Impressions of Java

The arrangements for this trip also went through quite a few twists and turns. At first, the plan was to go to East Malaysia and Bali with [omitted] and [omitted], probably from February 9 to 16. But I could only start my holiday on February 11, so the plan changed into a solo trip after Chinese New Year. In the end, I settled on the route Jakarta → Surabaya → Bali, from February 17 to 24, which meant I had to set off in the early hours of February 17, the first day of the Chinese New Year.

I arrived at Baiyun Airport at around 2:30 a.m. When I went to check in, the woman at the counter told me that if I had been two minutes later, I would not have been able to check in. At immigration, I ran into a manual inspection. After asking me a few questions, they let me go, but the person next to me was being questioned rather harshly, and it looked like they were not going to let him through. This time, I chose TransNusa because it was cheap. The ticket only cost 930 yuan, but the occupancy rate on the plane was less than 10%. The problem was that they barely turned off the lights after takeoff, so I basically got no sleep and felt dizzy for the rest of the day.

I arrived in Jakarta at around 9 a.m. I took the airport rail link to a central station in the city and then planned to transfer to the metro. But because I had not exchanged any cash, I could not buy a metro ticket. I had no choice but to take a taxi. When we were almost at the destination, I realized that Grab could not use my previously linked Visa card, nor could it use Alipay. It was extremely awkward, and I could only pay the driver in RMB. Fortunately, the driver was kind enough to accept it. After that, I immediately went to find an ATM and withdraw cash.

That was when I experienced Jakarta’s first drawback: its terrible traffic. On roads that were not particularly wide, there were all kinds of motorcycles and cars, and the pothole-ridden road surface was extremely unfriendly to pedestrians. The commuter rail in the city seemed to be trying to imitate Japan’s JR system, with several lines in the same direction sharing one station and using different platforms. But in other respects, such as refinement, convenience, and transit-oriented development, it had not really learned much at all.

The second drawback was the convenience of food. There were few decent convenience stores on the streets, but plenty of roadside stalls. Their overall conditions were at a level where I absolutely did not dare to buy anything. So at noon that day, I could only go to Starbucks and buy a drink.

In the afternoon, I visited the National Gallery, the National Monument, the Dutch old town, Chinatown, the Istiqlal Mosque, and the Catholic cathedral next to it. The paintings in the National Gallery were full of distinct Austronesian character, highlighting many local features and giving off a hot, humid atmosphere.

After that, I took a taxi to the Dutch old town. I found that, despite also being a historical district built around foreign architecture, it was much more poorly maintained than places I had visited before, such as the Bund in Shanghai, Shamian in Guangzhou, and the Italian Style Town in Tianjin. The streets there were full of small vendors I did not dare buy from, as well as various street tattoo shops. One similarity was that there were quite a few performers dressed up as historical figures standing by the roadside, probably trying to attract tourists to take photos with them and then charge a fee.

I then walked over to the nearby Chinatown and found that the only Chinese symbols there were some run-down small buildings with signs reading “Ancestral Hall of the X Family.” But when I went over and looked inside, the people in the building clearly did not look Chinese. Compared with Kuala Lumpur, which I had visited before, the Chinese atmosphere there was basically zero.

Later, I took a taxi away. On the road, I chatted with the driver. He said I should go to the PIK mall, where there were more Chinese people. We also talked about the comparison between prices in China and Indonesia, as well as my later itinerary. He also recommended a “Miniature Indonesia” attraction to me, something similar to Window of the World in Shenzhen. I had looked it up before too, but unfortunately I did not have enough time to go.

For dinner, I went to Grand Indonesia, which is said to be Indonesia’s largest shopping mall. Overall, it felt somewhat similar to Teemall or Grandview Mall in Guangzhou, though a bit smaller in scale. I found a self-service Japanese yakiniku restaurant, because it was the only type of slightly better restaurant where eating alone would not feel too awkward. After that, I returned to the hotel.

The next day, I still got up early and went to visit the National Museum of Indonesia. Indonesia was first colonized by the Dutch, and later, during World War II, it was occupied by Japan. After Japan surrendered, a power vacuum emerged, and Indonesia directly declared independence. Therefore, the museum did not portray Japan during World War II in an entirely negative light. After that, it continued to document the rule of figures such as Sukarno and Suharto.

After visiting the museum, I had originally wanted to find another large shopping mall to buy some souvenirs. But the traffic in Jakarta was simply too congested. By the time the taxi arrived at the mall, I had no choice but to leave again immediately, return to the hotel to pick up my luggage, and then head to the train station.

