Purwokerto to Wonosobo

Another nuclear start…4:30 am. Although, with the call to prayer starting at 4:15 and lasting until 6:00, it didn’t really matter- you will be awake at 4:15. The train was great - 1st class reclining seats with A/C to Purwokerto. What a wonderful way to travel—complete with “meal” service- white rice and a few veggies on the side.

Purwokerto was a cute little transit town and the “hound” was waiting for us. It felt like “home sweet home” to be back on the bus. Ari, the local guide, was the closest thing to Tweak from South Park that we’d ever seen. Everything was of equal priority to him- be it local ceremonies, political rallies or spotting monkeys or durian fruit on the road. We came to hate the words, “Ladies and Gentlemen”, as they blared over the microphone from the front of the bus. It was typically followed by, “Let me tell you the story of the ….” and an eternally long story about some local legend… “or something like that”. The entire bus would doze off- but he would continue his diatribe.
At lunch, Ari sat with us to try to understand why we were leaving the tour early. It was like a re-run of the Johnny Cochran spoof on South Park… “see the silly monkey”….”it doesn’t make sense”……and Ari’s head simply exploded with the idea that we might give up our tour money to be off on our own. Lunch saw a major pedang rebellion with the group- the only two takers were the new guys joining the tour, not yet familiar with the joys of pedang rebirth.
Wonosobo was a cute little hill town. Again we DB&B, a quick tour of the restaurant options (very few—most were closed due to lack of tourists). In an effort to get away from the parade of schoolboys following us in the streets “Hello Mister”, we ducked into a huge hotel complex (not listed in Lonely Planet) and found the bar deserted. After a few beers, an American walked in and said, “Please tell me you’re staying here”. It turns out that last night, he was the only guest in the hotel….115 rooms with a 90 person staff…all dedicated to their one guest! Even stranger, his mother grew up in Cleveland- in Shaker Heights and there was the real distinct possibility that John’s parents were friends with his family. Mark had been working in Jakarta for the past 7 years for Swiss Bank. Last year, after the Suharto resignation (and their forced evacuation in an empty 747 to Singapore) and the economic collapse, the bank closed their operations in Jakarta and rather than move on to another country, he chose to remain in Indonesian (with a hefty severance package). So, rather than rejoin corporate life, he has been traveling through Indonesia documenting their cigarette industry for a coffee-table book that he plans to publish later this year. He was an extremely bright 30+ guy- with a real sense of the Indonesian people and politics. We continued our bar talk into dinner and had a wonderful time….and, he bought dinner for us and arranged for transportation back to our hotel. Back at the hotel, the gates were locked and no one answered our calls for about 10 minutes. There was the fleeting thought of being stuck on the streets of Woonosobo for the evening!

Note- Our new friend eventually published his book and sent us a copy- it's wonderful!!

Kretek: The Culture and Heritage of Indonesia's Clove CigarettesBy Mark HanuszKretek: The Culture and Heritage of Indonesia's Clove Cigarettes By Mark Hanusz