[MaartenW] My trip to Indonesia

Day 1,750, 03:21 • Published in Indonesia Netherlands • by MaartenW
Just after waking up in the first light of the Dutch sun, I make myself a cup of tea and finally start writing the article I have been wanting to write for a long time.

This article is an attribute to all the hospitality I received while I was in Indonesia.



I took a long flight with my dad and our backpacks ready from A to B. First stop, the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta! That first evening there was already a meeting organised, at the rooftop of a big mall 🙂 Icaks wrote a whole article about it 🙂 but I will repost the group picture 😃



The people in the picture ordered all kinds of traditional and local foods, it was great 😃 and Icaks actually made me eat something I never ate before:
Icaks: Maarten you should have some of this
Maarten: ok but this ain't octopus right? I don't like that kind of fish.
Icaks: No, just taste it it's chicken
*Icaks hands over the plate and Maarten eats a piece*
Maarten: this tastes really good, how do they make this chicken
Icaks: Ya well it was actually octopus after all, I'M GLAD YOU LIKED IT :>

I got the eRepublik Indonesia Community Badge and everytime I look at it I'm feeling so proud to be part of that community 🙂


After that meeting we left by train to Bogor (actually another eRepublik player; psy_cho says he has seen me and my dad at Kota station but he didn't know it was me 😛 ) and some time, places and a blacklisted flight later I found myself in Surabaya, the city where my Grandfather was born. It seemed the old house of my grandpa's parents was turned into a radio center from where 4 radiostations broadcasted. DJFM, Mercury FM, Kota FM and Global FM. DJ and Mercury FM had some questions about my grandfather and my relation to Indonesia, so I ended up in "the hotseat"


eRepublik goes on air 😛



after that, the eRepublik Community of Surabaya organised a meeting in some nice place ... only I was unable to find it 🙁 so our taxidriver dropped us off at the mcdonalds (don't laugh 😨) in the street as rendezvous point. Although the meeting was really nice after all!



after this I've been to the Bromo Volcano watch this 😛 this is my own picture in 2012:

this is my grand-grandfathers picture in 1928


I think it's amazing 😃

Later, I went to Yogyakarta where I first visited the Prambanan temple complex where I met some Buddhist monks ... who walked up to me and asked me if they could make a picture with me. I was fine with it 😛


and yes, compared to Indonesians I am really big, throughout my holiday about 50 people asked me if I could make a picture with them 😛

At the Borobudur temple ... I ended up in a skirt ... again


Later that evening President Ilmimi picked me up from my hotel; He ho lets GO to the YogYakarta meeting o/


I ate cowskin =| which wasn't that bad though together with the coconut and I got a kingsize drink ... which looked like a glass barrel on a stick. If you watch closely you can see I am handing an eRepublik mousepad over to Ilmimi. By doing this he accepted to join the BeNeLux alliance with Maarten as Godemperor ... maybe I should have put some more effort in BeNeLux.

After that day I went back to Jakarta where one last meeting was arranged, one quite different from the others because one of the people I was visiting wasn't alive anymore. Together with elle and novi I went to Latifa's family and a while later with her family to her grave.

Elle on the left and Latifa's family


The picture her family put up in the living room


I didn't make any pictures of the grave out of respect, but I will never forget and I will some day come back.

Now back to happier thoughts;
All the people I met were kind, nice and showed me great hospitality. I want to come back to Indonesia some day so I can see you all again and visit the people I couldn't visit in my short time on Java. I love you people and thanks so much for everything.

I'M NOT AFRAID, I'M INDONESIAN o7
Hail to you!

I'm afraid my tea has gone cold and I'm almost late for school so I got to go, see you next time 🙂