Indonesia - student’s presentation

My big trip to Indonesia  

Indonesia is the Republic with the President and Parliament. There are 17 508 islands. There is a quarter billion inhabitants, almost 90% are Muslims. It is the fourth most populous state in the world. The capital is Jakarta. The first European, Portuguese trader came in 1512, then Englishmen and Dutchmen came and they stayed until the Second World War. Since 1949, it has been an independent country.

We flew from Prague to Dubai with a modern aircraft for 600 passangers,  then to Jakarty and by a local plane  to  Yogyakarty.  The total 16 hours and 8  hours were intervals between the flight. We had time to look through the modern aiports.

We visited the islands such as Java, Sulawesi and Bali. The great cities of Java and Bali are as modern as in Europe.

JAVA  is a Muslim country where we listened to a song and prayers from the mosque. People were very friendly. They talked to us,  they took pictures of us.

In Yogyakarta, we visited the Sultan’s palace, the Water palace.

The sultan once stood on a tower, and he chose a mistress for one night from  naked women who swam in the pool.

We also saw  the world’s largest Buddhist complex dating back to the 8th century - Borobudur, the beautiful Hindu temple complex Prambanan from the 9th century listed on the UNESCO list.

Rice fields on Java are one of the most fertile in the world.

Sulawesi  is a protestant country with the capital of Makassar and with a beautiful nature. We visited the southern and central parts of the  island -  where the original inhabitants of Toraja live. One Toraja was our excellent guide.

We were in the caves of the death with funeral figurines, in the village of Lemo with traditional tongkonan houses (in the shape of horns of buffaloes), in Suyana we saw tree grave, where babies were buried and their teeth didn’t come out yet.

We  spoke to the poor people, who were kind and friendly. They were interested in where the Czech Republic is.

We took part in a traditional funeral with hundreds of relatives and neighbors. They welcomed us warmly. The local believes that the presence of white visitors will help the dead to travel to another world. The funerals are the most important and the most expensive events in their lives.

BALI is the Hindu land where we saw colorful processions. He still celebrates something.

Besides all this, we visited the Besakin Temple dedicated to the gods: Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma.

In Indonesia there are the most loved people in the world. During my stay I did not notice anyone being angry or who would scream, argue; even parents, children and the driver were OK. Traveling on the road is really adventurous. The roads are bad, narrow, full of  motorcycles. That’s why they don’t drive more than 50 km/h. They do not have marked villages, they know the addresses, for example from ads.

Food is good, but poor. The whole day people mostly eat rice and vegetables with sauces and fish or chickens based on areas. The bread compensates replaced corn and rice cakes. Many kinds of fruit grow here. We tasted durian, salak, mangosteens, bread, rabutan, dragonfruit.

We visited theaters, hospitals, schools, a roaster and coffee packer, a chocolate factory, a corn plant. We saw weaving and dyeing and „batikování“.

We moved to fields of rice terraces with unique irrigation.

We bathed in the sea with beautiful beaches.

We were a perfect team of 10 people from all over the Czech Republic who met on this journey. It was an adventurous journey of pensioners and two young men – doctors.  But we all survived. We will remember the experience for a long time.  And that’s why we were there.

Written by Alena Grolichová, Intermediate