Discovering Indonesia

Since I was already going to be in the Philippines, I really wanted to visit another country while I was in this region. Then, I realized I had met this American guy while walking in Kuala Lumpur last year. I had dinner with him and his American friend who lives in KL. Seemed like nice chaps. So after a few emails back and forth, I booked to spend 5 days in Indonesia.

The original plan was to go off to West Java to hike Mt. Bromo but Joel's other friend couldn't go with us. Joel is a very conservative and respectful guy and for us to travel just by ourselves wouldn't look right to most Indonesians. So, we ended up staying in Bandung (his home fore now) for the length of my stay. I couldn't have asked for more.

Indonesia, compared to the Philippines is cleaner and the air cooler. Although, we always one up every other Asian country because of our being able to speak English very well. That was the one thing that disabled me as a traveller although it didn't affect me much since Joel is conversant in Indonesian. I was kinda glad that they spoke very little English as it enabled me to pick up their language very quickly. I was very proud of what I'v learned and retained in those 5 days. :)

In sum, I got to try all the delicous spicy foods Indonesia has to offer, hike down a volcano's crater, ride on a motorcycle for hours while passing rice paddies and small villages, got to watch a master puppet carver at work, learned a new language, and got to make Indonesian friends. You can't ever get that in a pre-pack travel package. I owe all of this to Joel - the stranger who took me in. :)

Joel
while we were inside the crater of Tangkuban Parahu


Indonesian Friends - Lydia, Pritha, and Gina