Four ferries three buses two days one night

Tannah air –Indonesia -the country of land and water

To Indonesians tannah air means Indonesia, there are national songs that are written about it.

We realise we need to get moving if we want to get to Kalimantan – and we do. High season difficult to get a flight we miss one ‘stand by’ by 10 minutes. So…… there is always the bus, ferry, mini-bus, night bus, ferry, bus, ferry, bus and to finish this off sweetly a  taxi air conditioned gentle music that will get us back to Kuta. I may have mentioned the bus was executive class (looked long and hard for the executives – I think they caught the plane). This is the way most people travel. Sleep when you can, wherever, make sure you get down to your bus before it leaves the ferry, hope your bus starts and the drivers are awake for the night trip. We all know Indonesia has many islands but it doesn’t become real until you need to get between them.

In many of the ports there are ferries waiting to be filled just docked and leaving they have phrases such as ‘We Bridge the nation’ ‘ We serve the nation’ painted on the side with the Indonesian flag flying.

On many of the buses they have ‘Pulang di kampung’ which means go home to the village – the bus is full of people who have settled on a different island from their home. It is now holiday home so this group is going home to their village on Java. This gives a human face to Transmigrasi. The government in the past have moved people from areas of dense population to areas that are less populated. There are issues as I am sure you can imagine.

Things that are interesting about the bus/ferry trip

Speaking Indonesian – people in Indonesia seem more friendly than in Australia. It is between all people that they chat ask each other about where they come from and where they are going etc and if you speak a little Indonesian you can be part of this. This is more common on buses and ferries than on planes.

Food in the middle of the night 3.30 – Why!!!

Each island a different language/languages and different cultures. You think you have a handle on a few key local words then it changes even within one island there may be several languages. The architecture is different, the main religion, the food the traditional clothes. There are so many different ethnic groups in one nation.

In Bali we stay in the midst of the ‘land of the young’ – Kuta/Legian.for two nights. There is always a motorbike passing, the circle K convenience stores are open 24 hours and whatever you want you can buy. It is fun to pick the nationality of the tourist by just their appearance.

You here the term oleh-oleh throughout Indonesia and there are shops devoted to it, stalls near the exit from the town, airport whatever.it means something you bring back from your holiday that you give to those who didn’t come. It is a big thing. Pity those with a big family. Usually they are small things that are special from the place you have been. It is not so unusual really but what we don’t expect is people asking for an oleh-oleh – that’s usual in Indonesia. It is difficult  to know who to give what to, so I sometimes get a bag or box of something and give it to someone to share(a lot of some’s).