Wow ! You've got to read this one.
I've just received some updates from one of our trip participants, Marini. A couple of days ago, she got her airline tickets through Singapore Airlines, from San Francisco to Jakarta, round trip, for just $461.... the lowest I have ever seen in the past 27 years. All the more reasons to GO ARCHIPELAGO !
Expedia.com....oops !
Where I typically would save money buying airline tickets and hotels through them, today I found out just the opposite. I had purchased airline tickets from Jakarta to Manado (3.5 hours of flight) through Expedia.com. The price was $473 round trip, on Garuda Indonesia . Then an hour later, I recalled that it wasn't the price I saw on the airlines website. Immediately I called up the airlines, and spoke in Bahasa Indonesia to the agent, I got 50% discount. I called Expedia.com on the phone and explained what happened. With no fuzz, no argument, they cancelled my itinerary and promised me a full refund; will be credited back to my credit card account within 5 business days. It may just be the timing that I got lucky. But still, not a bad idea for anyone to learn to speak bahasa Indonesia. Afterall, Indonesia is now the fourth largest country in the world, right behind the United States.
Another participant to the trip just came on board our group, Rod from Pasadena will be taking photographs of my nephew's traditional Javanese wedding for his project. To see Rod's work, visit his website: http://www.rsphoto.com/
Friday, September 18, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Off to the largest archipelago in the world !
At last.... here is the big news. I am starting to pack my suitcases....... finally. More exciting elements to this trip because I will visit the most beautiful diving site in the world, the Bunaken islands in the Indonesian Archipelago, and ....... to be a part of a traditional javanese wedding. My nephew, Angga (nickname for Bramantha Adhitya Rangga Roestono), who is currently working on the island of Sumba (just hop two islands east of Bali), has been in a long distance relationship with Wulan (her real name is probably one meter long), a beautiful Javanese girl. Wulan is currently attending the University of Diponegoro, Semarang, a highly regarded university in Central Java Province, Indonesia.
The wedding will take place in a small town of Magelang, a town that houses the largest budhist temple in Indonesia, the famous BOROBUDUR. Indonesia encompasses more than 17,000 islands, makes the country the largest archipelago in the world....... yes, there are plenty of islands to sail and hop around and perhaps to lease. Wanna be a king of an island ?
Island hopping in the archipelago is never boring, for each and every island has its own unique attraction; culture, language, culinary choices, and traditional celebrations. Wanna celebrate your birthday or wedding anniversary the island way? Just pick an island and have a traditional wedding ceremony with the local people. They'd be happy to help you with all the preparation.
Born and raised on the island of Java, I was very lucky to have loving parents (both passed away) and 3 younger sisters who adore me. Two of them live on the island, and my youngest sister, Ita, lives in Australia. My sister Iliek, who was born right after I was, is the mother of the groom. She lives in the city of Semarang, which is about 2 hours travel time by car from the famous budhist temple of Borobudur in Magelang, or one hour flying time from Jakarta.
Javanese traditions in wedding ceremonies have come from 2 former kingdoms on the island, namely Mangkunegara in Solo (where the palace is still standing and revered by the local people), and the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, now called Yogyakarta or Yogya, the city where the palace is physically located. The complexities and the time consumption of the ceremonies nowadays don't win much favor among the busy young professionals and the brides' parents, thus the ceremonies which traditionally last anywhere from 3 to 7 days, have been shortened to as little as 2 days. The first day of the ceremonies usually consists of a bathing ceremony (in Javanese language it's called "siraman" ) in the morning, the legal process of the marriage in the afternoon, and a "bacheloreatte" for the bride to have a fun visit with girl friends in the evening. In the old days, the bride is kept at the parents' home, unseeable by any man outside the family, especially her future husband, for 40 days. Now they use the "bacheloreatte" moment (they call it midodareni) to symbolize the 40 days of quarantine where no man, including the husband, is allowed to participate or even to peek in. As modern (or western), as the young people may want to appear on their day to day living, they would not leave the tradition when it comes to their wedding party. Brides want to be appropriately dressed as that of a Javanese royalty. The beautiful fairy-tale white gown that they see in western romance is not so interesting when it comes to this very important day.
The private ceremonies will take place in the town of Muntilan, the home of the bride's parents. The public ceremony and reception will be held in Gedung Ahmad Yani, which is supposed to be the largest hall in Magelang, the town next to Muntilan. The number of guests attending not yet confirmed, but the last time I talked to my nephew, he said may be around 750. That number rings a bell to me, for as I can remember, there were about that many people attending my Javanese wedding in 1985.
Today I finally started putting stuff in my suitcases. .... flights itinerary and hotels confirmation print out, passport, dollar bills for tips and stuff to give away, snorkel equipment, sexy bathing suits, people's addresses and phone numbers, my javanese batik sarong and kebaya, oh ! and my camera. I have 4 more days to get ready and to keep in contact with all participants of this trip before heading to SFO to catch the flight. Anyone who would like to visit the archipelago, it's now the time to do it. Singapore Airlines has tickets on sale, e.g. from SFO to Singapore for about $500 USD round trip, but then you'll have to purchase another segment of flight to Jakarta (around $200 USD round trip). Once you arrive in the big city of Jakarta, you can take the train to most destinations on the island. Considering the size of the island (about the same size of California), the train tickets are very inexpensive. Train tickets to most destinations are between $10 and $35 one way, depending on the type of train. I won't recommend the economy trains if you are fuzzy about toilets. However, the less expensive train could be more fun for some travellers; you get to ride with goats and chickens, and each time the train stops, the station vendors will be pouring into the train for about 3 minutes, offering their goodies, usually food. I like salted boiled peanuts, boiled/steamed bananas unpeeled (certain variety) or any food that's wrapped or with the original skin attached. My favorite is rice cake rolled and cooked in banana leaves, called "arem-arem". They look like sushi rolls, inside has meat or fish stuffing, mmm.... soo delicious !
