Our last day in the home stay involved an early morning hike through rice paddies and up hills full of jungle to reach a local village. On our way, Harry pointed out lots of different plants like the one used to make Batik ink and the tiny fruits that eventually were used for coffee beans. Many other friends of Harry and Hendri accompanied us on the hike which turned out to be a lot of fun.

We finally arrived at a house whose inhabitants were friends of Yudi. They showed us how they use the liquid from sugar cane plants to make pure cane sugar. They boil it for hours and then pour it into molds which they then let harden. We got to try some at each stage of the process. When it was in its thick liquid form we ate it over cooked bananas and when it dried you could break it off like candy. The women sell the pure sugar at the market and use the money to buy things that they need and can’t get in the jungle on their own. ($39 food and lodging)

After the sugar-making demonstration the women made us a traditional lunch which we ate on the floor and with our hands. The meal consisted of: dried salty fish, rice, jackfruit curry, spicy tofu rolls, cooked greens, soy bean curd paste and tea. The food was great and all homemade and from the jungle. We had to leave in a hurry because of the afternoon rains and then got completely soaked on motorbikes as we cruised back home in the downpour. ($35 hike excursion and lunch)

After showers we asked Harry and Hendri to take us to a coffee shop in the city. We enjoyed fancy strong coffees while watching soccer and chatting. The owner of the shop was really excited to have us as customers and insisted on taking several pictures of us with mugs in front of his sign. He said we were the first westerners to come into his shop. ($8 coffees, $3 taxis)

Dinner was extra special as it was our last one and Yudi made us Indonesian satay – skewered sticks of meat grilled over a fire and then rolled in a special peanut sauce. It was delicious. The plan was to go to Yogyakarta the next day and meet Daniel. To accomplish this we would have to leave at 4am and take two buses and an 8 hour train ride. Because we had to leave so early we had to say our goodbyes that night and even though we had only been there three days it was still hard. Sean gave his Clive Cussler adventure book to Hendri’s sister and received a personal and written thank you for it. Yudi printed off detailed written directions for our trip the next day and we gave everybody hugs. Although we weren’t sure initially if doing a home stay would be a good idea, I’m glad that we followed through. I would highly recommend this program to anyone else who is interested in Indonesian life – we had a great time! (Total for 2 people = $85)

Note from Hendri:

thanks a lot sarah and sean for the book !!
i and my sister really happy for that book, it's hard to get book something like that here ..
:D
thanks for comming to my house..
both of you change my think about american people, both of you're really kind ..
thanks a lot !
i'm wait for the pics , lol
X hendri

We got up at around 9am to have breakfast with Yudi (who had already been up since 4am to go to the mosque). Breakfast was a mix of sweet and salty treats with plenty of fruit. There was a fried banana, a coconut yam, sticky rice and hot tea. While we ate, Yudi talked about the religious makeup of Indonesia. He said it was mostly a Muslim country except for Bali which tends toward Hinduism. He warned us that we would hear the call to prayer 5 times during the day starting at 4:30am. The call to prayer consisted of 5 minutes of a man urging other men to come to the mosque. This was transmitted by loudspeakers in the minarets. You could hear the call to prayer all over town from the many mosques.

We weren’t that sad to leave Jakarta and on our third day we slept in and hung out at a café for awhile before we decided to undertake the long trip out of the city and into the country. Getting to the southern bus station of Jakarta was tricky as it takes about an hour to get there because of traffic. There’s no direct local bus that goes there and although very cheap, the city’s 'busway system' is super confusing. Yudi had sent us specific directions on how to get to his house along with useful phrases in Bahasa but we still knew it would be a challenge.

Our first step was navigating through Jakarta’s numerous dishonest taxi drivers and meter scams. We failed horribly. Though we were using the supposed reputable company, our first driver drove us around in circles for about twenty minutes. After Sean noticed the same fountain that was near our hostel, he yelled for the driver to pull over and let us off. Our second driver had a meter that increased at an astronomical rate and promptly got pulled over for reckless driving. Needless to say we exited that taxi also. We ended up walking back to our hostel and hiring a private car to take us there. The whole experience was really frustrating but didn’t really surprise me since a) we’re obviously tourists b) we can’t speak the language and c) we aren’t aware of the best routes to take where. ($6 breakfast, $3 taxis, $11 private car)

The bus station that we arrived at is almost never visited by tourists (according to Yudi) and he was right. We got a lot of curious stares and interested questions about where we were going, why we were there and where we were from. After some confusion and lots of questions, we eventually found the correct bus that was headed to the tiny town of Cianjur where our home stay was. The other riders were very friendly and wanted to sit by us and chat. They were all shocked we were going to Cianjur and wanted to look at our paper of directions. Many asked if we could speak Bahasa and a few could speak limited English. ($5 bus, $1 minibus)

The trip was long, the seats were miniscule and the bus was crowded but the scenery was beautiful. We wound around rice paddies, volcanoes, jungle and small villages with terracotta roofs. I was surprised at how steep and hilly most of the journey was and found myself struggling to trust the braking system. Since the bus driver knew exactly where we were going as we were the focal point of the bus, they made a special stop at the entrance to Yudi’s neighborhood. As Sean and I stood there with our packs on staring at our sheet of directions and feeling slightly lost, a small red mini-bus screeched to a stop in front of us, looked at our directions and took us to Yudi’s house for about thirty cents.

