10-Dec-2008: Central Java

We caught the train from Jakarta across to Central Java. It was 7 hours of beautiful green sawah after sawah (rice paddy after rice paddy) before we reached our destination, Yogjakarta. I guess with a massive population of over 200 million in Indonesia, that would be a lot of rice to feed everyone, especially being the country's staple!

We were met at the train station by my cousins, Eng Ing and Bwee and their families, for our first taste of hanging out with family who could not speak a word of english! I was so glad I made the effort to brush up on my bahasa Indonesia before our trip. After spending 5 days with family who could not speak english, my bahasa improved over tenfold!



We visited Borobudur, a Buddhist temple built during the 9th century and Indonesia's most visited tourist attraction. We experienced our first day of wet season heavy rain of while we were in Indonesia and luckily enough, one of the only really wet days we had during our 3 week stay.



My cousins drove us out to a village resort in the mountains called Kaliurang where my parents once holidayed when they first started dating. They showed us the losmen (guesthouse) where they stayed, and suggested that Jesse and I should pose for a photo in the front of the building for my parents to bring back some memories for them :-)

In Central Java, we met my dad's three older sisters, as well as cousins and their children who still live in the area. We were very well looked after as they made sure we sampled as much of the local cuisine as possible, which meant pretty much eating all day! After a few days, Jesse and I were out-eaten.... we really didn't think that was possible!!!



We stayed with my mum's sister, Rita (Tante King), and her husband at their house in a small city called Purworejo which is a couple of hours drive from Yogjakarta. It was my first time as an adult spending time with my mum's sister - it amazed me how much she and my mum are similar. Even many of the places we went to, they asked my aunt whether I was her daughter!



Tante King took us to a place in a mountain village called Bandungang where they make tofu as a speciality and you could buy fresh tofu cooked or soy milk to drink. It was the most devinely delicious tofu and soy milk that Jesse and I have ever tasted!

We visted Krematorium Ambarrawa, the site where my grand parents ashes are held along with many other relatives on my mum's side. it was amazing to hear all the stories. My aunt showed us a photo of my grandfather as a body builder in his younger days - and realised that this probably where my brother Adrian gets his genes for body building :-)