Going back to Indonesia part III

And so our second week began and the actual reason I wanted to take my mom here in the first place, to bring her back home. Ari drove us to Semarang, we had to leave somewhat early so that Ari could show us the hospital my mom was born in as well as the house she lived in when she was younger and get back to his own family at a reasonable time. The trip was about 4 hours and of course we stopped on the way for kopi tubruk (also known as kopi prut by some Dutch Indonesian).

When we got closer, the city surroundings turned into mountains and sawa's. My mom finally felt home again, surrounded by mountains. Her dad always told her that they protected them. We first looked for the Saint Elisabeth hospital, which wasn't too hard to find as Ari was also born there and knew where to find it. My mom didn't recognize much, but kept talking about a white Maria statue. We walked through the property and I even checked to see if her birth records were still there, but unfortunately they only went back 50 or 60 years. The place itself was beautiful, very peaceful and nothing compared to the hospitals we know here. We then got in the car and drove off and as we passed the front (we apparently were at the back), we caught a glimpse of the white Maria statue my mom was looking for and so we got out and went in to take a look.

After that we drove to two cemeteries in search of any Mehlbaums, but didn't find any there. We then drove to the house. From my sisters' visit in 2010, I knew the address was Semboja 14. And like I mentioned before, I had asked Ari if he could ask the current owner if we could take a look inside. Once we got closer, I also told my mom that. My mom said she didn't want to as my sister had told her it was now gated new villas with camera's and security and so it wouldn't mean anything to her anymore. Once we drove down the street though, my mom looked to the left and said 'that's the house'! It was amazing, the house was still there. The property was split up though and the new villas were to the right of it. But the house was also still there! Ari asked around and it turned out the new owner was home. He was the son of the family that bought the house right after our family had left. The views and big yard weren't there anymore but my mom did recognize the porch and some of the design. We took some pictures and there was one of her on the porch in which she has such a huge smile that it made me see the young girl in her, that used to play and live in Indonesia without a care. It was such a beautiful moment. We then talked to the owner some more and he showed us some pictures before we thanked him and left. My mom told me that if this was it, it was ok. In which I replied, luckily we have another 7 nights here…sigh… But this was the reason I wanted to do all of this. My mom later said that not only did I bring her home, but I also made her find herself again.

And yes, this would have been a perfect ending to our trip, but we still had about a week left. I didn’t have a lot of surprises after this in Semarang. We went for a city tour, to a train museum, a huge Maria statue and had yet another kopi tubruk in old town. We also explored the city on foot and walked to the postal office (Kantor Pos) and posted our cards. We walked through a few local markets and again went to old town. And I of course, again, enjoyed the private pool at the hotel. Most people went swimming in the morning or later in the day, so on most of our trip, I always had the pool all to myself during the day :)! My last and final surprise was a trip to a nearby island, Karimunjawa.

We left early in the morning by car to Jepara, our departure point to Karimunjawa. As we sat there waiting for our boat, my mom asked me how many times I had been in Asia. I asked her why as I was silently doing my Sudoku puzzle and she had been walking around seeing the sights. And she said, because it all seems so normal to you. Haha, I guess it does. I get used to it so fast, because it isn't new to me. I sometimes do miss that feeling of everything being new and an adventure. But then again, I also love seeing it in other people, when they go through a whole new experience.

The trip to the island was meant for my mom to relax and process all she had seen. I think she's still processing all of it haha, but I hope it helped. I arranged two separate rooms here, because it was the only way to have an Ocean view. The place we stayed at just opened 3 months ago, The Happinezz Hills, and it was gorgeous! I loved our rooms and our showers, everything really! We didn’t do much here, visited a few beaches, the night market, the city centre. I went in the pool a few times again. The morning we had to leave, there was an early knock on the door. There was a storm coming and the boat was leaving earlier so we had to leave right away! The sea was a bit rough on the way back and it took an extra hour or so to get back.

We were picked up again and dropped off at our final hotel, a 5 star hotel :)! We went to the mall next door for some food, a mani-/pedicure and I even got a haircut! It was all so cheap! My mom gave me a card for my birthday the next day and we went to sleep. When I woke up, I was 31, in Indonesia anyway. We had breakfast, went to the pool and checked out. We then went to the bar for lunch and a beer until we had to leave for the airport. And that's when it happened…our bags had disappeared!! WHAAAT!! And on my birthday!! Are you kidding me…never ever…and this is a 5 star hotel! After a lot of frustration and patience, our bags were brought back and we made it to the airport in time. The flight and transfer on the way back were fine.

We landed in Amsterdam and the paradise had gone, rain, fog, cold weather…yuck! Luckily my sister and her boyfriend came to greet us at the airport and brought us a bit of sunshine :)!

It was a wonderful trip and I am so happy to have been able to do this with my mom. I made her a photo album for Christmas, it took me about a month…printed the pictures, cutting them, making collages, etc. But I hope it helps her relive our adventure :).

Two weeks until my next adventure, a 4 month trip! Until then, happy new year!!

Cheers,

T.

