May 14, 2011 -- Bandung to Yogyakarta

DATE: Saturday, May 14, 2011
LOCATION: Bandung to Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia
AUTHOR: JoAnn Gatlin

Today was a travel day to Yogyakarta, so we were up at 5:00 a.m.  On this morning the mosque’s call to prayer served as our alarm.  We had breakfast with our Bandung hosts, Henny and Arno and arrived at the train station by 6:15 a.m.  Our group was taken to the VIP lounge where we gathered with our hosts for more farewells, photos and gift giving.

Final good-byes as we left the train station.

Porters carried our luggage to a private car arranged for us by Arafin Mochtar, the FFI Board member who lives in Indonesia and was instrumental in starting  the FF clubs  here. He and his wife accompanied us on the train as we were the first Friendship Force group to contract our own private car.  In our car we had a steward, stewardess, food bar, TV and a wonderful bathroom (western style) with toilet paper, soap and a drying machine.  Every time someone exited the bathroom, a steward entered to make sure it was clean for the next person.  After we settled in we were told we could come up to the food bar and get a steaming bowl of chicken pot pie, and around noon we were served a delicious buffet lunch with several variations of the ubiquitous rice, fish chunks, salad, a beef stir fry and dessert of beautifully shaped fresh fruit.

Gorgeous scenery as we passed through the mountains. on our way to Yogyakarta.

On our journey to Yogyakarta, the train stopped in little villages along the route, and several of the villagers would come up to the train to sell us maps,  fans and hats.  During the trip Nancy entertained us by showing a DVD of a TV Broadcast of our group’s visit to several planned events in Bandung.  In the TV interviews Nancy did a great job of being our Friendship Force spokesperson.

We arrived in Yogyakarta around 2:00 p.m., and were met at the station by our host families who took us to their homes where we had the afternoon to unpack, rest and get acquainted.

Our hostess, Fifi (her nickname) is an ophthalmologist and her husband Joko is an anesthesiologist.  Fifi spoke quite good English.  When we arrived at their home they showed us to our room, and we were pleased to find that we had some shelf space and an electric fan.  The weather was very hot and humid just like Florida in the summer, and without air conditioning a fan was a godsend.  We were also provided with white towels with the Friendship Force logo on them.

After settling in, we were invited to have a cup of tea, and we all sat around the table chatting and becoming acquainted.  Then Joko left for the mosque, so we went in to take a nap before we had to be ready for dinner at 6:30 p.m.

For dinner Joko and Fifi took us to a charming restaurant where we sat at tables in the garden eating delicious Indonesian fare and listening to a group of three guitar players and a drummer.  We were so surprised to hear them singing popular American tunes in English & chatting with the audience in Bahasa Indonesian.  It was a lovely evening, and we returned to the house around 9:00 p.m. and turned in for the night.