Just some thoughts

Wow, where do I even begin? Life has been pretty interesting since I last wrote. I feel like I have so much to talk about so I'll break it into a few posts to make it less overwhelming.

I'm not sure I wrote enough about how I was feeling on Saturday since I just wanted to get the basics of my day on paper. For some reason, I was feeling very apprehensive about venturing into Yogya on my own. Everything I read said it was safe for travellers and I've done plenty of places on my own, but I just felt unsure of myself. I knew I was being silly. It was only a few hours until my tour; I'd be fine. And as I already wrote, I ended up having a pretty good morning. I chose a friendly becak driver and had a sweet woman show me around the kraton. As I was sitting on the becak, I thought to myself, see you can do this just fine. I think I just needed to get out there and remind myself that I can do it. Sometimes it may be challenging or slightly scary, but if I keep my chin up and my whits about me, no worries.

I am also working on my travel mentality. On Saturday, I couldn't believe I'd been gone less than a week and still have five more before being in London. Plus, only three weeks earlier I was celebrating Shabbat with Bus 31 in Jerusalem. And today (Monday) it has been two months since I left London. Time is a funny thing. In some ways, I felt like I was trying to speed up my time in Indonesia since so much of it was unplanned and I have a friend of a friend to stay with my first three nights in Penang, Malaysia. In other ways, I can't believe how much I've done in just a week. And everything has seemed to work out, maybe not exactly as planned, but in Java I've done exactly what I intended to do. Therefore, I am trying to enjoy each day for what it is. That becomes challenging when I'm also planning what is coming up, but once I book places in Kuala Lumpur and Kuching, I'm set on accommodation until I fly to Beijing where everything will be planned by Intrepid. Today is a day to relax. As my parents said to me, the beginning of a trip always feels slow and then next thing you know its almost over and you can't believe its gone so fast. And I know that is true.


A few observations I made over the past week which I didn't write about:


Singapore - People there love to eat, and shop. There are so many food centres and malls. The subway and buses are very clean and easy to use.


Indonesia - Everyone wants to know where you are from, seriously, everyone asks and then they usually ask if I'm alone. Depending on where I am I change that second answer. If you say terima kasih (thank you) they ask if you can speak Bahasa Indonesian. People here are always smiling even if you turn them down. It gets dark here really early; by 6pm its pitch black out. There are tons, and tons, of motorbikes. Drivers are crazy. There are lanes, but you just make your own or drive on the other side of the street and honk when you need to pass people. Its a good idea not to sit in the front seat.


Another thing I forgot to mention:
- The kitchen at our restaurant the second night in Yogya. Everyone was preparing the food on one table and then there was the stove. S&W and I had a good laugh about it.