s inspiring us to make a change in our lives to do more for them. We’ve decided that every time we see animal mistreatment we will make a donation to a local cause to help support them in their difficult work. It’s not much and we wish we could do more, but it’s the best we can do at the moment given our visas and budget. Something we will keep in mind as we continue our travels.

Day 9:

In an effort to boost tourism, Malang has painted two villages in bright colours and filled them with Instagrammable spots. We decided to walk through both of them and they are named Arema Blue Village and Kampung Tridi (the Rainbow Village) after their themes. It’s honestly a great idea as both villages are located under a bridge in a steep valley and would otherwise be passed over without anyone ever visiting. Today, there are tons of tourists taking pictures with the beautiful colours and they charge a small fee for visitors to each village to help support them so their plan is working out!

The afternoon was spent relaxing and we went to sleep around 8pm as we had a very early (or late) start tomorrow!

Mt Bromo, Indonesia

Day 10:

The best way to break down today is by the hour, so we’ll do that here:

11:45pm

We were picked up by our driver in an old school red Toyota Land Cruiser 4×4 behemoth to take us to Mt. Bromo! Mt. Bromo is an active volcano on Java Island and a huge reason people travel to Malang along with visiting the coloured villages. The reason we had to get up so early was because we wanted to watch the sunrise over the volcano and it was a bit of a drive to get there with picking up some other passengers along the way.

2:30am

We arrived at the base of the viewpoint for the volcano and managed to get a good parking spot as a result. Since it was so early still, however, we were directed to an indoor waiting area and it was really cold – maybe 5 or 6 degrees Celsius. A stark contrast from the 30 degrees and 80%+ humidity we’d been facing for the past couple of months!

3:45am

We started walking to the viewpoint, and positioned ourselves in a good spot. December is the rainy season in Indonesia, but despite this, there were still many tourists here waiting for the sunrise. We can only imagine how busy it gets during the dry season.

4:30am

After being awake for five hours already, we started to see some light appearing over the horizon. For the next hour, we watched as the sky changed from dim yellow to vibrant pink hues. The fog was deep over the valley below but we could clearly see Mount Bromo peaking out the top along with its huge cloud of smoke billowing out the top. This was the most beautiful and surreal sunrise that we have ever experienced and we had forgotten that we only had a couple of hours of sleep. An immediate highlight of the trip so far.

5:30-6am

We made our way back to our Jeep and took off through the Sea of Sand, a vast expanse of volcanic sand forming the caldera floor in Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park. You truly feel like you’re on the moon as you drive through here it’s bizarre.

6:30am:

Our Jeep parked and we followed the herd of people making their way to the base of the volcano, where we climbed up hundreds of steps to the edge of Mount Bromo’s crater. This was one of the coolest things that we have ever done. You are standing on the edge of an active volcano, looking down into it as the smoke rises from inside the Earth. The smell of sulphur was strong and we were in awe at the power of this volcano. As if today couldn’t get any better with the outstanding sunrise and now this. Truly a once in a lifetime experience that we’d recommend to anyone. We were even able to FaceTime Jack’s dad Jim from the edge. Technology, man. Too cool!

We were back in Malang at our hotel before noon and were completely exhausted, but so happy that we decided to go on this tour. We napped and vegged out for the rest of the day.

Day 11:

As luck would have it, it was raining all day so didn’t do much other than trip planning and resting. Just what we needed to do anyways. We made extensive use of the local food delivery app and enjoyed our last few hours on Java before heading out tomorrow.

Day 12:

Today, we flew to Bali where we’ll spend the next few weeks and Christmas. It’ll be our first Christmas away from family and friends and as such we decided to treat ourselves a bit to make up for it. We booked some nicer hotels and will be soaking in the sunshine, delicious food, and of course doing some yoga. Bali has been near the top of our list of places to go, and we are excited to see if it lives up to the hype!

Thank you for continuing to follow along on our journey! If you want to help support us, please also consider buying us a coffee 🙂