Going back to Indonesia part II

Next stop after Makassar, flying to Surabaya, merely a transit though. And I was glad I only booked one night as my mom told me, when we were there, she had no good memories of Surabaya as it was there where they had to leave for Holland and she remembered her rocking horse that she had to leave behind. Right away, we noticed the difference in surroundings. It was a big and busy city.  There was a mall next to the hotel and we found a hair salon! My mom had wanted to get her hair cut in Indonesia since the day we landed. And so she did while I was stuck video chatting to one of the staffs best friend who moved to Holland years ago. Hair looked great and we went back to the hotel. Again, a great pool with good views all over the city. And finally Happy Hour...which was cancelled because the bar was under construction. It was very different from Makassar, as we saw no green and heard a lot of traffic and police cars.

We went to the train station the next morning to take a 4-5hour train ride to Yogya(karta). I told my mom before we went to sleep that we were taking a train the next morning and she liked the idea! Every day is a new experience for my mom and I see how she is always looking around and is amazed by how people go about their daily routines. She also mentioned a few times that it's too much or a lot with all she sees and so I'm not sure, even now at the end of this trip, if she's processes all of it.

The train ride to Yogya was nice, at the beginning I asked my mom what she thought of it and she had noticed the poverty, the poor side of Indonesia that she hadn't seen before. The seats on the train were very comfortable btw and staff passed by a few times to sell drinks and food, because nothing in Indonesia can be done without a full belly. The views got a bit more diverse as well, which also showcased the contrasts between rich and poor right next door to eachother.

And then there it was, our first meeting with our driver for our 4nights in Yogya and eventually also our transfer to Semarang, Ari. There was an instant connection and it turned out Ari was also born in Semarang. As our driver there, he knew what activities we had planned whilst in Yogya. He was very bad at keeping secrets though (as he called it, I called it surprises) and so it became a very funny ordeal. I managed to keep most of them for my mom though! On our first night, we both found our favourite satay (my mom likes goat and I like chicken). Ari picked us up after dinner to see a Wayang show (puppet shadow play) which I've seen bits and pieces of (demos) at the pasar malams I always go to with my mom in Holland so seeing it here was cool.

Oh yeah and the place we stayed at was amazing. I looked forward to this the most because I knew my mom would LOVE it. It was an upstairs 'villa' as they call it, all in traditional Indonesian style with a huge balcony and surrounded by, let's say an -oases- of peace. Trees, fishpond, swimming pool. The only downside was the 4am mosque prayers 'blasting' through the speakers each morning which woke me up, my mom didn't notice any of it and was sound asleep (the other prayers were during the day).

The activity for our next day, another one I was really looking forward to, also to tell my mom that morning, was a batik workshop!  We both loved the idea but soon found out that it took a LOT more work than either of us imagined. It was a fun day though and the results were very nice!! We headed back to the hotel by Grab, super cheap!! And I went in for a dip since we had a few hours to kill. My mom mostly sat on the balcony listening to the radio that was in the room and that she had brought outside. After a while, we decided to go to Malioboro street at night in search of souvenirs and what not. It was fun and this one guy kept following me with bags. I saw a bag I liked but since we are a bit taller than them, the length of the straps was too short. So this guy kept popping up at different parts of the markets with different bags. Unfortunately, they were all the same and so I didn't buy anything from him. We took a 'becak' back to the hotel. I had discussions with my mom about taking a 'becak' before we even went to Indonesia. She had seen this documentary stating it was very bad for the people cycling one, carrying the heavy load of passengers and all. I told her it might have been like that in the past, but not anymore, but I couldn't persuade her. She then told me she did want to take one of the horse and carriages which I didn't want to do, feeling bad for the horses. We settled on a motorized 'becak' :)!

Another day, another surprise! Hey mom, guess what? We're going cycling today! This was quite the adventure but so much fun. We stopped by a kroepoek factory, a locals bank, rice fields, brick making and some other stuff. I even worked with some of the locals, taking grains of plants and moulding my own bricks! The local back consisted of cows, which was also very interesting to see. And it was a hot but super fun day. And that wasn't the end of it! After a few hours of rest, Ari picked us up to go to the Borobudur. My mom told me this was one of the things she wanted to visit but once there she right away refused to go all the way to the top. It was simple to much after the bikeride. Luckily we had a guide with her that took it 'floor' by 'floor' and she made it to the top!! The history was quite interesting and impressive but other than that, I mostly liked the views J. My mom unfortunately didn't recognize anything of an earlier visit when we were there. We slowly made our way down and went back to our hotel for a good night sleep!

Today's surprise; Prambanan visit + sunset and Ramayana Ballet with a buffet dinner overlooking Prambanan by night. Since we didn't have to go until later that day, I decided to again, relax at the pool. My mom joined me a bit later and we made a few funny pool pictures! It took a few hours to get to Prambanan and we again had a guide. A young girl that was learning Dutch. After that we walked around the complex, there were more temples. And we then headed back to Prambanan for sunset where I told my mom that we also would go for a buffet dinner and Ramayana ballet. We had a reserved table outside on the grass across from Prambanan, which at that time was beautifully lit up! We also had VIP seats at the ballet, which meant big cushioned chairs with arms (that could use replacement) unlike the non-VIPS, who had to sit on stone benches with or without a separate pillow.

Because I was in contact with our driver Ari, a lot, we had discussed our next plans and destination. He had arranged to be our driver to Semarang since we'd had so much fun in our time together. He also told my mom he would be happy to stop by the hospital she was born in. Ari was born in the same hospital. I texted Ari after we had discussed this with my mom and asked him if he could maybe also try and find my mom's old house. And he was happy to do so if we left in time but I'll tell you more about that in my next blog J!

Cheers,

T.