A brief escape from the containment

By Saturday afternoon, we were all getting restless at the hotel.  The dust was starting to settle and the volcanic ash took on a very white color as it dried.  We knew that it still wasn't smart to venture out so our team planned a few activities at the hotel for the night.  Our N95 masks arrived from Jakarta, so we split them up amongst the team plus we each got a few more basic masks as well.

Our masks - all the way from Jakarta

For dinner, Claudia & I planned a Noodle Party to take advantage of the 30+ cups of noodles we bought at the convenience store the day before.  We asked everyone to bring the coffee maker from their room plus a bottle of water. A few folks brought extra furniture from their nearby rooms and we had a little makeshift lounge created.  It was a nice break from eating the hotel food (which is good, but just tiring after a few days of it non-stop.)

The team enjoying their noodles

After dinner, a few of us met in one of the hotel lounges to play some of the board games that Daniel brought from Hungary.

By Sunday morning, the natives were getting more restless.  Armed with our N95 particle masks we decided to leave the hotel and see how things were going on nearby Malioboro Street.  We got approval from our IBM Security contact and were on our way.  We were advised to wear our masks even while shopping.  The good news is that these masks are hard-core and block almost all particles.  The bad news is that they are very form fitting to your face and thus VERY hot - especially when it is 90 degrees out.  We made it work, just to enjoy a little bit of freedom.

Our first stop was the Mirota Batik store.  A few of our teammates had visited earlier in the week and gave this place rave reviews - a little bit of everything and lots of great souvenir shopping.  The shop had lots of batik, but also lots of scarves, wood carvings, purses, linens, and random goodies.  I bought a few things for family and friends back home at very reasonable prices.  In the back of my mind was "how am I going to fit this in my luggage?" but that's a problem for a different day.

Mirota Batik store

Our team then split up into two groups for the rest of the afternoon.  A key tenet of our CSC experience is that we are never to go alone anywhere.  It's always good to have a buddy as you can find yourself in very unfamiliar areas very quickly once you start exploring.  A few members of the team decided to go to the large upscale Amplatz mall for some shopping, while Claudia, Shannon, Jayaram & I decided to explore on foot down Malioboro Street.

It was clear that many of the locals have been spending considerable amounts of time trying to clean the sidewalks and roads in front of their businesses.  The fire hydrants were open, water was everywhere, and we started to see pavement under what yesterday was completely covered with ash.  We were very glad we had our masks because the air was still a bit dusty and in general we just felt really dirty.

Shannon, Jay & Claudia braving the mud puddles on Malioboro Street

A becak abandoned for the day on the sidewalk

After lunch,the four of us decided to do some more exploring.  One of the critical lessons we learned early on is that the tourists maps are definitely not drawn to scale, so we opted for a cab for what on the map looked like a short walk.  That was a great decision because it turned out to be a 10 minute cab ride.  Our first stop was the Taman Sari Water Castle, the former royal garden of the Sultan of Yogyakarta.  It was built in the 1700s.  Unfortunately, the grounds themselves were closed due to the ash clean-up, but we found a local man who offered to take us on an informal tour to get some insider views.   We told our cab driver to wait (meter still ticking...) while we explored, as there weren't many other taxis around.  The grounds of the Sultan complex are quite large, and the Sultan has allowed many families to live there.  We wove our way through the village and were led to a VERY narrow crevasse that we squeezed through to come to a landing overlooking the walls of the complex and the pool area below.

There were three pools - one for the Sultan, one for his concubines, and one for his children.  Tale goes that he would throw a flower down from the tower into the concubines' pool and whichever woman touched the flower first would "enjoy" a private swim with the Sultan.   When they weren't swimming, the women were kept in a separate area of the compound completely surrounded by a moat of water. Talk about a captive audience!

The entrance was beautiful with many intricate carvings and snake statues

Not too photogenic with my mask, but you get the point

Orchids hanging from the roof of a local house

Our unofficial guide walking us through the village

The pool area of the Taman Sari

Our map showed that the Bird Market was nearby, so we asked our cab driver to take us there. It was quite comical trying to convey to the cab driver where we wanted to go.  Jay flapped his arms like a bird and the cab driver immediately knew where we wanted to go.  Improvising goes a long way when you're trying not to get completely lost in a cab.  In Indonesia, the most common pets are birds.  Cats are not too common and dogs are almost non-existent because they are viewed as dirty from a religious standpoint.  The bird market was quite an experience.  Hundreds of bids (literally, all in one cage), iguanas, screech owls, bats (eek, I didn't get a rabies shot...), turtles, tropical fish and even a giant boa constrictor were lined up in stalls in the market.  It didn't particularly smell bad but then again it didn't smell good either.  I was thankful that I had my mask on though.

I can't say that I really enjoyed the market because I'd much rather see the animals be free having a better life from these conditions but it definitely was worth visiting.  In this culture the birds are held in very high regard and are supposed to bring good luck to the owner so their basic needs were being met.

Looking down an aisle at the market

That's a lot of birds

Lots of bird seed

After the market we all decided we were ready to head back to the hotel to clean up from the adventures of the day.   From the sweat under our masks to the muddy streets to the still-lingering dust in the air that coated our hair, skin & clothes, we were all ready for some hot cleansing showers and a relaxing evening.

Despite the extenuating circumstances and the postponement of what was otherwise to be a fun weekend trip on a tour outside of the city, we made the most of our weekend - We had some quality team time and explored some areas we probably would not have made it to otherwise.

Several of our client offices are closed tomorrow, mine included.  They will be working to clean up the facilities from all the ash debris.  As a result, my team will be working from the hotel again tomorrow to progress our final recommendations.  We may also be here on Tuesday, but that's fine as we have lots to keep us busy on the work front.

Update - it is now POURING rain outside.  This is the first drenching rain we have gotten since the middle of last week.  I am hoping that it does wonders to clear the rest of the ash from the air and generally help the clean up of the city and the sidewalks.  It's either going to completely wash it away or create a giant muddy mess tomorrow.  Time will tell.