Impressed By Indonesia

by Bill Reed; Denton, TX

Indonesia is a long way away. It was 50 hours from when my wife, Betty, and I woke up in Texas to when we went to bed in Bali. About 20 of those were spent in the air, much of it on Eva Airlines. I’m not sure I have ever flown on an airline with more congenial flight attendants.

 In the confusion of check-in, we left our luggage claim tickets at the counter. However, we weren’t worried, as we have never lost our bags in the many trips we have taken. I can no longer say that. 

When we got to Bali, neither bag showed up. 

Two days later (now four days in the same clothes), they showed up at our hotel. We cheered, the people in the lobby cheered, and I am sure our guide said a short prayer. I thought he kept rolling down the windows to give us a chance to smell the air of Bali, but I now think it was more out of self preservation.

The guide for our May 2014 group tour with Journeys International ($11,812 for two, land only) was named Budiatmika (“Budi” for short). He was knowledgeable, considerate and always accommodating. Budi had the qualities you want in someone who is going to show you around a place you have never been.

The people

Many Americans apparently go to Bali for the beaches. I can understand why, but I think they are missing the most interesting aspects.

Bali, as in every place we traveled in Indonesia (except the Komodo National Park islands), was crowded. The road crossing the island was a slow-moving parking lot, with hundreds of motorcycles threading through, inches from cars and trucks. Small trucks full of chickens, one with four cows lined up like books in the back and others with full loads of bricks, rocks and bamboo, provided an endlessly interesting trip as we moved at an average speed of 15 to 20 miles per hour.

As I wonder how to describe what, to me, is the essence of Indonesia, I believe it is the people — kind, gentle, always friendly, always waving and smiling and always welcoming pictures. A nod to teenagers at a temple would create a lot of squealing and waving, and almost instantly I would be surrounded by 15 to 20 kids all wanting to have their pictures taken with me. It felt good to be surrounded by such a friendly group of complete strangers. 

Bali derives about 80% of its income from tourism, and the locals make every effort to accommodate you. I never got the feeling that this was forced. Instead, I got the feeling that they really liked people. 

As in any small-group tour (there were eight of us), the people you travel with make a huge difference in your experience. We had a good group. 

Two members of the group knew only one way of communicating, and that was to laugh. They laughed all the time. The cause of all this laughter was another member of the group who had a joke for everything. No, really — everything! I am sure he had some screws loose in just the right places. 

Laughter is one thing that never gets old, and it smoothed all the edges of discomfort from the heat and the hundreds of stone steps we encountered.

Lush landscapes

As I looked out the window of the car, I saw an endless series of terraced fields. They were beautiful and more stunning than any pictured in an expensive magazine.

Visitors, don’t spend your time on the beach. Spend it in the rice paddies among the shrines put there for a good harvest and to thank the gods for the bounty they provide. Look at the small streams that water the fields. Look at the palm trees and the coconut husks drying in the sun to be used as fuel. Look at the people as they plant or harvest crops by hand, cutting each stand of rice with a well-honed sickle. 

Walk down the streets and spend some time looking at the towering bamboo poles in front of homes, placed there to honor their gods. Look at the little offerings placed in front of homes, on corners and in front of some of the aisles in the stores and think about how deep their reverence for their gods is. 

For many in the West, the thought of religion permeating every facet of life might be a little foreign, but not in Indonesia. Each small offering, made every day, represents a connection between the giver and the receiver. 

Bali is an island of temples. There are, by our guide’s estimate, about 11,000 of them, and I would not argue with his assessment. They were everywhere. 

On the water

Getting around in Indonesia is governed by the distances between islands and by the infrequency of flights. To get from one island to another often required returning to our starting point and catching a flight the following day. An early-morning wake-up (4:00) was common, driven entirely by the availability of flights to where we needed to go. 

Make sure you take all your frequent-flyer numbers with you; you’ll miss a lot of miles if you don’t have your number. (I think most of the airlines are associated with Delta.)

From Bali we flew to Java, then it was off to Borneo. Flights were between 60 and 90 minutes long, and we always got something to eat, and at no extra cost. I didn’t know that was possible anymore!

In Borneo we got off the plane, exited through the only gate in the terminal, jumped into our vehicle and started heading to a waiting boat. Stopping on a nondescript street, we grabbed our suitcases and walked down a narrow defile between two houses on a miscellaneous assortment of boards. This narrow path ended in a small jetty raised about 6 feet over the water on tree-branch stilts. At the end of the 20-foot jetty rested our boat, which was to be home for the next three days. 

The jetty was full of people who had come to see us off. Again, everybody was all smiles and waved as we pulled away. 

The trip up the river took a couple of hours. The main river was muddy, contaminated by the two greatest environmental risks to Borneo: illegal gold mining (think mercury and mud contamination) and palm-oil plantations, which are encroaching upon the natural habitat at an alarming rate. 

As we were temporary visitors, these things did not detract from our trip, but they did make us aware of the unity of the world; damage done to one area affects us all. 

We visited an orangutan sanctuary, and as I looked at them looking back at me, I couldn’t help but think we were related somewhere in the distant past.

The sanctuary rehabilitates discarded animals (too big to be pets anymore) and animals rescued from the illegal pet trade. Many of these orangutans will never completely rehabituate to the wild, but they, at least, are free to climb the trees at will.

Our boat backed up to a tree, and a juvenile (they stay with their mothers for about eight years) approached. Betty reached out her hand, as did the orangutan. They held hands for a few seconds. 

Betty stroked its finger, and it appeared to me that the orangutan liked it, since it did not withdraw its hand. It was maybe the best single moment of our trip. 

The best food we had on the entire trip was cooked on this boat by the captain and his wife on a 2-burner stove in a small room at the waterline. I have no idea how she did it, but it all came together at just the right time and the right temperature, and it was just the right amount. My hat is off to them.

There be dragons

We headed back to the airport after another early wake-up and took a flight to Komodo Island. The islands where the Komodo dragons live are much drier than Borneo, Java or Bali — just as hot but without the ever-present jungle we found elsewhere.

We boarded another boat, where we spent the next three nights. 

We visited two different islands in search of the dragons. They can be very dangerous, so two guides accompany each group armed with forked sticks to keep any hungry dragons at bay. 

All that said, I did not worry at all. It is very safe as long as you follow the rules and don’t go bolting into the bush on your own. These are ambush predators, after all. And they are big, reaching a maximum of about 10 feet in length and weighing up to 150 pounds.

When not looking for Komodo dragons, we snorkeled. Two of the people on the trip were experienced divers, and they said the coral was the healthiest they had ever seen. Having several manta rays pass close by was exhilarating.

The details

We have used Journeys International (Ann Arbor, MI; 800/255-8735, www.journeysinternational.com) before and have always been highly satisfied. They used local guides from Api Tours in Indonesia, and I have to say that all of them were good choices. The hotels were very nice, the food was always good, and the stuff we saw was interesting.

We have never received such good service at an airport as we did in Bali. When we arrived, a representative of the local tour operator, Arifin, met us inside the security area after we exited the plane. He took our passports and, moments later, returned with our passports stamped, having gotten us through Customs. This might have taken 5-10 minutes, at most. 

We have never had so easy an entry into a foreign country as this. The same thing happened as we exited to go home. 

Journeys International and the local companies they contracted with know how to treat guests, and I would especially like to thank Arifin for his help.

We’ve traveled to a lot of places, but never have we felt so free to walk through a country and feel not like strangers but welcome.