I had this plan a few years back that I wanted to take my mom back to Indonesia, back home, for her 65th birthday. I finally told her about it last year and on my birthday she told me she díd want to go and so that when it all started.
Weeks, even months before this trip was happening, I was looking forward to it. Even when I went to Dublin for the weekend earlier this year, I was thinking about this trip and that there was still so much to plan.
So I finally booked our plane tickets at the end of June and that was it then, I kind of left it for a bit after that. I am always best at last minute planning and there was so much to do and see plus the fact that I wanted to make it a comfortable trip for my mom (as I am writing this now, we are on a boat back to Semarang. The sea is rough because it's very windy and it's the slow ferry going today, that means it's about 5 hours back. My mom is finally sleeping but didn't feel so well, mission failed I'd say as far as comfortable goes ^_^). I thought about the trip a lot and did more research than ever before, for a trip and found so much fun stuff that I thought my mom would really enjoy. It was just the constant being on the move that I was worried about.
My moms must-do's;
- Makassar (her dads place of birth)
- Borobudur (because she went there with her mom when she was a little girl)
- Semarang (her place of birth)
The plan I finally came up with;
- Makassar incl 1daytrip (3nights)
- Flight to Surabaya (1night)
- Train to Yogyakarta incl Wayang puppet show, batik workshop, cycling tour, Borobudur, Prambanan sunset, dinner and Ramayana ballet (4nights)
- Private transfer to Semarang incl 1daytrip (3nights)
- Boat (fast ferry) to Karimunjawa (3nights)
- Boat (slow ferry) to Semarang (1night)
The 1 night in Surabaya was only to get to Java and then take the train to Yogya (described as a beautiful route and one of the things I instantly felt like something we had to do). My choice for Karimunjawa was so that my mom could hopefully let it all sink in. All my mom knew were her must-do's. The rest was a surprise which I mostly told her in the morning of the actual day it was planned or the evening before. This was a bit of a challenge in Yogya as our driver knew the programm there and was bad at keeping it to himself haha.
The trip to Indonesia was not without challenges either. Our first flight was delayed making it very hard to make our second flight as we had to cross the entire airport, we did though with only minutes to spare but were both exhausted.
We arrived in Makassar and my mom was instantly hit by the heath. Luckily, it didn't take long before we were driven to the hotel (car with a/c). My mom looked out of the window, her first impressions of Indonesia.
There was a bit of a mix up at the hotel and we had to wait in the lobby for about 2hours in which my mom fell asleep feeling exhausted from the trip. I felt bad for that and tried to work it out with the hotel asap!
I was glad that I picked this place though, with great views of the Java sea, a nearby island and some tropical trees (that my mom called a jungle and looking back as if she was still a 4 year old, it could be one). But with all that already went wrong, I just hoped the rest of the trip would go according to plan.
I booked a sea view room and my mom loved it, unfortunately she thought it also had a balcony which it did not (can't have it all, but I did make sure the rest of our bookings had outdoor seating attached to the room). The hotel did have different outdoor seating downstairs with the same views :). I booked three nights so that my mom would have time to, if necessary, get over a jetlag and get used to the weather, etc. And we also had a daytrip planned, outside of the city, to Rammang Rammang. We walked around in Makassar as well, but there wasn't much to do.
We mostly hung around by the pool whenever we could, it had the same amazing views and beautiful sunsets as well. And went on our daytrip to Rammang Rammang. Our driver/guide for the day was Adil (he spoke Dutch), easy to remember he said if you think of Aldi. He was an hour late, another thing that did not go according to plan... he explained he was working on finding 'lost Indo's' for a foundation and had forgotten about being a guide today. He was very nice and showed us around the city, Fort Rotterdam, the harbour, some other stuff and Rammang Rammang which we did by small boat and also stopped a few times on the way. It was a beautiful day full of nice nature walks, nothing too intense because my mom was too hot (panas panas, panas means hot). But the time on the boat was nice, refreshing and windy.
I remember my mom saying in the first few days of being here; "I don't understand these prices. How can it be so cheap?!"
"Welcome to Indonesia mom", I replied.
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That boattrip to Semarang. I saw the land dissapearing in the sea. I felt my stomach,going up and down and up and down. I throw up my breakfast. I was never misselijk the last sixty years on a boattrip. I go six/seven times a year on a boatrip or to the sea. Walking, medetating,looking for hours,getting lost in the sea. I was always kind of obsessed by the sea. I never knew why. Till that boattrip. Till I realize that I was on another trip. I was four years old and we had packed all of our things and send them to Holland. Exept our clothes and my hobbelpaard. That stayed in Surabaya for the indonesian children. I was all allright with that because I thought that we were coming back. It was the last thing I saw,before everything became water, became sea. We never went back. I saw my dad,never involved met huishoudelijke taken, taking care of my mams, hoogzwanger and ill. Taking care of us. Always bizy between two places. Paul was always with me. Mijn stevige, goedlachse broertje. Dronk zijn melk, at zijn pap. Always friendly. I told him what I saw in the sea. Houses,cars,trees...terwijl er was alleen maar water(een soort wolkenkijken,waterkijken)and so much silver fishes(weerkaatsingen van de zon in het water). Niemand heeft me toen getroost en ik ben dat kind vergeten dat toch altijd in me gezeten heeft. Ik heb toen niet gehuild, maar nu wel. Nu pas heb ik Threeshansje kunnen troosten. I made that whole horrible boatrip again. Now with Talitha and amongst all the things she gave me during this special journey, she gave me back me. When I woke up I saw a little white bird, later another one, later a boat and than nothing more than water,sea. Later a town and than I was back in Rotterdam with the "Waterman" februari 58. I saw the picture of my parents, they send it to everybody to let know that we were in Holland. I have seen that picture three times, I have never looked more than a second to that picture. My parents, zo mager, zoveel leed in hun ogen. Now I see that picture as if it's in my hand. Luckely they had warm clothes but the look at their faces..My dad says "we are home now" and so it was, the people were friendly and spoke our language,I fell in love with the potatoe and the snow and we went to Arnhem, Sonsbeek was our garden(I really thought that) we went to heyenoord en Schaarsbergen on sundays and to "het zwarte woud", Oostenrijk en Zwitserland.We ate five times a week aardappelen, vlees en groenten. Met een toetje. Zaterdag mochten we iets uitzoeken van de snackbar en s'zondags van de chinees. We never went back and when I was 51 I asked my dad why we never went back. My dad was a man of long stories,now he was done with my question within five minutes. I have never asked it again. My mams told me a few years later what did happen with the dogs,the ckickens,our house,our land..again a short story and I have never asked it again. With this this boattrip I thought I have left all my tears behind me. But I didn't. I left that other trip behind me and take Threeshansje with me. Thx for for your support, Talitha. You have filled in things in me that I forgot or wanted to forget. I'm done with boattrips now. Wednesday I go for another, because I have booked it. And of course I go back to that country with it's beautiful mountains,trees,plants,fruit,kind people,amazing buildings,musea and places,crazy infrastructuur,nog crazier bisy-traffic,cultuur and....low prices
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