Kota Gede & Pakualaman Palace

Today officially marks 3 weeks since I left North Carolina, which is the longest I've ever been away from home!   Time here is just flying by.  Aside from my regular 2-week vacations, my longest time away from home thusfar was in 2012 when I went to Prague, Czech Republic for a little bit less than 3 weeks.  That was also quite an adventure but a very different one.  This time I am on quite a marathon trip as I have 3 1/2 weeks left to go - 1 1/2 weeks left on my CSC project and then 2 weeks of vacation.  I woke up today not knowing the date.  I just know "it's Tuesday."  That's quite a nice change for me.  Someday when I retire I am hoping to not even know what day it is :-)

We continue to make good progress with our project.  Monday & Tuesday most of our client offices were still closed due to the volcanic ash cleanup so we worked at the hotel to start preparing our final presentation.  My team has been doing a mixture of meeting up in the hotel common areas to work and then going back to our individual hotel rooms to finish up.  There is a lot of music and general commotion in some of the common areas so the peace and quiet of our hotel rooms is sometimes easier to think.  Our final project is taking 3 different forms.  First, we will be holding a social media workshop for some of the employees at the Tourism Authority.  We were supposed to do that last Friday but plans changed with the volcano situation.  Second, we are preparing some overview slides of our recommendations - a detailed presentation will be given at our client offices next Monday and then a summary presentation will be given to some government officials next Thursday.  Lastly, we are preparing a detailed document outlining each of our recommendations.  We will be leaving this document with our clients so they can refer back to it over the coming months. Thanks to everyone who filled out our travel survey.  We've compiled the results and will be including that in our final report. 

Lats night after work, Claudia, Shannon & I decided to do a quick sightseeing trip to a nearby suburb of Yogyakarta called Kota Gede.  The area is known for its silversmiths who create fine silver filigree jewelry and other decorations.  We got a late start since it was a last-minute idea, but still enjoyed walking around the town.  Most of the shops closed at 5pm and we didn't arrive in town until 6pm but a few places were still open to explore.  There were no other tourists in the area (& no cabs for that matter) so we once again decided to keep our cab and just have the meter keep ticking as we walked through town.  Our taxi driver was good at keeping up with us as every time we turned to look around our taxi was following close behind.  I bought a pretty silver filgree pendant for only $28.  I would have bought the chain as well but I forgot to put more money in my wallet before I left.  Money is so deceiving here.  The largest bills we have been carrying are in 100,000 denominations which is the equivalent of $8.50. If you put a few 100,000 bills in your wallet you have more than enough money for a few days unless you do some souvenir shopping.  A few of us are hoping to go back later in our trip to another silver shop that was recommended by some of the locals.

Claudia walking down the main street in Kota Gede

The silver filigree pendant that I bought

A vendor making drinks from local fruit at the Kota Gede market

Today my team decided to work on our individual pieces of our project and we will be consolidating the pieces later this week.  With our offices still closed, this gave us a little more flexibility to get our work done at different times.  After breakfast, Yuan Yuan, Alberto, Claudia and I decided to take a quick walk down the street from the hotel to visit the Pakualaman Palace.  This palace used to be used for the Prince of Yogyakarta but is now home to the Vice-Governor.  He only stays there when guests are in town, usually dignitaries and other government visitors.  Diane, our local contact, came with us as well and it was nice to have her translating some of the materials for us. 

The entrance to the palace grounds

Water garden in the palace courtyard

Gamelan instruments in the central pavillion

There was a small museum onsite that held the Pakualaman family inheritance.  It was really sad to see the after-effects of the volcano here.  Ash covered EVERYTHING and the museum was not completely closed to the outside due to slatted windows near the ceiling.  The curators spent a lot of time cleaning the palace grounds earlier in the week but have a lot more work to do to salvage the exhibits in the museum.  They had lots of pictures of dignitaries who had visited, old swords and clothing, and an exhibit of carriages used many years ago to transport the royal families.

After visiting the palace we took a nice leisurely walk back to the hotel.  The heat and humidity were particularly oppressive today and with our N95 masks we were dripping wet by the time we got back.  Since coming to Indonesia, I have a new appreciation for bottled water.  I decided to put some electrolyte powder into my water this afternoon to try to keep everything in balance.  Usually I am really affected by the heat so I am doing my best to keep hydrated.  Showers are also my best friend, especially to clean off the grime I feel after walking around outside.  It's noon, and I've already taken 2 showers.  Now it's time to work for a bit and relax.  Later this afternoon my teammate Nicole is going to host a beginner yoga class for a few of us in one of the conference rooms downstairs.  It should be a fun time.  I'll now be making use of some of those clothes I packed but have not yet worn.

