The Train Ride

Day 8, January 18

As said we were supposed to meet at 6 for breakfast. Bonnie and I were ready. We texted the newly weds with no response. We went to eat and then texted them again from the dining room. Still no response. We ate our breakfast, which was excellent. You could get just about anything you wanted for breakfast. If you went hungry it was your fault. If they wasn’t something that you liked you were too picky. Breakfast was a feast. It’s too bad dinner wasn’t as good last evening.

When we got back to the room I called Finanda. Seems they had just gotten up a few minutes before my call and were panicked about missing the train. At about 7:15 there was a knock on the door and Finanda said it was time to go. We finished packing up and we were out the door. Rizcky had gone down before us and a “bell hop” appeared to take our luggage for us.  We went down in the elevator and the bags soon followed. Rizcky had finished checking out and Finanda went to get a taxi. I told here the nice young man that got our bags would take care of that for us. He did and we were off to the station. Oh, just in case you didn’t get that part Rizcky and Finanda didn’t have breakfast at the hotel. Bummer. After checkin at the station Rizcky went off to find some breakfast for him and Finanda. He came back with two back of stuff but one contained water. We went up to the platform and shortly the train arrived to whisk us off to Jogjakarta.

The train was pretty standard as trains go. The seats unfortunately are vinyl. But the air conditioning works well, sometimes too well. With the help of a railway employee we were able to get one pair of chairs turned so they faced one another. I told Rizcky that I now didn’t have a foot rest and he got this shocked look on his face. Finanda then explained to him that I was just kidding.

We have been on the train now for just over two hours. The scenery has been village after village. There have been great expanses of rice fields. The fields are in all stages from being prepared for planting to probably be read for harvest. Often it looks like there are miles of rice fields. The are all being attended by hand. It’ quite easy to see the farmers in the fields working the land. The rice fields are interspersed with slow moving silt laden rivers. The rivers are brown as the dirt around them but still the life blood of the drainages they serve.

The railroad played Iron Man III on the train. The quality wasn’t very good for some of it but it was entertaining anyway. Finanda and Rizcky watched Life of Pi on my computer. All of this activity helped to pass the time on the way to Jogja. The scenery still consists of rice fields, rice fields, and rice fields. The rivers are getting broader as we get closer to the south coast of Java and approach Jogjakarta. Supposed to be “warmer” in Jogja than in Jakarta. Hope not but it is what it is.

We were picked up from the airport by a friend of a friend of Rizcky’s. This person also let us use his vehicle. They took a while to find the home stay place we were in on Monday night but they finally tracked it down. It is out of the way and quiet except for the birds and the lizards. Haven’t seen the lizards and the birds are very illusive. The name of the place we are staying is the Mango Tree Dipudjo Homestay.

After we checked in we lounged around for a while and then went to dinner. It was local eatery by a river. The place was called Lesehan Sayidan. Lesehan literally means no chairs. There were not chair so we sat on carpet around the table. Food was very good though a little spicy for Bonnie. I didn’t enjoy sitting on the floor because my knees are bad. But I was able to get by.

We then went to a place that is mildly entertaining and a good way to get exercise for the evening. Went to Alun-alun Selatun to ride a group bicycle. The one we were in was a five passenger even though there were only four of us. These things are really heavy and it took all four of use to make it around the 1/2 kilometer route. The are lit up crazily with some have insects, birds, dinosaurs, and many other things. They all play loud music so it is kind of entertaining.

We then went to the Semesta Cafe for hot chocolate Finanda and Rizcky had hot chocolate. Bonnie and I had and iced chocolate float with vanilla ice cream. The chocolate is very tasty. I would recommend it.

From here we went back to the homestay. We spent some time with Rizcky and Finanda and gave them the cards from church and our family. We turned in around midnight. Hope we all sleep well.

Sorry, no photos for today. Guess we didn't take any.