Thou shalt not leave Indonesia

Another immigration to pass, another story to tell.

I left Jakarta’s Kelapa Gading around 6am, a beautiful hour to spin on the highway. A less beautiful hour after 3 days Bintang (read as verb).
I thought I had enough money to spend for the taxi and airport tax. And most probably I would still have enough left to enjoy a delicious indo mochacino in the airport. Though… I didn’t see near future coming.

I waited at the counter to receive the stamp on my passport and the officer looked a bit dubious at me, followed by a: “Mister, you overstayed.” Shrruugg. No, can’t be, I counted the days, I thought I stayed exactly 60 days. “Mister, the computer don’t lie”. After going through all days one by one together I forfeited. He was right, that computer..and that officer. I stayed 62 days instead of 60. Big Oops! But no worries, it’s just a fine you need to pay…Another ATM (moneymachine) to milk. Ok, off I went, searching for my Meastro sign. There were a few…First one no worky. Second one no worky…Third one NO WORKY! Shit! Not enough time to go out of the airport, coz boarding time was nearby!
I went back to the immigration officer. “Sir, the ATM isn’t working. Normally it does, but today it seems down. No communication with my bank.” “hahaha” in chorus. They (yes, few more officers joined) almost started to sing a song…”The ATM is not working lalala, lalala” You can’t go out sir. You must pay the fine.
Fuck, i’m fucked…And more of those charming words I thought.
“But..but sir, the ATM is really not working! Come and join me.” They showed me another one, which had maestro and mastercard (which also works for my card). From a distance they kept an eye on me, how I was getting completely hopeless. I saw myself driving back with a taxi, which I couldn’t pay, and say hi to my friends again. “Hello, I didn’t made it. I couldn’t pay them 50 dollar.” What a joke…no no no.
I even started trying all other ATM’s. Funny sight that must have been. OMG, that guy must be loaded, he’s milking all ATM’s. Let’s rob him! I wish…

I went back to them and said: “OK, I have tried them all, I need to go, is there any other way to get money? Maybe someone from the airport can give me a sum and I pay back from Kuala Lumpur airport.” Sure. “The ATM is not working lalalala…lalala…You can’t go sir.”

I lost it (time pressure) and I started to bother passengers waiting in line for immigration. “Sir, could you give me 50 dollars or 400.000 rupia? I have a problem. I can pay you back in Kuala Lumpur”. How many would do that? 1 dollar ok, but 50… I found a guy however who gave me 100.000 rupiah. With this I went back to my officers. “Satu ratus!”…waahahaha Nonono, not enough. empat ratus!” They called me inside the office.  Boarding started already. “Sir, what do you have, other then money? Any valuables? Mobile maybe” I had to laugh, my mobile isn’t even worth 20 dollar, but then again, can’t miss it for anything. No way. Then I did something smart it seemed.
“Here, I give you my guitar Sir. Make your son happy, sell it, but I need to go. I think this is enough for the fine”
“But sir, you give your guitar? That’s music, is your life, to valuable!” (I was laughing inside, this piece of crap wood wouldn’t even sell anymore to a retarded monkey, and I’m not that attached to it)
“Yes sir, that’s how much I’m serious. I’m not joking about ATM, I need to go, you can have the guitar.” 2 mins silence. He let me follow him…back towards the counter…With my guitar! HE STAMPED. No fine! I’m out. Wooohoo!

Another moviemoment. Airasia plane for the second time fully boarded and this bloke running second time towards it. Last passenger boarded. With guitar. Ready for take off, captain!.

The two countries that I love the most were the two craziest exits. That’s how they let me never forget them. I do like it. Now, when typing this. I feel they want me back. Another story to tell.

A roadtrip from Jakarta to Pangandaran & back

This weekend I went for a roadtrip to Pangandaran. Going on friday late midday, with the charming Volkswagen oldtimer from Ash & Nancy. It’s roughly 8 – 10 hours driving, as you need to cross Java in the height. Once there, Ash & me killed about 40 cans of Bintang, waiting for the arrival of the others, who departed later in the evening and as such, would arrive around 5am. Hey, it was his 50th birthday, it should have been 50 cans. Anyway, It was a pleasant meeting, right guys? *grin*

After merely 4 hours sleeping and starting the day with a huge hangover, we went for a hike into the National park. Nothing special, dry season, not much waterfalls, few monkies,…I’ve seen much better.

The second day however was the best. We drove towards the Green Canyon, a lush canyon about 30mins driving from Pangandaran. Peaceful boatride and awesome swimming (and cliffjumping) in a beautiful natural setting. After we went to beach nearby, Batu Karas, where me & Ferry tried to master the big waves. As I didn’t had a surfboard, I played being a surfboard. If you catch the wave right, it’s an awesome feeling! Careful though with this stuff if you’re not a good swimmer. The power of the water is extremely strong. Sometimes I wasn’t able to walk against the current and got dragged away for a bit.