The palace museum

Carriages used by the government officials

Claudia, Yuan Yuan, me & Alberto

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.

Hunkered down at the hotel

We're hunkered down for the foreseeable future here at the hotel. My team's project is in a good position as we have already spent a lot of time with our clients and are starting to put together our final recommendations - which we can do here at the hotel if need-be.  We had hoped to hold a seminar on Social Media & Marketing today with our client, but that obviously didn't happen.   We'll reschedule it to sometime next week.  Two of the other teams also had presentations/seminars originally scheduled for today, so they too will be looking to shift things around next week if possible. 

Our team absorbed the situation today and everyone was in good spirits relaxing at the hotel.  IBM security has been keeping in close contact with us and are making sure we have what we need, even though they are far away in Jakarta.  Our hotel provided us with basic facemasks today, and our in country contact Diane went looking for special face masks called N95 masks that are mandated by IBM Security for these situations.  Unfortunately the conditions were very bad outside and several stores were sold out - but we're very lucky that the special masks are supposed to be hand-delivered to us tomorrow all the way from Jakarta.  If all goes well, another IBMer is taking a train into town and should arrive tomorrow.

In the meantime, our hotel has been over-run by a student group arriving on 5 tour buses.  Mid-afternoon we looked at the lobby with 200+ people trying to check in and thought to ourselves "we don't know how long our hotel restaurant can deal with that many people in the hotel."  The facilities are good but the restaurant doesn't seem like it will be able to deal with that large an influx of people.  Just to be on the safe side, my teammate Claudia & I very briefly braved the conditions to walk two blocks to a nearby convenience store - where we proceeded to wipe out their stock of cup-of-noodles and also picked up a bunch of crackers, granola bars, and cookies for the team.  We don't know how long we're going to be stuck in the hotel and we figured it would be better to have too much food for everyone (that we can later donate to local organizations if necessary) than not enough.  In the 85+ degree heat I bundled myself in my easily-washable hiking pants, my Gore-tex jacket, a poncho on top of that, my respirator mask, and sunglasses to protect my eyes.  I must say I am very proud of my outfit as I arrived back home unscathed, but we looked quite comical.

Me & Claudia returning from the convenience store with food for the team

For some reason, our hotel restaurant seemed to be closed for the evening so I have already started eating the noodles.  They have put a sign in the elevator stating that breakfast tomorrow has been moved to the ballroom so hopefully they'll be able to serve a lot more people there than in the restaurant.  At least we know they haven't completely shut down the food service.

Daniel organized a board game night tonight which was a lot of fun.  He also brought some Pálinka for us to try - it's a traditional fruit brandy from his home country of Hungary.  My 1/2 Hungarian roots didn't quite prepare me for it, but it was nice to try (thanks Daniel!)

Jay, Antonella, Daniel & Alberto

That's a lot of snack food!

That's all for tonight.  Let's hope the sky starts to clear a little bit overnight and maybe some rains will come to help get some of the dust out of the air.

Snow at home vs. Volcanic ash in Indonesia

Dear Mother Nature - this is NOT what I had in mind when I told you I was disappointed that I missed the snowstorm back home in North Carolina.

This morning I was awoken around 5:30am by my Indonesian cell phone SMS alerts going off.  Last night around 11pm a large volcano (Mount Kelud) erupted here on the island of Java.  It's about 150 miles East of Jogja and is one of 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia.  Indonesia is prone to volcanic eruptions (& earthquakes, but let's not talk about that for now...) due to its location in the "Ring of Fire" - a grouping of fault lines that stretch from the Western Hemisphere throughout Southeast Asia. 

After I woke up, I realized that the sky was still dark.  Here in Jogja the sun typically rises very early and it's fully bright by 5:15am.  Today, however, was a completely different story.  The streetlights were hazy with ash and daylight didn't come until 7am or so.   The sky is white like snow and the sun is gone.

When daylight appeared, we found that volcanic ash was still raining down, even this far away from the eruption.  Everything is covered with about 1/4" of ash.  IBM security has been closely monitoring the situation and has sequestered us in the hotel until further notice. 

The view of Yogyakarta from the top floor of our hotel

The view of the rooftops out my hotel window

At first glance this looks like a dusting of snow, but it's definitely not!

Our hotel pool is filled with ash and I would guess it's closed until further notice.  At least we were able to get some nice swimming days in before this all happened.  I suspect the pools will have to be drained.

