Indonesia – The Archipelago of Dreams

General Thoughts

Indonesia is a unique country in that it is one of the largest countries in the world by area size but its territory consists of more than 17,000 islands. Arguably the most famous of all the Indonesian islands is Bali, the location where myself and my wife decided to hold our wedding. While Bali today is oversaturated with tourism, local traditions passed down from generations remains deeply entrenched in Balinese society. The rice terraces and Hindu temples that dot the landscape of this large island speak to a way of life that has been resistant to the forces of modernisation (although almost everyone sports a smartphone).

Indonesia’s geographical location provides for some one-of-a-kind features found nowhere else on Earth. On the islands of Komodo and Rinca, we marvelled at its legendary inhabitants – the Komodo dragons. The largest lizards in the world can only be found on these tiny remote islands. Their lightning speed, piercing gaze and lethal venom secure their position at the top of the food chain. On the island of Java near the city of Yogyakarta, the fumes emanating from active volcanoes provide the backdrop to the world famous ruins of Borobudur, an ancient Buddhist temple built and later abandoned centuries ago.

Every island in Indonesia has its own fingerprint of cultural traditions and practices. Going from one island to another is like moving across different worlds. As we learned, the bahasa Indonesian language is an uniting factor in the country as most of the population can speak the language. As the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world, religion has a significant presence in the lives of Indonesian people. While Indonesia’s tumultuous history in the 20th century and the series of natural disasters that struck the country in the early 21st century have attracted global attention and caused widespread tragedy, the Indonesia of today is bustling with economic activity and hope for a better tomorrow. For me, Indonesia is defined not only by its countless natural and cultural wonders that are like scenes from dreams, but also the dreams and aspirations of its people that guide this beautiful country into the future.

My Journey in Indonesia

Jakarta

My journey through the vast and varied landscape of Indonesia began in the capital city of Jakarta, one of the largest and most populous cities in the world. The traffic here is notorious for its gridlock, so please allow for extra time getting from point A to B. Uber is not available in Jakarta, only the local ride sharing app Grab. We were unable to add a credit card to the Grab app for some reason, so had to make do with local taxis. To take taxis, ensure one has small bills and pocket change as oftentimes drivers will not have change for large bills. The Indonesian currency, the rupiah, is highly inflated and bills exchanged locally usually come in denominations of 100,000, which initially made payments quite difficult to calculate. One is easily a “millionaire” by rupiah standards. In our day’s stay in Jakarta, we visited the National Monument (or Monas), a landmark tower built by Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno, in honour of Indonesia’s independence. From there, we took a taxi to visit the Istiqlal Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia. Visiting is free but expect to pay a tip to the caretaker who will watch over your shoes as you have to remove them when you enter the mosque. Lastly, we toured the Kota Tua Jakarta (or Jakarta’s Old Town), where Dutch colonial architecture harks back to an era where this neighbourhood was the heart of the Dutch East Indies.

Yogyakarta

From Jakarta, we took a short one hour flight to the city of Yogyakarta, also on the island of Java. The most notable part of my trip through Indonesia is that, since we were holding our wedding at the last destination of our trip (i.e., Bali), I had to carry my wife’s wedding dress on all our short distance flights (not an easy task)! Our travels also coincided with the holy month of Ramadan. Religion is a very important part of people’s lives in Indonesia, and as such, fasting is widely practised.

Yogyakarta is the cultural and educational hub of the island of Java, where a king still serves as ruler! The climate here is quite hot and humid, so it is important to carry enough water when spending time outside. While Yogyakarta features a range of attractions in the city proper (such as the Kraton palace), we really came to Yogyakarta so that we may visit the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Borobudur and Prambanan. These two temples, one Buddhist and the other Hindu, have become defining symbols of Indonesia. We booked a private tour guide and a driver as these two temples are situated quite far from Yogyakarta and from each other.

Borobudur is a pyramid-shaped Buddhist temple with more than 2,500 reliefs depicting various stages of the Buddha’s life. It was constructed sometimes in the 9th century AD and was later abandoned for unknown reasons (some suspect it was due to a natural disaster). Hidden underneath volcanic dust for centuries, Borobudur was rediscovered in the 19th century. It is the largest Buddhist temple in the world, and is an archaeological treasure of Indonesia. Climbing to the top while observing the incredibly detailed reliefs that are carved into this monument is an experience not to be missed. At the summit, one can appreciate the distant volcanoes that both create and destroy the land around it.

After our visit to Borobudur, we drove a good 90 minutes to the temple of Prambanan, a Hindu temple lying largely in ruins due to earthquakes over the centuries. The three central towers of the temple complex are dedicated to the three most important deities in Hindu religion: Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma. Strolling the temple grounds of Prambanan, one can only imagine what this vast religious must have looked like in its heyday. Below are some pictures of our trip to these two cultural treasures.

