We took an air-conditioned bus to the town of Pandaan, where we were dropped off on a corner near a bunch of bemo, or public transit vans. We commissioned one of them for a private trip through the town of Trawas and into the mountains.
As we climbed up and up through the hills, we rode on winds of burning clutch. The driver's friend kept looking out the window to make sure the tires were still intact.But we made it there.
And were immediately greeted by a horde of schoolchildren.
The area near PPLH also had several camping areas, filled with other groups of schoolchildren. Throughout the weekend, I probably had my picture taken about 30 times and with well over 100 people. Bule, or white foreigners, are apparently picture-worthy creatures here. At times, I felt like a zoo animal.Although PPLH is an education center, it also caters to tourists looking to relax. It offers several nice bungalows for up to four people.
We visited a modern temple the first day. This included a walk up the road, which took us up the mountain.
The scenery was beautiful, and we got a feel for the way of life in this part of the country. We passed farms growing a variety of things, including corn.
On the second day we headed back into the hills, this time in search of older temple ruins that supposedly dot the hillside. We climbed for awhile, but only found another farm.
Some of the people here live simply. Just a roof over their heads and a raised bed to sleep on. We passed one newer concrete house in the process of being built, but the only other large houses we saw were abandoned ruins. We wondered what had happened, why these hulking masses were empty while the smaller houses thrived around them.We returned to the center to relax before heading home. The place has a pretty decent restaurant where I did my best to sample the local food and beverages. Sometimes when I ordered, the server would say, "That's a traditional drink," and stare at me wondering if I would change my mind.
I don't think a lot of foreigners like the local beverages. But I like to try new things. I tried the bir plethok, which isn't a beer at all. Instead, I think this blood-colored drink is sweetened brewed beet juice.
But it was delicious. Rowan liked mine enough that she later ordered her own.I also got my first taste of the traditional style of Javanese coffee, which I had previously seen described in our guidebook as a "chewy concoction."
They dump a pile of grounds in the cup, and then pour boiling water over it. It doesn't get strained before serving.After the relaxing weekend, it was time to return to Surabaya.
While we were easily able to get to PPLH, getting away from it is much different since there aren't groups of people waiting to provide transportation. We left the grounds, turned left, and started asking everyone we saw about ojek, or motorcycle taxis. Everyone kept pointing us farther down the road.
Eventually, we waved down an SUV and asked if we could get a ride to Trawas. They offered us space. I kept asking, "Berapa harganya?" I wanted to know their price, but they offered nothing back that I could decipher as numbers.
We climbed in. They were a boisterous group, and seemed to be drunk and high, except for the driver, who seemed quite level-headed. We conversed in the tiniest bits of broken language. One of the men kept asking, "Do you like happy?" He danced in his seat.
They dropped us off in Trawas. We offered them 40,000 rupiah. They asked for 100,000. We said we had little money, gave them our initial offer, and walked off. They didn't seem to care and drove away laughing.
We ate a fantastic lunch and then walked down the street to check out a hotel we had noticed on the way in. We wanted to see if it was somewhere we could stay in the future.
There, we met Dr. John, who has a Ph.D. from an economics school in London. He showed us his hotel. We walked up the stairs and around a corner, and were greeted by an amazing view.
I think we may go stay there next weekend. There are waterfalls in those hills, a two kilometer walk from the hotel.We talked to Dr. John for awhile, and then he offered us a free ride to Pandaan, quite a ways down the road. "I am retired and I live here with just my wife and son. I get bored sometimes," he said.
He told us about attending school in London, about waking up at 4:30 to work for hours before attending classes and then working again at night. About how now he wants to help other people adopt good business practices, and how he wants more cultural exchange in the town.
He dropped us off at the Pandaan bus station. We said we would see each other soon.
He had told us to wait for the A/C bus, but the first two that rolled through were not air-conditioned. They were too full, anyway. But we wondered if an A/C bus would come anytime soon, and if it would have space when. We jumped on the next bus, not quite as crowded, and sweated our way home.
***
We got home at a reasonable hour, and went to the movie theater to see Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond film.
The theater is nice, with comfortable seats and plenty of leg room. Movies are about $1.50 during the week and $2.50 on the weekends.
I don't think I can give the movie a fair review. Since we are in an Islamic country, the movies are censored. Whenever they cut a scene, they show an "S" on each side of the screen. This happened about ten times. The result was a movie that didn't make a whole lot of sense.
Although we are surrounded by Islamic culture, it hasn't really affected our lives thus far. But it is there, and it is something we need to consider. We've landed on the other side of the rainbow and aren't in Kansas anymore.
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