Purwokerto / Baturaden

I think my last blog was in JKT, well now we are in Baturraden, Central Java.  We've settled into our newer hotel here for a few days, washing clothes and catching up on emails.
The train ride from JKT to Purwokerto was comfortable with reasonable meals and drinks served, kind of like a budget airline.  We thought maybe the meals were gratis, but as we neared our destination we discovered otherwise.  Oh well, just like cheap-o-air, no problem.

Kereta Api (train) ride

Lots of countryside views along the way, river crossings, and some mountain passages as we neared Purwokerto.  Our window had ageing tinting film which screwed up my pix but, it's really of no concern for me.  I don't look through the view finder anyway, so 90% of them are no good anyway.  As we pass from country side to village to town we see jungle, rice padi for miles, front yards, back yards, you name it.

kereta api Taksaka Pagi, Jakarta - Purwokerto

The train john was like total stainless steel, floor, walls, sink, and a stainless squatty-potty.  You may know what I am referring to.  No seat, no stool, just treads for squatting.  So with a rolling train those who stand near but not on the treads are making the treads quite slippery.
I asked to see the kitchen, the source of our food.  The cooks were quite happy to have me film them joking around.  These days most folks are happy to have their photo taken, unlike 30 years ago when I'd be taking a piece of the soul.

kereta api kitchen

Baturraden is a tourist trap of a town, very small, about 1/2 hour up the volcano side, north from Purwokerto, at the foot of what I believe to be an active volcano.  The clouds cleared this morning and the top appeared barren, like active.  From the Smithsonian "Slamet, Java's second highest volcano at 3428 m and one of its most active"

Gunung Api Slamet

Out away from JKT allows me to compare the current atmosphere to that of 30 years prior.  Today the main event is karaoke or disco, and the amplifiers are very efficient.  Food seems the same.  Toilet paper is readily available in local stores though as before not present in most bathrooms, at least none we've visited.  There is one hotel here, Queen.  You can find an image of it on some guys blog, not in Agoda, hotels-R-us, etc.  That place is away from the madding crowd, luxurious, palatial, and expensive, well, not by US standards.

So, on our first night here we settled into a hotel closer, we thought, to the local restaurants.  Well it probably was pretty close, but down and back up the mountain road was a bit much.  And, the hotel itself, well, ants marching through the front door (no problem, just sweep them away, said the manager), bucket shower, bucket flush, no veranda.  You get the idea.  After breakfast, climbing back up the mountain road, we checked out and moved to a resort "in town", Moroseneng Hotel, actually shows a bed on Google Earth, with about 100 plus rooms, overlooking the river, just downstream from a waterfall. Bass frequencies from a live band with karaoke running from about 10 to 2AM suggested we move in the AM to a different room overlooking a serene, terraced, rice padi, away from the boom-boom-boom.  We liked.  These days bottled water is everywhere (a favorite brand is bottled by Nestle), and it seems that everyone now knows to serve only bottled or boiled water.  I asked our waiter about the glass of water and he said it had been boiled for 20 minutes.

motorcycle ride from ATM back to Moroseneng Hotel room

Our days are spent walking to get fed, studying Indonesian, taking care of personal needs, doing email, very relaxed,

balcony 1st room



second room balcony

and sometimes catching the rain in a bucket so the balcony won't flood.

Jakarta, city of contrasts

Inside our hotel it is really very nice, and the staff can speak plenty of English when I get stuck.  Our hotel is a 3-star, a bit off the beaten path, away from the honkies, away from the terrorist targets.  We taxied by the 5-star jobs today.  Wow, that neighborhood is a world away from where we are.  We saw the Hotel Manderin, where I used to stay on my way in and out of the country.  Then it was the only game in town.  Now it's on the lower end of its 5-star bretheren at 300USD/night.  Jakarta is a city of contrasts.



hotel window view





outside the hotel







hotel makanan (food)

neighbors






dining room

kitty cat (so many)







hotel guests with "i'm his / he's mine t-shirts

local business












our room

local residences













artwork in our room

local mosque














bath in room

removing floating debris from nearby canal (raw sewage)










Pat in our room

happy to show off their canal-side abode

Our visa sponsor explains to us that there is no unemployment insurance, no food stamps, no aid for dependent children, no social security, no nothin'.   We should do some verification, but all indications are he is absolutely correct.

These two guys smiling in their abode invited us to take their photo as we were walking along the drainage canal where everything goes.  This area and parts north, closer to the port, are known to flood.  Water's still pretty high as we are winding down the rainy season.

Heading out tomorrow AM for parts eastward, making our way to Madiun via Purwokerto, Central Java, on the Taksaka Pagi train.  Got the train ticket this afternoon, but no reservations.  Most of the hotels there cannot be booked on the web, although we can find photos in blogs.  It's like improvising a jazz tune ... no sheet music.