So as you know/may not know, I was in Indonesia for a glorious 10 days. Certainly a great escapade from the clutches of evil (stress) So i just got back and down with all the different type of sickness. Guess this is just my body asking for more time to get adjusted back to the surrounding here. The 10 days were really amazing and this blog would be a living proof to remind me of the memories i've created there.
Day 1
I had motion sickness from the airplane ride and it was such a feeling. Once we landed in Jogja it got better and i was able to enjoy the day. We visited the Hindu Temples and it was amazing because i was able to see the difference between the structures before and after the Merapi incident. When i saw the images, and the cracks on the walls of the temples, all i could do was WOW. It is a really strong temple. It suddenly rained so we had to seek shelter in one of the temples. It was seriously dark because there was no light and we had to depend on the sunlight. When it started to slow down, we walked in the drizzle to get back to the bus. We found out that the bus was at the other end of the place and it would be too far to walk, esp in the rain. So my lovely tour guide persuaded the tram driver to take us there and he agreed! The tram is like the one at the Spore Zoo and i was able to strike out a thing or two of "things i always wanted to do" list- i stick out my head hand and started waving my hand out of the tram. You cant do that on Spore Zoo's tram so i was spazzing when i was able to do it!!!!!! #deprivechildhood
And at night we had dinner organised by the school that we are going to go to for the next three days.
Day 2, 3, 4
So we went to a school that specializes in music and the school have different courses like wayang kulit and karawitan (gamelan). My group had the opportunity to play the gamelan and i got to choose the gong! The student that taught me was so good looking that i had no difficulty learning it HAHA. I noticed that he put in the notes and we played along to the song and i asked him how he knew which notes to put and he said he just has to listen and choose the correct notes. I stared at him with my mouth open wide. He and the other students were really THAT good. It was really intensive the training because of the short time span we had and i really enjoyed the days with him just the two of us at the back... hidden by the gong.... HAHA. On the day of the perfomance i must have really hit the gong well because after we ended our performance, the other students turned and told me that i did good. I just smiled and i knew i did well because guess who's face i was imagining when i hit the gong? haha besides that we also had time to shop and i bought alot of batik things. For these nights dinner was at amazing places and we were served good food that for a moment i really thought we were on a holiday!
For the nights of these days, we went to a place that makes the keris and it actually takes them 3 weeks and extreme amount of heat to create a keris. We also watched a pentas wayang but it was in Javanese but the stage props were excellent.
Day 5, 6
On this two days we went to another school, this school was like a JC in Singapore. The school is an elite school so the students did 16 subjects on average. Students in indonesia go to school for 6 days and all of them ride motorcycle to school even the girls in the skirts!!! So all the classes in this schools had air cons and we learnt about creating sajak and played the traditional games with them. The best part was that they had a masjid in the school!
Amazing eh? Kalau kat Sg ade masjid in every sch, kan senang so budak lelaki tak ya nak rush gi masjid every fri haha. They also had a student that entered this Pertunjukkan Batik and this was her own creation, she did it by hand with her mum,
So thats the model and the designer. It was am-az-ing! We also had to opportunity to visit the place to make guitars and since i (used to) play one, it was interesting to know how its made.
And i took the opportunity to get a ukulele!
And then we made our back to Jogja.
OH! I didnt tell you about the hotel. The hotel in Surakarta was really atas class, just like the hotels you would visit with your family. Then we went to Jogja and it was a totally different class of hotel, like the one you would visit with your friends. It was a truly funky hotel.
(Excuse the mess, we were rushing to get back) So it you look closely, you will realise that...... it has a free-for-all-to-see toilet. I could totally see my roommate bathing!
Haha of course not, there is a blind to cover the screen. But its so cool cus its my first time seeing such thing. So imagine if you went with ........ ceh haha
Day 7
Its a weekend so kita liburan! We went to Keraton Ngayogtakerto (palace). It was so big, and it was very santai and relaxing and i seriously dont mind leaving in such an area that has so many free area for me to run around. The design is also very detailed and there were designs that were influenced from the Hindu, Buddha and Dutch culture, like this one
and this
and the chandelier!
and a gazebo like this please!
and look at the free space area!
So the palace was really amazing and we also went into several museums and look at the different batik available.
Different ceremonies require for different batiks, like when you become a woman, you have a ceremony and you have to wear a certain batik print. And when you get married you have to wear a certain batik print and the parents of the bride and groom have to wear a certain batik print too. That is how rich their culture is!
Then we went to the water castle. This is the entertainment site for the sultan and it look like this , 
All of us wanted to take a dip inside due to the hot hot hot weather but of course we didnt.
All of us wanted to take a dip inside due to the hot hot hot weather but of course we didnt. We had lunch and went to a place to make batik prints and ceramics. Learning to make a batik print made me realise the difficulty to create a masterpiece and now i want to have everythg in batik! It was also Maal Hijrah after Maghrib and I spent it with my classmates in the bus. We made new year resolution and I couldn't think of any other place to celebrate it with. The bus ride we had after that gave me the time to reflect and i will be a better Muslimah, insyaAllah.
Day 8
It was such a highlight. We went to sawah padi and i was truly a natural in this area ceh haha. It was a tough job, walking in the sawah already require so much energy so this was an important lesson learnt too. We then washed up and went shopping! Of course there are pictures but in fb which i do not have so haha wait till 20-never.
Day 9
We went to UAD and it was a Muslim university so we had to be appropriately dressed. UAD looked like any other university and we had to opportunity to learn how Indonesian literature has developed over the years. And then we went to pantai parangtritits!!!! It was lovely with the wind and the crashing wind and i think i talked about this is the previous post right? So here is a picture,
Certainly a place to be visited again.
Day 10
Last day in Indonesia so we visited UGM. The oldest uni and very high ranking. It was hugeeeeeeee and made me feel smart to be able to step in the compound haha. After UGM we went to the place we all been looking forward to, Malioboro! Spent all my money there truly a shopping heaven and great way to conclude the day.
Day 11
Our flight home and the plane was late so at jakarta when in transit we had to run for our plane and my classmates said i looked like an Amazing Race participant. It seemed that in this trip i could pull off any look that i want to pull off, a kampung girl that is familiar with the sawah padi, an Amazing Race participant.......... haha
It feels great to be back home and there is so much experience i gained. One important thing was that i realised which attitude and behaviour i could really not tolerate. I learnt about having roommates and now im more prepared and knw what to expect if i have to bunk in with a stranger in the future (maybe during uni exchange programs? ceh). I miss the people and my friends and the atmosphere and everything already. But right now, my main aim is to get better again and meet all the people i have missed dearly.
Now for pictures and the people who have made this trip so so so amazing,
Thank you K3 and 42A.
Thank you K3 and 42A.Like what Moon said, it was a perfect seal to November 2011.