Our last weekend in Yogyakarta

I cannot believe how quickly time flies!  I’ve been gone from home now almost a month but in many ways this adventure of ours has just flown by.  I’ll save the sappy “I can’t believe our project is over” thoughts for later this week.   In the meantime, we’ve had a packed fun-filled weekend of sightseeing.  With last weekend’s washout – or ash-out I should say – we all wanted to get out and explore more this weekend.   Our local contact Diane was kind enough to help us arrange transportation this weekend to a few local sights and places.

One of our groups had a big presentation Saturday morning at the University, so we decided to rent two private drivers and cars and start exploring at noon.  Claudia, Shannon & I had quickly visited the silver town of Kota Gede earlier in the week but we decided to go back with the group as there were a lot of historical things we missed the first time around.  We first visited a town called Kasongan, which is known for its pottery and crafts.  The pottery was amazing – much of it was taller than I am and most cost $50 or less.   

Rooster, anyone?

Kasongan pottery

Our second brief stop was to a town called Manding, which is known for its leather goods.   There wasn’t too much there but it was interesting to look around town. 

Kota Gede Royal Cemetery

Then we headed back to Kota Gede.  Our first stop was the Royal Cemetery where many of the sultans’ families are buried.  

Out of respect for the departed, we were asked to remove our shoes and socks before entering the cemetery.  The ground wasn’t particularly clean so we were all tiptoeing around.  There were ants everyone so we were hoping we wouldn’t get bitten.  It’s always interesting to see the burial habits of a culture.  In this cemetery, the direct descendant of royalty is buried on the right, with his or her spouse on the left.  A pointed grave marker indicated a male whereas a smooth rounded marker indicated a female.  

We then visited a second cemetery but you had to pay to get into the historical chambers, so we explored around outside instead. 

Entrance to the walled city

Sultan's bath house

Our next stops were a few silver stores where many members of our group bought souvenirs for home.  I ended up getting another pretty necklace, a chain to go with the pendant I bought the other day, and a matching pair of earrings.  After a few shops, we did a side trip to the Monggo chocolate factory.  I picked up a few small bars of delicious white chocolate.  I've already eaten two of them - oops!

To cap off the night we ate at a really nice restaurant in town called Omah Dhuwur in the center of Kota Gede.  It overlooked a very pretty garden with Asian buildings lit up by lanterns.

The Omah Dhuwur gardens

Sunday morning we woke up early and took a bus trip to a few natural sights.  A big thing here in the Yogyakarta area is ecotourism.  The Sri Gethuk waterfall was our first stop.  After driving for 2 hours we finally arrived.  Our bus driver decided to take the adventurous route and instead of parking in the bus parking area, he decided to take the bus down what I hesitate to call a dirt road.  That’s putting it lightly, as it basically was an infrequently-traveled tire track path through the jungle.  The bus bounced up and down and side to side - across rolling hills and between ride paddies.  A few of us were keeping our fingers crossed that we would not blow a tire out in the middle of who-knows-where. 

The "road" traveled by the tour bus

 Once we arrived (& our driver paid the entrance fee) we found out that due to some very heavy rains the night before, the waterfall was closed.  "How can a waterfall be closed?" you might ask......  To get to the waterfall we were supposed to take a raft that local men would paddle up the river against the current.  Due to the high water, the current was too strong so the rafts were not going anywhere.  It was disappointing (especially after a two hour drive) but we got to see some great jungle scenery overlooking the swollen river.

We then headed to Pindul Cave to do some cave tubing!  On our way we passed through some very dense forests that were filled with teak trees.  I had never seen teak growing in the wild before.  The wood was very red in color and some chopped trees were alongside the road where we got to see a closer view.

Teak trees

Rice fields swaying in the breeze

About an hour later we arrived at the cave.  Before we left Yogyakarta, we were told a few things about this experience:
1) you will not get wet
2) you will get lifejackets and helmets
3) there will be changing rooms so you can change into your swimwear
4) there will be lockers to secure your valuables

Doing some research on my own before we left, I soon realized that we would get wet - likely soaked - so I came prepared.  We did get life jackets but no helmets, and there ended up not being lockers.  We said a little prayer and turned over our bags to a nice lady behind the counter.  The people here seem to be much more trusting than when I live - but rightfully so.  Everyone's stuff was returned un-touched.  The changing rooms were wet bathrooms, but they did the trick.  Here in Indonesia, bathrooms are used for many purposes - including showering and changing clothes.  There are usually small hooks on the wall to hang things, and as I changed I kept praying that the flimsy hook would support the weight of my big bag.

I was the designated photographer of the group because I was the only one with a waterproof camera. We got in our tubes and held on to little straps to connect ourselves into a daisy-chain.  A guide led the caravan and another guide pulled up the rear.  The purpose of these guides soon became evident as the water was really stagnant and the front guide pulled our tube-caravan through the water in the cave.

Seth, me, Daniel, Yuan Yuan & Claudia getting ready to get in our tubes

Group shot by the river

Jay, Rosa & Daniel - waiting for our group to go into the cave

After a lot of waiting, our tube crew slowly made its way into the cave. There weren't any lights so some of the guides used flashlights and headlamps to illuminate the walls and point out key features as we passed by.  

Pindul Cave

Bats on the ceiling of the cave

The long line of tubes exiting the cave

 After the caves we drove about an hour to the sea side - Indrayanti Beach.  The beach is located on the southern shore of the island of Java, touching the Indian Ocean. The beach itself wasn't very wide but it was organized with rental umbrellas strategically lined up in a row along the whole stretch of sand.  We decided to first hike to the top of a cliff overlooking the beach and the water.  The views from the top were incredible.  We then walked along the beach for a bit where a few folks went swimming.  I didn't go in because I had already changed out of my muddy bathing suit from the cave tubing, but it was nice to just sit back and people watch for a few hours.

The Indian Ocean - check this one off the bucket list!

Overlooking Indrayanti Beach

Selling fruits on the beach

Just as the sun started setting, it was time to head back to the bus for the ride back to Yogyakarta.  We totally lucked out with the weather today as we had sunny skies for most of the day.  It started to pour on our way back to the hotel, but by then we didn't care because we had a great day exploring some of the more natural wonders under sunny skies.

Sunset from the beach

 Random pictures of the day:
Small bus yields to bigger bus?  The roads here are very narrow so with our bus we ran into quite a few oncoming traffic predicaments.

Who needs a station wagon when you can sandwich your family of four on a scooter?  This mode of transportation is very common here and economical.  Most scooters cost around $1400.