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