Forays into Travel Blogging: On to Java

Friday dawned bright and clear and I apologized for being an insufferable twat the night before. Steve forgave me and was happy to spend the rest of the day calling me Grumpy or Crankypants, so everyone won. He was also happy to eat the fancy breakfast that my Hilton status earned us fo' free. It came along with a cupcake, frosted, and had a little "thank you for being a Diamond member" flag. Cute.

Breakfast was a speedy affair and we headed to the airport on the free shuttle. We had been told that we only needed to arrive an hour early for a domestic flight, but we shot to get there an hour and a half ahead... All the traffic we've dealt with has made us paranoid. The check in line was long and slow, but security is SO fast that it hardly mattered. We still had to sit around waiting to board for 45 minutes. Boarding consists of walking out onto the tarmac from the gate and just meandering to the plane. There seemed to be a government jet next to us, as it was cordoned off and had Indonesian Republic and the flag plastered on the side. That said, this trip has definitely enhanced my awareness of the ways that American litigiousness (and paranoia about violence) has shaped the way we do nearly everything - including board airplanes. Bali had a bombing in 2002 that rocked the little island, but their way of living doesn't seem to have changed (based on conversation with Dina and others) anywhere near the way we have since 9/11 at home.

Flight went smoothly, we got a taxi at the airport without hiccups, and made our way to Borobudur. Our taxi driver wasn't chatty, but when the roadway to our Airbnb was closed he had to communicate. Google maps has been a lifesaver this trip and it helped us out again. Before I left home, I downloaded maps that could be used offline, including to get driving directions, with no need to use data. The maps just can't take into account traffic if used without data. So I whipped out my phone and got us to the stay...which seemed to be in the middle of some rice fields. Umm...?

We wandered around the corner a bit and finally found the place, and I've gotta say it was lovely. Beautiful, well maintained gardens spread throughout the guest bungalows that were for rent. Bobby, our host, was so boisterous in welcoming us and getting us settled in. The sky had impending rain clouds but he helped us get sorted out with takeout food (Steve ran with the guy on a motor bike, I held down the fort), brought us afternoon tea, and generally supported us laying low. It was so what we needed. Steve and motor bike guy had barely returned with lunch when the skies opened up. It poured for hours, with long rumbles of thunder and sharp lightning over the fields. We cuddled up on the porch with books and wiled the afternoon away. When the skies cleared a bit around 5 we went for a stroll through the teeny tiny village we were in. It took about an hour and then we were happy to get back and do more vegetating. Bobby swung by to make plans for the next day - the price of our stay included one round trip motor bike ride to the temple - and we pretty much called it a night. We planned to leave at 6am to get the early morning light at Borobudur Temple without paying the extra $10 bucks a pop for the "sunrise" tickets that open up at 4:30am. We didn't even eat dinner, just hit the hay early and enjoyed listening to the storms as they rolled through during the night. We also managed to set the A/C properly so we slept comfortably this time!