The trip was comfortable. Even though our roommate was told that no executive class seats were available, the tickets we were given were clearly labeled eksekutif, or executive. (Such is the nature of doing things in Indonesia. Eventually, you just stop asking, Why?) So we had food and air-conditioning and lots of leg room.
We left the train station and took a horse carriage to the hotel.
The horse seemed beyond his better years and the carriage was not in good condition, so the trip took quite awhile, and we were quite sore by the time we arrived.For lunch, we went to a restaurant where I had cobra "steak."
I'm pretty sure it was cobra, but it definitely wasn't steak; it came in little fried bits. It tasted okay, but not great; it was a little too greasy and chewy.That evening, we rode some becak, or bicycle cabs.
We arrived at the Kraton area.
In the central park area, there is a legend that if you are blindfolded and walk between the two magic trees, you will be granted a wish and receive good luck.We positioned ourselves about sixty yards from the trees. Several of us tried several times and came very close, but we were all unsuccessful. Rowan said I was walking straight toward the trees once, but then inexplicably made a sharp right turn.
The next day, we woke early, at 4am, to go see the temples of Borobudur and Prambanan, one Buddhist and the other Hindu.
Borobudur was the first stop.
The weather cloaked us in a light mist. It was not uncomfortable; the rain offered a coolness we can't find in Surabaya. And it perhaps lent an air of mysticism to the experience.Or it would have, if it wasn't for the Indonesian tourists asking to take pictures of us, as if we were the actual attraction.
Prambanan was next, and the rain began to come down much harder.
Here, we were unbothered by the other people, perhaps because of the rain.That evening, we went for a walk and ended up near the Water Castle, a structure that features what used to be underwater escape tunnels and an underwater mosque, among other features.
We asked a local for directions, and he gave us quite a lengthy and informative tour.
Along the way, we ended up at several shops, including his own, as well as the shop of the official doll maker of the king, or so we were told.
However, we were not pressured to buy at any of the shops. (We had been warned about the high-pressure sell, and had left a gallery quickly the night before when it seemed we were going to receive such pressure.)"Come back when luck provides you with better fortune," our guide said.
We walked back through the night. We visited the market area before taking another horse carriage to the hotel.
We awoke early again the next day to take the train ride home, back through the cornfields and rice paddies, to Surabaya and its stifling heat. And home.
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For more photos from the trip, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66115&l=025f2&id=547792060.
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Lastly:
I hope my hunger, and yours, is always safe.
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