James takes on the world!

I have been a bit lazy with the blog lately so here is a very belated update.

After leaving the Kinabatangan River and the group of crazy travelers that I met behind, I returned to Kota Kinabalu. Outside of KK are a group of 4 islands which all have great white sand beaches and beautiful coral which makes for great snorkeling. I spent two days visiting these islands and relaxing in the blisteringly hot sun. I then spent another couple of days doing some trekking around Mt. Kinabalu in the refreshingly cool national park. I was really keen to climb Mt. Kinabalu itself, however, there was a 3 month waiting list for climbing so sadly I had to give it a miss.

When I returned to my hostel in KK I bumped into the group that I had spent time with at the Kinabatangan River ( I am still convinced that they were stalking me). We spent a few further days together which consisted on some island hopping, snorkeling, eating at the night market and white water rafting on the nearby Grade IV Padas River rapids. I had never done any white water rafting before and it was at times genuinely petrifying. Especially the times when we all very nearly fell out of the boat into the rapids. One of the girls, Emma, who was in the group that I met up with almost managed to knock one of our crew member unconscious with her camera whilst trying to take a photo of the crazy rapids. I think he will be physically and mentally scarred by the events for the rest of his life

Coincidentally we all had flights booked for leaving KK on the same day. I was heading to Jakarta in Indonesia, Kate to Auckland, Graham and Andrea to Bangkok and Emma was going back to Sydney. After saying goodbye I set off on my 3 hour flight to Jakarta.

After arriving at midnight I immediately knew that I wanted to spend as little time in the polluted capital as possible and so I slept in a horrible guest house for a few hours and then  got up early to take a train to the nearby town of Bogor. I spent the day exploring the 87 hectare botanical gardens which are the green lung of the town and were setup in 1817 with the help of Kew Gardens in London.

The following day I had arranged to do a home stay program in the nearby town of Cianjur. The program was setup by author Yudi Sijana who developed the program to allow travelers the opportunity to experience life in a non-touristy town in Java. After being dropped off by the bus I was greeted by a friendly guy called Kumis who was to be my guide for the next few days. After dropping my bags off at Yudi’s house we visited the nearby plastic recycling plant that he runs along with his brother before doing a quick tour of the town. In the evening Kumis and I went to a local live music venue where we met a few of his friends including a girl called Lizzy who was to become a great friend of mine over the next few days.

The following morning Kumis took me to visit a rural Sundanese (The people of west Java) village high up in the volcanic hills surrounded by stunning rice terraces. After a long motorbike ride and hike we reached the remote community who immediately welcomed us by cooking a fantastic traditional lunch made from their own fresh produce and cooked on an open fire stove. After lunch I was given a traditional leg massage which I complimented by falling asleep for 1 hour. We then went on to visit a tea plantation which was situated alongside a stunning waterfall that the locals use as a way of collecting gold.

The following morning I had to borrow some smart clothes from Yudi as I was going to be judging an English speaking competition at a nearby school. We started the morning by visiting another school that was holding an anniversary celebration which consisted of lots of live bands and traditional Indonesian dancing. I was constantly the subject of many photographs taken by various teenage girls who all wanted to have a picture taken with me. Not that I was bothered but after a while I suggested that I should start charging 5,000 Rupiah (30p) per photo

We then went to the English speaking competition where I was 1 of 3 judges, the other 2 being English teachers at the school. I was extremely nervous as there was a big crowd of students watching and after each performance I had to ask a question relevant to their chosen subject (Democracy is not Democrazy, Global Warming or the Effects of the Internet) followed by some constructive feedback. I was amazed at the standard of their English and it made me realise just how lazy we are about learning foreign languages in England. In the evening I was taken out for some Padang food (cuisine from the Padang region of Sumatra, Indonesia) with a couple of locals before finally getting to bed after a very tiring day.

I was due to leave the following morning however I was persuaded to help out judging a storytelling competition which was due to take place at the same school. After dressing up smart for one more day and judging the competition, I was invited to dinner by Lizzy at her family home. We had some great Sate which was extremely ‘Enak” (Tasty).

My time in Cianjur was so enjoyable. It was the first time since I have been traveling that I felt like I had gotten a true insight into the culture and the way people live their day-to-day lives. The locals were the most genuinely friendly and welcoming people that I have ever met and I would really like to thank Yudi, his family, the team, Kumis and Lizzy for such a wonderful stay.

Yesterday I took a 9 hour bus ride to the beautiful beach town of Pangandaran located on the south coast of Java. I am hoping to get to do some surfing along with some more relaxing on the white sand beaches. Hopefully my next update will not take so long.

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