All the neighbors were hanging out on the porch and we were greeted with a crowd of people when we pulled up. Yudi and his wife were really nice and welcoming and gave us a quick tour of the small house. Then they gave us some cold fruit juice and heaps of fresh papaya while they talked to us about their goals of the home stay program and the possibilities of what to see and do while we were in Cianjur. Yudi’s goals of the home stay program are to “show Indonesia to the world” as well as provide jobs to the community. He employs locals to do some chores around the house, act as guides, transport guests and do laundry. The daily fee that we paid him included accommodation, all meals and snacks, transportation, laundry and internet. ($39 food and lodging)

Since much of Indonesian food is similar to Chinese food and Yudi knew we taught in China, he had arranged a menu of dishes unique to Indonesia. For dinner we had pickled cabbage with tangy tofu, spicy potato cakes, rice and tea. After dinner, two young friends of Yudi took us around the town on their motorcycles. They were a lot of fun and extremely excited to talk to us, hear about America and practice their English. They took us to try a traditional dessert in Indonesia called ‘martabak’ which is a big sweet pancake filled with chocolate and peanuts – it was awesome! (Total for 2 people = $65)

The night before while we were looking for hostels, Sean and I spotted a pancake house that we wanted to try for breakfast the next day so we all met there on Thursday morning. The pancakes were awesome! (mostly due to the fact that they serve them with scoops of ice cream on top). ($10 room, $11 pancakes and coffee)

High from sugar, we decided to walk to President Obama’s school which was a little bit to the south of where we were. Even though it was in the morning the heat and humidity were already intense so we had to stop on the way for some slurpees. People were very friendly about giving us directions and everyone knew where Obama had gone to school. Indonesians are very proud that the American president spent a few years in Jakarta and like to mention some of his favorite dishes (fried rice and meatball soup). ($3 slurpees)

The other sights that we wanted to see were in the old town square called Kota so we hopped on a train and headed over. Unlike Malaysia, the train system in Indonesia was very confusing and to be honest I’m surprised we made it to our destination without getting lost. We did, however, get lost immediately after leaving the terminal and eventually righted ourselves after running into a Canadian with his nose in a Lonely Planet looking for the same thing we were. ($1 train)

Eventually we found the city square and were rewarded with views of the National History Museum, bikes to rent (which were covered in hats for reasons unknown) and one of the older buildings called Café Batavia. We decided to go to the museum because we wanted to see a certain cannon in the shape of a fist. According to legend, women should sit on the cannon if they have trouble bearing children. I took a seat just in case. ($1 museum)

After the museum we had refreshments in the Café Batavia which was beautiful and was playing jazzy music from the 1920s. Then we walked along the stinky canal to see the oldest remaining drawbridge from the Dutch. We walked to the working port as well and got a glimpse of loads of ships before it started pouring rain and we got a tuk-tuk back to the station. ($5 drinks, $2 tuk-tuk)

Unfortunately, our train broke down on the way to the station so we decided to see a the last remaining Dutch church (Portuguese slaves were given their freedom if they converted) before we took a taxi back to our hostel. We had a cheap dinner followed by local beers and pancakes for dessert. Sadly, I had to upgrade hostels because my cheapie was so bedbug-infested that I woke up looking like I had contracted leprosy overnight. Also, mice had invaded my backpack and swatting mosquitoes while showering drove me a little nuts. Sometimes backpacking on a budget seems worse than camping. ($3 taxi, $5 dinner, $14 beers and pancakes, $26 bug-free room with hot water and a tv – luxury!) Total for two people = $81

Wednesday morning we got up bright and early and after breakfast and a brief jaunt to the post office to mail our postcards we were off to the airport. Like practically everywhere else in Malaysia the airport had free wifi so I enjoyed a few hours of blogging while we waited for our flight to depart. The flight was particularly enjoyable for me because I read a "borrowed" book on my Nook from Kristin. This was our first time using the Nook's "Lend Me" system and it worked great! Two people with a Nook can share books with each other for free! I received the book The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate and it was a great read - I highly recommend it! ($7 breakfast, $5 postcards)

On our last day in Malaysia Sean and I spent the time seeing the things we wanted to see but didn't get a chance to check out before. The first item on the list was visiting the Petronas towers, or more specifically, the skybridge of the Petronas towers. The catch to this was that you had to get up really early and wait in line for hours as the towers only gave out 1600 tickets each day. Sean and I thought we made it plenty early but when we arrived we were greeted with hordes of eager tourists already in line. We barely sneaked in just under the count for two tickets for later that afternoon. While waiting in line for two and a half hours we chatted with fellow travelers in front of us and behind us (we haven't run into single American yet; most travelers are from Europe and Australia with a few Canadians sprinkled here and there). The highlight of the waiting was when a young guy in front of us turned around when he heard us talking about Michigan and said, 'Where did you say you were from?" and when we said "Holland" he said, "I spent a year in Holland on an exchange program and loved it!" He was a recent college graduate from Brazil and we had a blast chatting about our hometown and what he thought about it. It's a small world. ($7 tower tickets, $5 metro)

After breakfast on Monday morning we decided to take a ride on the spinning tower which was labeled "Malaysia's first gyro-spinning tower". In this tower you sit in a circle around a pole and it takes you up high over the city while spinning. Thought slightly nauseating, the view over the city was spectacular. ($4 breakfast, $14 tower)

On Sunday we spent the day being complete tourists and visited all the recommended tourist sites. I love being a tourist in general but being a tourist in Malaysia is especially nice; the people are more than friendly (locals regularly gave up their seats on buses and trains to me, everyone is always smiling and people are constantly helping us out and able to speak English) and the atmosphere is super laid back and relaxed (we frequently had to wake people up to help us in hotels, restaurants and taxis).