We followed a slight different (but longer) route back to Jakarta, following the South Javanese coastline for a 60 km or so and then going up north to Tasikmalaya, where we catched the main road to Bandung. Very deserted beaches, big strong waves, nice & ideal for surfing.

Pictures! (more will come later from my companions, as I was often busy in the water I didn’t use my cam that much)

On the way, stop at a Warung/kopi (resto/coffee) place, which they shorten to ‘warkop’…Funny for the Belgians.

one of the monkies I saw in the national park. It’s a specie I didn’t see before though. I forgot the name.

One of the nicer views in the park

macro’s at the beach

On the way to the green canyon…

almost there…

coming closer…

ah yes!

Ari

Me jumping of a cliff…couldn’t stop it

Me climbing for another dive & Tiara found some peephole there

Tiara enjoying a watermassage

Me & Ferry, taking a break from all the jumping and swimming

an awesome threesome: Sara(who’s trying out a new boobfilling), Anne & Tiara.

Ferry & me going for the massage

One of the deserted beaches along the South Javanese coastline.

Ferry selling his wife

The massive waves

well well, this was probably one of my last trips in Indonesia as I leave next week.
Wish I could do a lot more here, but yea, as you know…work…and there’s always another time.

Thanks for a great weekend Tiara, Anne, Sara, Nancy, Ash, Ari, Ferry, etc etc!

Volcano trekking: Telagabodas & Papandayan

This weekend we went south of Bandung for some volcano trekking.

We nested ourselves in a guesthouse at Cipanas, a small “hotspring” village nearby Garut. Lovely, as all tapwater comes straight from the hotsprings, scattered around these mountains.
Once settled we took an angkot (sort of a minibus, much like a jeepney in the Philippines) to Garut town, swapped there with an angkot to Wanaraja and then jumped out to do some hard bargaining with the ojeks (motorcycle taxi) who drove us to Telegabodas, a not so active volcano, but with a beautiful craterlake. It was a hell of a ride. The dirtroad was made of big rocks, this for like +10km up the mountain. An experienced motorcyclist was a must. My butt still soars from it. I already felt guilty I bargained so hard with the ojeks as I didn’t realise the ride was so difficult and long.

Actually you can do all these trips the easier way, with package deals from your guesthouse, but it’s not our choice. I love doing it the local way which is much more of an adventure…However it can be hard, as my Bahasa is still poor and English is as good as non-spoken in the outskirts, let stand even Bandung.

Sights on the way were great though, we passed through very secluded villages where we received (once again) bright smiles.

First set of pictures: Telagabodas (for Papandayan, see further this post)

Where we all did it for: the marvellous craterlake

some macroshots, structures found on the soils around the lake

bubbling mud

more macro: the cristal structure of the sulfur

various lake shots

It looks very inviting to swim, but you better don’t. The water isn’t that hot, still bubbling however, but it’s so deep that you might be sucked into holes. One guy tried it out and they never found his body again. He just disappeared…

sacred tree. Here come some people to pray and meditate. It’ s possible they stay at the tree for one week long.

When we hiked a bit through the jungle upwards the mountain, we found this place.
Look at the piles. Each pile has a stone on top, which causes the actual pile when the soil is going down.

mini canyon

open spot with steaming vents

Javanese edelweiss

wild strawberry! Yummy!

Ok! That was it for Telegabodas.
Over to Papandayan. To get at this place we needed to take a local minibus to Cikajang (normally you fit in 7 passengers, but Indonesian style is rather 12, with luggage!)

We jumped out at the outskirts of Cisurupan. From there we took again an ojek. We payed them the same amount as the ones for Telagabodas, but afterwards it seemed that this ride was a lot easier. No hard dirtroad, rather asfalted way with few holes in it, wooh, luxury!

Here we had to pay a small entrance fee and it was better to have a guide, so you know where to set foot. After walking there, I do advise it! Bargain hard for the price.

Papandayan is still very active. It started at 1772, when a part of the mountain exploded and 3000 people got killed. In 2002 there was a second eruption, but no people got killed. There were however heavy mudslides. People got traumatised and many moved out to Garut, scared for a second disaster.

It was foggy, and the place was full of steaming vents, so not ideal for pictures. I tried to make the best of it.

very colourful rocks

Kanes, our guide. We hiked all the way through that background. It’s like you’re on another planet!

One fo the few vegetation to be found there. I tried to eat it (it was said the plant gives you power), but it tasted awful.

the hot river running down from the small craterlake

Steaming sulfurpipes. Waah, the sound it produces!

At the main crater:

When you throw a big rock in the crater you get this darkgray smoke coming up.

The place was scattered with burned trees.

The hole of the craterlake

bubbling mudholes

That was it for Bandung area. Back to Jakarta, say temporary byebye there to Shayne and continu my work.