My high school took coach buses and the entire 11th grade rode about 14 hours from Jakarta to Jakarta (I was under the impression it was more like an 8 hour drive). We stayed in a kampung (village) near Jogja which was surrounded on all sides by tropical jungle/forest. In short, it was absolutely beautiful. Being from Wisconsin and not having ever seen a forest that wasn't pine and maple trees, it took my breath away. We then all went on a jungle hike that afternoon, exploring amongst giant palm trees, man made waterfalls, and small rivers. I would go into detail about the natural beauty of this jungly paradise but I think the pictures speak for themselves.
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| with my roommate at the village house we stayed at |
After our jungle hike we did some more activities together. It all kinda reminded me of the Amazing Race because these activities included artistic activities like making grass puppets and dyeing batik as well as more physical stuff like riding a cow and catching fish with your bear hands. Somehow Indonesian school managed to force me to face two of my fears all in one day: cows and fish. Being from Wisconsin you would think I'm a pro with cows, but sadly that's not the truth. My friend literally held my hand as we walked down to the cow, much to the amusement of my classmates (who I hope were all as scared as I was, just not showing it). I basically held on to the plow attatched to the back of the cow (I didn't actually sit on it) and hung on for dear life as we wandered around the rice field. And then it was over. Boom, I had conquered one of my bigger fears.
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I wasn't lying about holding hands |
Too bad in about fifteen minutes I was going to conquer another one.
When we finished riding the cow we moved on to our next activity, attempting to catch fish with our bare hands. Not kidding here, one of the students literally dumped about 20 fish into a tank filled with maybe 5 inches of water where we all stood and tried to catch the fish. It was probably one of the craziest and most amusing thing I have witnessed in Indonesia. Since I've always been a little wary of fish it took me awhile until I (involuntarily) joined in but I ended up having a lot of fun. Although I never caught a fish on my own, a friend handed me a fish and everyone started clapping when they saw me holding it, thinking I caught it myself. So I got my 10 seconds of fame.
The next day we all headed to Borobudur, a famous Hindu temple and UNESCO world heritage site. Borobudur is centuries old and has survived multiple earth quakes, volcanic eruptions, and many other natural disasters, remaining hidden in the jungle until the 1800s. From the top of the temple you could see for miles, nothing but lush forest and mountains. It's no wonder it remained untouched for so long because it is truly surrounded on all sides by wilderness. Standing in the middle of the jungle on rock that was constructed over 1000 years ago, it was an experience I will never forget to say the least.
Borobodur and some night market shopping wrapped up our trip to Jogja and soon we were on our 15 hour ride home. Overall, going to Jogja was some of the most fun I've had since I've been here. Visiting a 1200 year old temple, riding a cow through a rice field, "catching" a fish with my bear hands, it doesn't get better than this. As of three days ago I only have seven months left in this beautiful country. Time is going sooo fast and I am trying to make the most of it and take every moment in. Four months down, seven to go!
P.S. the YES Abroad 2014/2015 app is up so if you have any questions or are curious about applying leave me a comment!
