Jawa tour…. a day to day account

by | Jan 29, 2019 | General information, Meetings and Events, Personal Stories

This time we decided to make our “carbon footprint” as small as possible, so the only time we chose to travel by air, was our first Jawa destination of Yogjakarta on the 27th of January, also to be on time for Firman’s wedding!  To view additional text and photograph, just click on the ribbon and it will unfold….

Day 1 and 2. Invitation to a Wedding

Arriving at the airport of Yogjakarta we were picked up by Farja and although it was pretty early in the morning, around 7 am, we set of to Magelang, where we were going to give someone the surprise of his life…. But first, we paid a quick visit to the lovely Mendut temple, where a Buddhist monastery is situated, and possibly one of the oldest Waringin trees on Jawa.

In 2010 we were introduced to a young high-school student, Firman Ariyanto whose parents had the brilliant idea to give him the opportunity to take responsibility of driving their car for tourists on the island. As we had to travel a lot in exploring Lombok for the various educational projects we wanted to set up and check their suitability and logistics, Firman became one of our regular escorts.

Becoming more and more familiar with our intentions and mission/vision of the YKS we noticed he felt uncomfortable taking our money, as he felt it would be far more appropriate to spend it on our projects than taking this for his fee; of course, we never allowed him to refuse our pay for his chauffeuring services, but it made it very obvious how kind his character was and still is…

Exchanging our ideas for the development of green energy, safety measures for the fishermen and technology – Firman having his Masters in technical engineering at Gajah Mada University, and Yaya being a mining engineer – we invited him to join the member of the YKS Lombok team, and from now on we will be able to develop plans in this area for the benefit of the people on Lombok specifically and for Indonesia in general.

Firman and Yaya's wedding

We received the invitation to his wedding only a couple of days after arriving on Lombok, and the video of the young couple was so lovely that we decided at once to reschedule our visit to Jawa and ensure that we would be in time for his wedding reception…. The surprise was a total and a wonderful sight to see. The next day Firman and Yaya came to our hotel in Yogjakarta and we spent a great morning in their company sharing lunch together, which I had to promise to let him pay for!

Newly weds…

Wedding guests

Wedding

Fanclub

Mendut and Buddhist Monestary
Arriving at the airport of Yogjakarta we were picked up by Farja and although it was pretty early in the morning, around 7 am, we set of to Magelang, where we were going to give someone the surprise of his life…. But first, we paid a quick visit to the lovely Mendut temple, where a Buddhist monastery is situated, and possibly one of the oldest Waringin trees on Jawa.

4 faces…

Mendut Buddhist Monestary

Meditation…

Malioboro

Malioboro, the area where we are staying is a broad avenue where you can find all sorts of batik clothes and “original” Javanese artifacts. The avenue is leading from the station to the palace of the Sultan, The Kraton and is one of the most popular places to “hang-out”..

other side of the track

Yogja other side of the track

gang on the river

gamelan

Pool1

Jambuluwuk

Jambuluwuk reception

Jambuluwuk hall

Day 3 – Yogjakarta

I have always loved Yogjakarta, as it seems to bustle with energy. It is probably due to the fact that it it hosts the great University Gajah Mada, where many Indonesian icons have completed their education, one of them is the current Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ibu Retno, who was also the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia in Holland for a while, before Jokowi called her back to Jakarta. In my view, she was one of the best we had the good fortune to meet.

We once were invited to stay on the Campus by the Professor who was an acquaintance of my dear late friend Carla Meek, founder of SCI-INN. Another great feature of Yogjakarta is its artistry in creating the most beautiful batik designs and today we are going on a hunt for our friend in Bogor, as there will be a two-year old waiting impatiently to meet us.

Malioboro, the area where we are staying is a broad avenue where you can find all sorts of batik clothes and “original” Javanese artifacts. The avenue is leading from the station to the palace of the Sultan, The Kraton and is one of the most popular places to “hang-out”.

 

Day 4 and 5: Bandung

Bandung has always been a special place for me, as it is the birthplace of my mother. Both grandfathers have been burried there, my father’s father in the general section of the cemetery, as he died before the Japanese invasion during the second WW, and my mother’s father is burried on the Pandu field of Honour, because of his loyal services to the Dutch during the same period.

Staying at the Topaz Galleria Hotel

Being so fortunate to stay in Marini’s hotel in Bandung, the Topaz Galeria… being in a garden, but with mosquitoes to match…

Day 6 - Sukabumi

Sukabumi is such a wrench for me, as it holds the very first memories of my  initial reunion with my home country…. Many friendships, and many issues surround this part of the world, where my father was born, and where I gained my first experience on how to rely in a given word of Honour…. The name of this city is, literally translated : to love the Earth

Suka Sukabumi

Old and new friends in Sukabumi...

Some of the new acquaintances came to meet us in the hotel, and we discussed many items that we need to discuss when we are back in Holland.

Yani

New friends….

Day 7-10 the Rainy City - BOGOR

As most of the old and new members of the Board of the Yayasan Kebon Sepatu are more or less residing in Bogor, we decided to make things easy and have the Annual Meeting on a Sunday in Bogor.
Newly proposed: Tresna Yaniza Putra, Para Adhi Dharma and Firman Ariyanto – the latter with strengthen the Lombok operational Team.

New members

Day 11-12 JAKARTA

It was a very interesting meeting with the Agricultural Attache of the Royal Kingdom of the Netherlands to review and evaluate the state of play of our projects on Lombok.
Some of the topics needed to be discussed, as sharing knowledge can be vital information to newcomers and we all have the obligation to support Social/Cultural and Educational endeavours to assist others to achieve their goals… Jakarta was – as usual macet, macet and super rainy…

Tempat Lahir saya...

Arrival

Your Title Goes Here

Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.

Day 13 and 14 - SURABAYA

Progress and many changes are dominating the scene of Surabaya. Some ten years since I have visited this wonderful city for the first time. We had originally planned to see an old friend, Steve Jacques from Australia, whom we met in 2005 in Sengiggi (Lombok), but the journey was already planned and booked, when we were informed that he already passed away some years earlier…. such is life. However, Surabaya remains one of my favourite cities in Indonesia, and despite the fierceness of the Dengue fever I contracted in Bandung, I managed to enjoy our visit to SE Asia’s largest Mall, and having tea at the Majapahit Hotel…..

Surabaya - old and new...

Ancestral temple

Modern Surabaya

Pool Kokoon Hotel

Guest Lecture at UNRAM

Guest Lecture at UNRAM

On the 14th of March I was thrown before the lions and was asked by my great friend and fellow member of the Yayasan Kebon Sepatu, Akhmad Saufi, to come and give a lecture on the added value of volunteering - specifically in the field of...

Visiting friends in Senggigi

News from the Senggigi district was not very encouraging. Some of our oldest friends live in Batu Layar, a tiny kampung just around the corner from the popular district of Senggigi. Most foreigners stay there when not choosing to go to one of the Gili's up to the...

Transit

9 January was here at last, after frantic preparations due to retirement activities, family gatherings - Christmas and New Year's events behind us, and as always, last minute meetings etc. Bart and I were more or less exhausted. We had prepared some wonderful...

en_USEnglish