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| Batur lake at sunrise |
Indonesia welcomed us with open
arms. So much so, that they even have a visa exemption for Indians. We only
realized that after paying the $35
visa fee. Grabbing a blue bird taxi from outside the airport was fairly easy.
We passed by sky scrapers of all shapes and sizes as we hit central Jakarta,
each of which had a minimum of 50 storeys. I tried to grab some shut eye on the
way to the hotel; it took longer than expected as the driver lost his way and
even got fined as he inadvertently broke a traffic rule.
After a quick change and a long
wait for our taxi (thanks to Jakarta’s notorious traffic), we headed to the
National Museum. They were giving free entry to everyone on account of some
festivities; I seem to be getting my luck back, I thought. Spread over four
levels, the museum gives a detailed account of human evolution, history of the
islands and their formation, their people and way of life. All in all, it was a
good starting point for our ten day tour of the archipelago nation.
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| Mount Agung at sunset |
I had my first glimpse of
Indonesia’s famed volcanoes while waiting for the sunset at Gili Trawangan, a
small island off the coast of Bali. Mount Agung, Bali’s highest peak stood
prominently in the backdrop as I watched the sun set into the Bali sea. It was
an incredible sight, one I went back for the next day as well. While in Bali,
we went on a sunrise trek to another volcano, Mount Batur, 1717 mtrs above sea
level. It was supposed to be a fairly easy trek according to various travel
websites and blogs. It wasn’t. Our guide, Putu was of great help during the
last, extremely steep stretch up to the crater. The misty view of the
mountains, lake Batur and the rising sun from the top was worth all the effort.
On the trip, I also realized that
the Indonesians love Bollywood. Whenever we got talking to any local and
informed them that we were Indian, they replied with an excited ‘Shahrukh
Khan’! EVERY local that we met loved him. At first, it was funny but then it
happened everywhere - from Jakarta to Bandung and the Gilis to Bali. As the
first Hindi movie that they ever saw was a Shahrukh Khan one, he is their
favourite Indian movie star.
Throughout the trip, Luis Fonsi
and Daddy Yankee’s song Despacito that I had been tripping on even before my
trip had begun followed me everywhere there. Once while we were waiting at a
traffic light in Bandung in Java, a young Indonesian boy appeared out of
nowhere with a guitar and started singing this for me. It was one of the most
surreal moments. Of course, I sang along with him.
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