I bought a train ticket from Jakarta to Surabaya. It cost around 350 RMB and took ten hours, crossing the entire island of Java from west to east. I bought an executive-class ticket. Actually, I had originally wanted to buy a sleeper compartment ticket or a panorama train ticket, but later I joined a Bromo + Ijen tour, and the timing did not work out, so I had to give up on that idea.

The train carriage had a kind of premodern style. The blue-and-white seats were paired with old-fashioned lamps, though the seats were actually quite spacious. The train was not very full either. Looking around the carriage, everyone seemed to be local, with no tourists like me. Outside the window, the scenery was still an endless stretch of green plains, telling the story of how rice can be harvested nine times in two years on Java. Although Indonesian rice itself is not very tasty; so far, I still think the best rice I have ever eaten was in Japan. The people living along the railway did not seem wealthy either. Most of the buildings were low, flat houses, and I did not see any high-rises.

By the time I arrived in Surabaya, it was almost 11 p.m., just in time for the departure of the volcano tour group I had booked. I first took a taxi to the tour group’s meeting point at the train station, and then boarded the group’s minibus. There were about eight people in the tour group in total: roughly three couples plus two solo male travelers.

The driver sped along the northeast coastal road of Java in the dark, driving the minibus at over 100 km/h on mountain roads that had only two lanes, and sometimes even just one lane. We went all the way from an altitude of less than 100 meters to over 2,000 meters, then switched to a jeep and continued upward. The jeep drove for about another hour, sweeping across a volcanic ash plain in the darkness, before arriving halfway up a small mountain.

The mountains there, several of which were over 2,500 meters high, did not rise directly from flat ground. Instead, they were small mountains scattered across a volcanic ash plain already more than 2,000 meters above sea level. After that, we waited in a small café for daybreak before heading to the summit. Outside the café were all kinds of vendors selling coats, hats, and other items in Chinese. They looked as if they were working very hard; of course, more than 90% of the tourists were Chinese.

After waiting for nearly two hours, we finally climbed to the summit. Although we could see the iconic crater, the sun was blocked by clouds and the weather was overcast, so it was impossible to take photos with a truly spectacular visual effect. Afterward, we returned to the jeep and then walked across the volcanic ash plain to the crater. The crater was spewing thick sulfurous smoke. I only stayed there briefly before heading back to the jeep.

After that, the tour group’s minibus drove all the way to the easternmost end of Java and arrived at the hotel where we would stay that night. By then, it was almost 6 p.m. The hotel was in the style of a primitive resort, with all the rooms being one-story wooden cabins. At that point, we were told that there had been an accident at Ijen Volcano, so we could not go there. The next day’s itinerary was changed to snorkeling on a nearby small island.

At the hotel, I discovered that there was not much to eat nearby, so I tried ordering delivery on Grab. I ordered some Japanese food. For around 50 RMB, the quality was about the same as something that would cost 25 RMB in China. All I can say is that the “market accessibility” of this place was clearly inadequate, lol.

After that, I got to know another guy from the same tour group — I’ll call him Q below — and we went for a walk together. But once we stepped outside, we found that all the lights on the beach had been turned off. There was only the sound of chanting from the mosque, while the road was full of motorcycles speeding past. We could only return to the hotel. I also tried to see whether any of the small shops by the road sold swim trunks for the next day’s snorkeling, but in the end I only managed to buy a pair of slippers.

The following morning, we went snorkeling at Tabuhan Island. The tour group’s minibus drove to the beach, and all of us transferred onto a snorkeling boat. Since I was completely unprepared, I could only wear my shorts as swim trunks. I put on the snorkeling mask, but found that it did not seem to be of much use, because it did not come with an oxygen tank, so there was no way to dive very deep. At most, I could probably go half a meter underwater. I also had not learned the breathing technique for using a snorkeling mask, so in the end I could only breathe the way I would while swimming.

Still, the sea really was nice. I saw jellyfish and fish with all kinds of colorful patterns whose names I did not know. Finally, we stayed for a while on Tabuhan Island, then took the boat back to the main island of Java. The vehicle eventually took us to the pier for the ferry to Bali. The guide helped us buy ferry tickets, and we took a final group photo before saying goodbye.

The ferry to Bali was also quite interesting. It carried not only people but also all kinds of cargo, including a whole row of motorcycles and cars. Among the passengers, aside from Chinese tourists, there were also many white backpackers, all carrying large Osprey backpacks. And with that, my journey on the island of Java came to an end.