The hotel gave us some basic masks, and our local contact is trying to find some more advanced particulate filter masks (N95 masks) for us in case we venture outside.  I don't see any of us venturing out though!   Breathing in volcanic dust can be bad for one's health so we are sheltering ourselves and trying not to get exposed to it.

Me, Rosa, Claudia & Antonella donning our masks

The volcanic ash has stopped falling from the sky but we're staying in our rooms as much as possible.  As a precaution, I have put towels under my door as the corridor outside my room is partially open to the outside. 

We all feel safe but our thoughts drift to the safety of others further East.  Thousands of people within a 10km radius of the volcano have been evacuated.  To see this much ash 150 miles away is amazing.  One can only wonder what it looks like closer to the eruption.  The airports in Jogja, Solo, and Surabaya are closed,  all of the local schools are closed, and the one-bustling streets are eerily almost deserted.  It looks like a massive snowstorm has hit the area and as I look out my hotel room all I can see is white & gray. 

The street outside our hotel covered in ash

The windowsill outside my room

Cars have difficulty driving through the big ash clouds

We were originally scheduled to travel East tomorrow for a day trip closer to the coast but those plans have been put on hold until the situation resolves - hopefully we'll be able to reschedule to next weekend.  One of the local IBMers in the area who was here in Jogja for the eruption of Mount Merapi in 2011 told us that it could take up to a week for the air to clear.  We're hunkered down here for a while in the hotel hoping for some rain to clear the air.  When we first came for our CSC assignment we were told to "be flexible" - we weren't quite thinking this flexible but it all comes as part of the experience.  All is safe here and we are being well taken care of. 


Here is an article about the eruption on CNN. 

My confessions

Time is just flying by!  I realized yesterday that I left my house in NC 2 weeks ago.  It's been really nice keeping up with people from home.  It's a totally different world over here and having that nice link back to the familiarity of home is wonderful.

Our project is going well so far.  We met with leaders from several of the local Tourism-related agencies here in Jogja yesterday and brainstormed some recommendations for improvements.  Our days are just flying by.

Yuan Yuan, Nicole & Daniel - us hard at work at our client office

To help us with our recommendations, we've been spending some time visiting several of the local Tourist Information centers. We stopped by the train station yesterday pretending to be tourists (I guess we are, in a way...) to see what type of information we could get.  The information was really sparse and we basically learned that the train schedules aren't schedules, just general times of when you may or may not see the train come.  This is what's known as "rubber time" or "Indonesia time."

My team trying to get information at the train station

Now that I've had 2 weeks to reflect on my time here thusfar, I have a few confessions to make!

1) Our hotel gives us 2 bottles of water each day.  I must admit that I hoard these bottles in my suitcase and refrigerator so they will leave me 2 more bottles the next day.  I buy some as well, but it is so ridiculously hot & humid here that I always like to have lots of water.

2) I love having my laundry done for me for $1.50 a week.  We send it out to a local cleaning service and they return it in great condition, with my underwear even folded in little squares.  If only I could find such a cheap convenient service back at home, I'd be all set.  I really hate doing laundry.

3) I am getting sick of rice & noodles.  I never thought I'd say that.   I do love both, but when they are for breakfast, lunch & dinner it gets to be a bit much.  I've eaten a lot of other things as well, but it all seems to come back to rice and noodles, rice and noodles, rice and noodles.

4) I am afraid to take advantage of the inexpensive massages here at the hotel spa.  Several of my teammates have gone for one and the reaction has been mixed.  About 2/3 of the folks who have gone are almost crippled with pain the next day because even when they tell the masseuse to go softly the masseuse basically stands on the massage table pushing down on their back. 

5) I am DEFINITELY afraid of the street food here.  The hygiene of the utensils turns your stomach.  We've passed many food stalls and while the concept is great for a quick and cheap meal if I intend to stay out of the hospital I am going to surely pass.  Nicole & I almost threw up yesterday just walking past one of the stalls on our way to the train station.


On a different note, I didn't bring my wedding ring or engagement ring over here, for obvious reasons.  Instead, I bought a "fake wedding ring" that was supposed to be silver.  Apparently, it turned out to be nickel, and I know I'm allergic to nickel.  Now instead of wearing my fake wedding ring I am "wearing" a nice allergic ring of red bumps where my wedding ring should be.  Watch out Indonesian men, here I come!  Just kidding....  I love you Marc!