You can also fly from Jakarta or Denpasar, Bali to most islands in the archipelago for about $25 per hour (rule of thumb rate) plus some fuel charge. There are at least 8 flights a day from Jakarta to Yogya or to the island of Bali.
To all participants of this trip, especially the wedding party, please be sure to confirm your hotel room reservation in Magelang. Daily activities will be posted on this blog, yes... including the epicurean tour.
The wedding will take place in a small town of Magelang, a town that houses the largest budhist temple in Indonesia, the famous BOROBUDUR. Indonesia encompasses more than 17,000 islands, makes the country the largest archipelago in the world....... yes, there are plenty of islands to sail and hop around and perhaps to lease. Wanna be a king of an island ?
Island hopping in the archipelago is never boring, for each and every island has its own unique attraction; culture, language, culinary choices, and traditional celebrations. Wanna celebrate your birthday or wedding anniversary the island way? Just pick an island and have a traditional wedding ceremony with the local people. They'd be happy to help you with all the preparation.
Born and raised on the island of Java, I was very lucky to have loving parents (both passed away) and 3 younger sisters who adore me. Two of them live on the island, and my youngest sister, Ita, lives in Australia. My sister Iliek, who was born right after I was, is the mother of the groom. She lives in the city of Semarang, which is about 2 hours travel time by car from the famous budhist temple of Borobudur in Magelang, or one hour flying time from Jakarta.
Javanese traditions in wedding ceremonies have come from 2 former kingdoms on the island, namely Mangkunegara in Solo (where the palace is still standing and revered by the local people), and the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, now called Yogyakarta or Yogya, the city where the palace is physically located. The complexities and the time consumption of the ceremonies nowadays don't win much favor among the busy young professionals and the brides' parents, thus the ceremonies which traditionally last anywhere from 3 to 7 days, have been shortened to as little as 2 days. The first day of the ceremonies usually consists of a bathing ceremony (in Javanese language it's called "siraman" ) in the morning, the legal process of the marriage in the afternoon, and a "bacheloreatte" for the bride to have a fun visit with girl friends in the evening. In the old days, the bride is kept at the parents' home, unseeable by any man outside the family, especially her future husband, for 40 days. Now they use the "bacheloreatte" moment (they call it midodareni) to symbolize the 40 days of quarantine where no man, including the husband, is allowed to participate or even to peek in. As modern (or western), as the young people may want to appear on their day to day living, they would not leave the tradition when it comes to their wedding party. Brides want to be appropriately dressed as that of a Javanese royalty. The beautiful fairy-tale white gown that they see in western romance is not so interesting when it comes to this very important day.
The private ceremonies will take place in the town of Muntilan, the home of the bride's parents. The public ceremony and reception will be held in Gedung Ahmad Yani, which is supposed to be the largest hall in Magelang, the town next to Muntilan. The number of guests attending not yet confirmed, but the last time I talked to my nephew, he said may be around 750. That number rings a bell to me, for as I can remember, there were about that many people attending my Javanese wedding in 1985.
Today I finally started putting stuff in my suitcases. .... flights itinerary and hotels confirmation print out, passport, dollar bills for tips and stuff to give away, snorkel equipment, sexy bathing suits, people's addresses and phone numbers, my javanese batik sarong and kebaya, oh ! and my camera. I have 4 more days to get ready and to keep in contact with all participants of this trip before heading to SFO to catch the flight. Anyone who would like to visit the archipelago, it's now the time to do it. Singapore Airlines has tickets on sale, e.g. from SFO to Singapore for about $500 USD round trip, but then you'll have to purchase another segment of flight to Jakarta (around $200 USD round trip). Once you arrive in the big city of Jakarta, you can take the train to most destinations on the island. Considering the size of the island (about the same size of California), the train tickets are very inexpensive. Train tickets to most destinations are between $10 and $35 one way, depending on the type of train. I won't recommend the economy trains if you are fuzzy about toilets. However, the less expensive train could be more fun for some travellers; you get to ride with goats and chickens, and each time the train stops, the station vendors will be pouring into the train for about 3 minutes, offering their goodies, usually food. I like salted boiled peanuts, boiled/steamed bananas unpeeled (certain variety) or any food that's wrapped or with the original skin attached. My favorite is rice cake rolled and cooked in banana leaves, called "arem-arem". They look like sushi rolls, inside has meat or fish stuffing, mmm.... soo delicious !
You can also fly from Jakarta or Denpasar, Bali to most islands in the archipelago for about $25 per hour (rule of thumb rate) plus some fuel charge. There are at least 8 flights a day from Jakarta to Yogya or to the island of Bali.
To all participants of this trip, especially the wedding party, please be sure to confirm your hotel room reservation in Magelang. Daily activities will be posted on this blog, yes... including the epicurean tour.
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