The month of December began with final exams for my courses and then a series of adventures around the region combined with many attempts at making progress on my project. I was able to cover parts of Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia over three trips with many good friends, epic scenery, and mind-blowing cuisine. In an effort to document these trips, I'm going to start doing a weekly blog post on each of the destinations from my holiday adventures. This can help make up for the lack of excitement that the next few months will probably entail as the project will get priority over the fun.
The first adventure that I'll cover is my journey to Jakarta and West Java Indonesia to visit my friend Fitria who was such an awesome host to me in her home country. For the geographically challenged out there, below is a map of the destinations.
View West Java Adventure in a larger map
We spent the first few days hanging out in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Jakarta is a massive, crowded, chaotic city that you really need to have a local guide to appreciate. It is the largest city on the island of Java which has a population of over 124 million people. Java Island itself seems sort of like one huge village; the population density is 979 /km2 (2,540 /sq mi). Compare that to the state of Nebraska at 8.88 /km2 (23 /sq mi); almost 100 times more dense!! We explored Jakarta for a couple days and ended up going to one of Fitria's friend's wedding which was a neat experience for a westerner like me.
Old Dutch Colonial Headquarters in Jakarta
Me chillin downtown with some Indonesian dudes
The Bride and Groom at the wedding just after finishing the reception line
Street Performer in Jakarta who didn't quite have his act perfected
After Jakarta we headed for the coast to an awesome beach village called Sawarna to meet up with a bunch of other Indonesia friends. It was a seven hour drive despite the fact that its only about 100 miles away - the crazy traffic and roads are hard to describe but we made it in one piece thanks to Fitria's driving skills. We stayed at a family's home in the village for a few days with all meals cooked for us and motorcycle transportation provided to beaches, caves, and other random places in the village. It was truly an awesome experience to hang out in a really non-touristy area with local people, food, and deserted beaches. Someday I plan on coming back to this place!!
Enjoying a Bintang on our own beach
Mind-blowing lobster fresh from the sea
Java cave exploration
The whole Sawarna crew!
Sawarna Beach
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