Our first (very full) weekend of sightseeing

We are very fortunate to be stationed in Jogja - there is SO much to do here.  At some point I would like to check out other nearby towns, but this weekend our team spent exploring the area.  As part of our CSC experience, our volunteer coordinator organization (ABV) arranged one weekend trip for us.  The next two weekends we will be on our own to explore.  This weekend's adventure took us to several amazing temples, the Sultan's palace, and to Mt. Merapi, an active volcano just north of Jogja.  Pictures cannot do these places justice, but I will try.....

On Saturday morning we decided to take a walk from our hotel to the Sultan's Palace.  It was about 20 minutes and to get there we walked through the center of town. Houses are perched on high banks above the river that runs through the center of town.

For the afternoon, we went to a local resort that had a pool overlooking the Prambanan valley.  This last week and a half has been so hectic that it was a wonderful change of pace to take it easy and enjoy some relaxed time together as a team

You can see the temples of Prambanan poking up from the trees in the distance

After dinner at the resort, we went to see a performance of the Ramayana Ballet and to see the nearby Prambanan temples lit up at night. We didn't get a chance to visit the temples, but I have it on my list of must-sees in the coming weeks.  Prambanan is about 10 miles from Jogja and is a large Hindu temple complex.  It is also a Unesco World Heritage Site. 

We arrived back in the hotel around 10pm, just in time to get 3-4 hours of sleep so we could turn around and leave our hotel at 3am to drive to Borobudur to see the sunrise.  Sunrise in this part of the world is very early right now - around 5am - so we wanted to make sure we left enough time to get there, climb to the top & not miss it.   As the official park does not open until 6am, the only way in to see the sunrise was through a local hotel that offered flashlights and gave us the mandated sarongs to wear as we visited the temple.

Borobudur is the world's largest Buddhist monument, built between 778 and 856 AD.  Within 100 years of its completion, it, along with many other structures in central Java, were abandoned.  This was likely due to eruptions from the nearby volcano, Mt. Merapi.  Borobudur was restored by a team from the Dutch government in the early 1900s, and then Unesco was called in to stabilize the structure starting in 1975.  The restoration was beautifully done and this temple is awe inspiring.  Despite being exhausted, I'm happy I woke up at 2am so as not to miss this once in a lifetime sunrise from the top of the temple.  This was spectacular to see and will definitely be one of the highlights of my journey to Indonesia.

At 6am we headed down from the temple to have breakfast at a local hotel, and then continued our journey to the nearby lesser-known temple of Candi Mendut.  Unlike most other central Javanese monuments which face East, Mendut faces to the Northwest.  Inside, there were three gorgeous Buddha statues, each about 10' high.

      

Then it was time to head an hour and a half north to Mt. Merapi.  This active volcano is the nearest one to Jogja. It's still smoking a little bit.  Merapi last erupted in 2010, killing at least 300 people and displacing 500,000 more.  In 2004, the "danger zone" of the volcano was supposed to be evacuated but many local inhabitants did not want to relocate because their spiritual beliefs were intrinsically linked to the mountain.

We decided to take a lava tour, given by a local Jeep outfitter.  ABV arranged for a caravan of 5 Jeeps to take us through the area affected by the 2010 volcanic eruption.  My parents are avid Jeep off-roaders, having a Jeep Rubicon 4X4 themselves, and will appreciate the rickety vehicles that took us around the lava fields.  This tour was definitely not up to Western safety standards but it all went with the experience and we had a blast.  When we got into the Jeep we found WWII-era pith helmets.  They would have been of little use.  There were no liability waivers, only one roll bar, no seatbelts, and a crazy but fun driver who made the most of the experience.  About 20 minutes into the very bumpy ride, my Jeepmate Jay told the driver that he wished he had used the restroom before we departed.  We didn't think the driver understood but all of a sudden our Jeep took off up the mountain in, let's call it, a very spirited way.  A few minutes later we arrived at a makeshift toilet area.  Our driver was very pleased that he delivered Jay to the facilities.

Standing in front of Mt. Merapi

Me, Jay & Claudia. Windshield up for the picture......

.....and windshield down for the ride

I could see the road whizzing by through the bottom floorboards underneath the shifter

One of the things that struck me the most was the complete re-birth of the area that was affected by the eruption.  I've always heard that volcanic soil is very fertile, and this was a perfect example.  Through the dark volcanic fields, sprouts of lush greenery were everywhere, with more planted and staked by human hands.  Now if I only had some of this soil for my garden I'd be all set!

    

Some artifacts left behind from the 2010 volcanic eruption

We got back to the hotel around 3pm and retreated to our rooms for some rest before dinner.  I think it's going to be an early night for me - I'm exhausted after this wonderful non-stop weekend.