Salatiga: Round 1

While globalisation has afforded us more luxuries than we can appreciate, it seems to only have given Salatiga a cursory glance: there are no malls, no cinemas, no cabs and also no nightlife whatsoever in this sleepy little town. There was no internet in my homestay. Some of us had no showers but instead had to bathe mandi-style, with a scoop and a larger tub of cold water. The ‘Orchard Road of Salatiga’, as my host mother proudly called it, was a four-laned stretch of road with locally-owned shophouses lined up on either side.

Everyone knew everyone else, and this meant that gossip spread very quickly – we found out the hard way, after a night of bad music, one (or ten) too many pints of Bintang and subsequent falling into rice paddies – somehow we managed to introduce an Indonesian twist to a quintessentially Australian take on Australian Day. Our Pak’s and Ibu’s were torn between amusement and disapproval.

But the upside of sleepy little Salatiga was that everything was ridiculously affordable — a three-course meal at a beautiful 4-star resort set us back by SGD$7 and BIS with unlimited data cost me $14 for one month — so despite being without the material comforts that we were used to, life wasn’t too shabby. The seven weeks that we spent in Salatiga afforded us an authentic Central Javanese experience which jolted us out of our first-world bubbles and put our cultural and language skills to the test. And boy did we interact with the locals with gusto: we learnt, conversed, placed orders, haggled, asked stupid questions, asked intelligent questions, complained, made the most hilarious mistakes and yet the most exponential improvements blundering through a new language. Which, if i haven’t already mentioned before, was kind of the whole point of our stay.

I figured that since i’m going back to Salatiga for another four weeks later this month, i’ll leave you with some random pictures that i’ve taken for now and save the detailed posts for later. Enjoy. :)

Jalan Jenderal Sudirman, the ‘Orchard Road of Salatiga’.

Kayu Arum Resort, my favourite place in Salatiga, sealed off from the bustle of town in a lush enclave of greenery, and good for a swim, spa, massage and good food that won’t cost you an arm and a leg.

My homestay, a massive bungalow 2km away from town. I came home one day to find newborn puppies – imagine how excited i was! And surprised too, their dog was so skinny i had no idea that she was pregnant.

Our main mode of transport in Salatiga — the angkota — little blue vans with fixed routes that fought to pick you up because there were way more vans than potential customers. :(

A glimpse of cultural immersion outside our formal classes, such as kelas memasak (cooking class), kelas batik (batik class, where i promptly spilled a small container of hot wax over my fingers on the first lesson), and malam budaya, a night of playing dress-up in traditional costumes and partying it up Indo-style. :)

Sneak preview

14 flights, 14 cities, 10 countries, and a supermassive 21st - my summer break 2010/11 has been nothing short of amazing, and I think that it’s only fair that I share the experiences that I have been afforded. Here’s a preview of my summer itinerary before I embark on this little project of chronicling my exploits proper:

• 16/11/2010: Sydney, AU to Singapore
• 17/11/2010 - 25/11/2010: Kuala Lumpur & Penang, MY
• 10/12/2010 - 15/12/2010: London, UK
• 16/12/2010 - 17/12/2010: Berlin, DE
• 18/12/2010 - 22/12/2010: Krakow, PL (with a little blitz through Paris)
• 23/12/2010 - 26/12/2010: Prague, CZ
• 27/12/2010 - 29/12/2010: Back in London
• 30/12/2010 - 02/01/2011: Back in Singapore
• 02/01/2011 - 19/02/2011: Central Java, IN
• 19/02/2011 - 27/02/2011: Back in Singapore
• 27/02/2011: Singapore to Sydney

Stay tuned!