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Labuan Bajo

From Yogyakarta, we flew back to Jakarta and then onto the small fishing village of Labuan Bajo (on a small plane that almost asked us to check in the puffy wedding dress). This is the gateway to world class scuba diving and most importantly, the abode of the feared Komodo Dragons. Labuan Bajo is still relatively undeveloped for tourism so we didn’t see many 5-star resorts or large hotels in town. However, it does have the basic essentials of a developing tourist town. We had already prebooked a one day tour of the region together with a visit to Rinca Island. Rinca Island is a lot closer to Labuan Bajo and we heard there is a guaranteed chance to see the dragons near the ranger’s station where they lounge around for food.

Our tour was a private one where we got our own boat (with crew) and tour guide. Our guide and crew were very nice and friendly, and in our conversations I learned about the popularity of Joko Widodo (the current President of Indonesia who bears a striking resemblance to Barack Obama) as well as the cultural traditions in this region, particularly the dowry that must be paid in marriages. They also told us that the region relies a lot still on agriculture but tourism has been a boon to the local economy.

Our tour guide (an excellent swimmer) took us to see manta rays in the crystal blue waters and snorkel amidst a large forest of coral reefs and tropical fish. The multicolored reef is probably the most beautiful I have ever seen, and our tour guides made sure to keep it that way (they picked up some plastic waste that were scattered on the reef). Back on the boat, we had to lie down as the currents here are extremely strong, which is the reason why marine life here is so abundant.

We reached Rinca Island in the afternoon, where we gazed upon the magnificent Komodo Dragons who were indeed lounging around the ranger station looking for their next meal. Deer and water buffaloes are plentiful on Rinca, which are perfect prey for the hungry Komodo Dragons. Each tourist group has a designated ranger with a Y-shaped stick to fend off an aggressive Komodo dragon.

The ranger assigned to us explained how dangerous Komodo dragons are, their bite injects toxins that slowly paralyses the unfortunate prey. These dragons maintain a fierce and aggressive posture, so it is important to follow the ranger’s instructions and not get too close! Our day tour ended with one of the most unforgettable experiences of our Indonesia adventure – gazing into the sky as it inundates with thousands of flying fox bats awakening from their slumber on Kalong Island and flying to shore to search for food. It is truly a sight to behold.

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Bali

Our final destination in Indonesia is the world famous island of Bali. It will be the place of our marriage ceremony, and one can imagine our excitement as we landed on this lovely island. If paradise existed somewhere on Earth, it would probably look a lot like Bali. I have been to quite a lot of tropical islands, and Bali definitely ranks as one of the most stunningly picturesque. We started our stay in the cultural heart of Bali – Ubud. We enjoyed a showing of the Balinese Legong and Barong dances at a stage right next to the Ubud Palace. These dances are protected for posterity as an UNESCO Intangible cultural heritage, and a must see for very visitor. They recount age old tales of good versus evil, with good being symbolized by the mythical Barong, a lion-like creature that is found in the main halls of many buildings as a protector.

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Both our families eventually joined us in Ubud and we booked private tour guides to take us on day trips to experience some of the cultural highlights of Bali. Bali is unique in Indonesia as it is the only island where Hinduism is the majority religion. Everywhere in Bali, we saw household offerings and shrines to Hindu deities. We visited the sacred water temples of Bali (the Pura Taman Ayun , the Pura Ulun Danu Beratan and the Tirta Empul temple) and the expansive rice terraces of Jatiluwih, where we understood the importance of water to this island and the worship of water as the source of life and harmony. The irrigation system that support people’s livelihoods on Bali is known as subak, which itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site. We also got a taste of the renowned Kopi Luwak, coffee made from the feces of the civet, a small fox like animal. Throughout our entire trip, I had a very educational conversation with our tour guide, a local Balinese. He told us how his family used to be Balinese royalty who owned a lot of land in the region but today are just common citizens. He also told us about his hopes for his kids to go to a good school so that one day they may have enough money to travel like us. These conversations really tug at my heartstrings.

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Our wedding ceremony took place in a resort situated on the cliffs of Uluwatu, in a church made of glass where we can see the mighty sea water strike the rocky shores. That night we celebrated with our friends and family on the beach with lively music, an emotional speech that lasted perhaps 5 minutes too long (from yours truly), and the limitless joys of an all you can drink bar. Waking up the next morning was of course, quite tough. But we enjoyed the last day in Bali with our friends visiting Uluwatu temple, built on the edge of cliffs overlooking the mighty waves. There is a large population of macaques here that will steal anything loose you carry so beware! We ended our day with a visit to the Rock Bar, a restaurant in a resort where we saw our last sunset in Bali. It was the perfect ending to our wedding trip.

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UNESCO World Heritage Sites visited in Indonesia:

• Borobudur Temple Compounds
• Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy
• Komodo National Park
• Prambanan Temple Compounds

See more pictures from my adventures in Indonesia at: https://storiesofnoah.com/gallery-view/indonesia/