On our final morning in Yojakarta we visited the King's pad, Sultan Palace. It is not a very grand or spacious like Buckingham palace but is full of history & steeped in Indonesian traditions. It was very good and despite our guide telling us all about her miscarriages, it was very enjoyable.
Following that with our bags packed again & snacks for the road in our hands, we were off. The bus was taking us to Bali & should have been 18 hours (without accounting for Indonesian traffic!) It was a public transport bus, therefore there was not enough for all of our bags, so some ended up behind our chairs & just generally rammed in. We were granted a 20 minute dinner stop at 6ish, were we were provided with rice, noodles, crackers, omelettey things & a meat hotpot. Not bad at all, apart from the odd wee bits of liver & indiscriminate pieces of seafood. That was it then we were on the road.
Apparently Indonesians do not take a driving test. They learn to drive at home or by themselves & when they feel able they head to the police station & ask for a licence. That explains a lot! Driver number 1 was fast acceleration & sharp breaking happy. As the breaks were properly squeaky, this was not massively conducive to sleeping. Neither was driver two, who seemed unaware that when the bus was shaking because the revs he should change beyond second gear!
The crazy thing about some of the transport is though its humid & roasting outside, the air con is cranked up inside. This meant Gill was blissfully snuggled in her sleeping bag & we had to put socks on! Most of the journey was uneventful, but 21 hours later we made it. Journeys on the Isle of Wight are never going to feel the same again!
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