Destination Spotlight: INDONESIA

Written by Professor Sean Price

It was October. The leaves had fallen and the cold was settling in. I was quickly approaching two weeks of vacation time that I had lamented about all year. Why hadn't I tried for two weeks earlier when an autumn hike and Thanksgiving aromas would have been a surefire way to relax? Why hadn't I pushed it to the Christmas break where a Hawaiian beach and a swaying palm could be the end-of-the-year recharge I always lust over? Sadly, I was faced with two weeks of leaf raking and Netflix and I wasn't happy about it.

Now, anyone in aviation knows that we truly invented the idea of 'fly by the seat of your pants'. With an impending fortnight of Netlfix and yard work I did what any wanderlust traveller would: I started feverishly checking flights from Toronto to pretty much anywhere. It is a careful compare and contrast scenario whereby flights must match accommodation and considerations are to be made on what to see and do. It was Lonely Planet books strewn across the living room and google searches from morning to night. But it works. It always works. There is always a corner of the world that, for a moment in time, the stars align. This time it was Indonesia.

I informed my husband to get out the rake cause we had a month's worth a leaves to collect before our flight departed. And so we did it; 72 hours later we landed, haphazard and exhausted, in a steamy and bustling Jakarta.

We had but two weeks to get a taste for this intoxicating country. Spending just enough time in the capital to get some rest, we hopped on an eight hour train south, to Yogyakarta. This is a beautiful and bustling city in the centre of Java, an island that forms part of the Indonesian archipelago. Travel weary, we checked into our hotel and spent the next twelve hours in a self-induced coma.

What attracted me to Yogya were the mystical ruins of Borodubur. Nestled in a jungle setting is the world's largest buddhist temple. Tiered and domianting, the complex is laden with intricate stupa (a spehrical structure popular in buddhist architecture) which create an ethereal landscape best experienced as the sun rises. We woke up early the next morning, ushered ourselves into a tuktuk and made our way through the darkness to Borodubur. We arrived to a smattering of other tourists and with a warming tea in our grasp we shuffled through the gates to the vast sanctuary. As pilgrims to the sun we ascended the structure to a spot that afforded us the best view of the horizon. As we waited in the chilly air the sun began to rise and bathed the elaborate stone where we sat in a warm gold, illuminating the full magnitude of the structure to which were oblivious but half hour before. This is a magical place that could be explored over days. Sadly, our timeline permitted us just the morning and by lunch we were headed back to Yogya for a poolside siesta.

With more temples in the city (Parambanan being the most famous) and a street food scene that makes my mouth water, our time in Yogya was busy and enjoyable. Our bags at this point were laden with items from the markets and we boarded a plane several days later onwards to Bali.

This is an unusual island. It comes with such high expectations. It tosses around words like 'paradise' and 'shangri-la' so effortlessly one can only imagine its otherworldly beauty. We arrived at night and hopped into awaiting transportation for a two hour ride across the island. It was all sharp curves and potholes but the air smelt sweet. The paradaisical reputation we had expected was too clouded in darkness to know whether illustrious Bali was, in fact, a real life Garden of Eden.

Now it would seem Indonesia is a place best experienced at sunrise as we had followed this formula a great deal on this trip. When we arrived in Jakarta the week prior it was dark, but the city revealed itself the following morning as the sun rose with the bustle of its inhabitants. Borodubur was a magical sunrise experience that added to the grandeur and mythology of the place. And now, here in Bali, as the sun rose that first morning, the vistas spread out before us were of lush jungles, blue ocean and a clear, uninterrupted sky. It was paradise found, albeit a long way from the tourist throngs of Kuta.

We spent our first days in Bali isolated on the rugged and less-visited north coast. We swam in the hillside pool and ate Baliense barbecue. We wandered the jungle and saw Dolphins near the beach. If we were looking for a recharge, this was it.

We followed this several days of relaxation with a few days in famous Ubud, the city in the central hills of Bali made famous by Julia Robert's Eat, Pray, Love adventure on the silver screen. This is an entirely different place than the other cities we had experienced. In Ubud there is a rampant tourism scene that exists, almost symbiotically with the local culture and life. We visited the Monkey Forest where I clutched on to my valuables as mischievous monkeys hopped between us, snatching loose items like vagabond thieves (and yes, I paid admission to be harassed by monkey gangs and I would do it again in a heartbeat!) We strolled through markets and ate fresh mangos and even popped into lakeside temples and emerald rice terraces. This is place so alive in people and nature that you can't help but fall for the chaos. Our final night we decided to learn some traditional Balinese cooking. We walked through the garden of our AirBnB as our host and teacher helped us select ingredients for our dinner. With banana leaves and lemongrass, ginger and curry, we created a feast fitting for our whirlwind adventure.

As we flew home hours later I was mesmerized by the breadth of knowledge and sensory experiences we can stuff into just two weeks. I marvel at how the thought of raking leaves gave birth to sacred sunrises, balinese barbecue and monkey mayhem. It is these moments I pause and reflect on how lucky I am to have these opportunities and hope to inspire you to take similar adventures.