Anyway, I left all my readers fatigued in Yogyakarta after a long, dreadful day cooped up in a van. It's about time we've left Yogya for a new city and a new adventure. So let's continue eastward!
I woke up the next day feeling weak. My upset stomach was still in full swing. But I got up, had a small breakfast, and headed to Tugu Train Station with my mom to buy our train tickets to Surabaya. To my relief I was right; the next train to Surabaya was at 2 PM, about a 5-hour journey. And what time was the train to depart for Banyuwangi? Nine-thirty in the evening. Yes! You have no idea how thrilled I was. We were going to make it after all, and on schedule too.
So we bought our tickets to Surabaya and onward tickets to Banyuwangi. The entire cost for both train tickets for all four of us was Rp. 1.960.000, or about $217 USD. In other words, $54 USD per person for an 11-hour train trip. MUCH less expensive than a one-way plane ticket to Bali, which at the time I think was $500+ USD per person. Interestingly, the train ticket from Surabaya to Banyuwangi cost less than the train ticket from Yogyakarta to Surabaya, despite the fact that the ride from Surabaya to Banyuwangi is three hours longer. Well ... you'll know why that is later. Once we had the tickets, the only discrepancy that I noticed was that we were not all seated together. In fact, we were separated by an entire car. Oh well. One minor nuisance.
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| My mom and I rode one of these (a becak) to the Tugu Train Station |
By 1 PM, we checked out of Mawar Asri Hotel and hailed a cab to drive us the 10 minutes to the train station. (I know, a 10-minute ride on a cab -- lame, but we had too much luggage.)
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| Riding down Jalan Malioboro, the main drag in Yogyakarta |
We reached the station, unloaded our bags, got past security, and waited in our terminal, which was a bit confusing at first. The train station isn't all that big, but the platform signs showing which trains were heading in which direction were a little misleading. We had to ask a number of people to make sure we were waiting in the right area. This was very annoying as all I wanted to do was sit down and take a nap so I could ignore my nasty stomach ache.
As we waited, my mom bought some snacks for us to enjoy on the train and chatted up a storm with two women who were waiting to board a train going the opposite direction, back to Jakarta. I just couldn't wait to leave already ... it was close to 2 PM but the train was running late and we didn't actually board the Argowilis #6 train till 2:30 PM.
We sat in the air-conditioned Executive Class on seats that were surprisingly comfortable and spacious. There was plenty of leg room, and the chairs not only reclined but spun 180 degrees, that way two people who were seated together could turn and face the two people seated either in front or behind them. If only my mom and youngest sister were with my middle sister and me. But otherwise, this was a very nice train ride, probably second best to the long train journey we took from Bangkok to Butterworth, Malaysia.
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| Argowilis #6 Train to Surabaya |
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| Sahara enjoying our Executive Class seats |
After a quick nap and one bathroom visit later, we arrived at the Surabaya-Gubeng Train Station at 6:25 PM. Plans to visit the city center were obviously shot, so we just hung out at the station, where we grabbed dinner at a chicken place. We had three hours to kill before boarding our last train. But man, did I have to use the facilities! At first we were at a convenience market looking for meds to aid my stomach when I really needed to find a restroom. I must have gone up to go five times in one hour. And of course, there was a 'bathroom attendant' who collected Rp. 2000 (about 20 US cents) for every person that needed to use it. C'mon seriously dude, I have no time to look for money to give you when I have serious business to take care of. Needless to say, it was pretty embarrassing.
The chicken was nothing to write home about. It was actually hard and dry, but there really was nothing else around that was open or ... better. There were a few people, mostly men than women, hanging around presumably waiting for the next train, many of whom just stared at us. This was something we just had to ignore and get used to. There were also a few stray cats around, one of which came to sit below our table and stare at me. Gigi thought it was cute. I thought It was a bit creepy.
At last, our train arrived. It would be the fourth and last train of our trip. The Mutiara Timur Malam #87 left at 9:30 on the dot, and at 4:30 AM we would be in Java's easternmost city, Banyuwangi. Though we were all able to sit together, this train turned out to be the worst train of all trains in the history of trains, and now we know why it cost so much less than the train to Surabaya. Despite the Executive Class, it felt nothing like the Surabaya's Executive Class. This train was old, dark, dingy, and freezing cold. The seat cushions were faded and torn, and the seats themselves were stiff and narrow. The most disgusting part of all was that the train car we were in was infested with cockroaches. They seemed to be crawling everywhere. I'm not kidding! And there was this one middle-aged man who put his head against the wall while he slept, and each time he did that cockroaches would swarm around his head. He would then wake up and aggressively scratch his head with both hands. Oh my God. Disgusting. And slightly comical at the same time. Imagine if you were sleeping with your mouth open ...
As if things couldn't get any worse, this was also the most horrible train journey for me because I was in excruciating pain the entire ride. It felt as though I was being stabbed a hundred times in the abdomen, and with each stab the knife would turn and twist my stomach into knots. It was unbearable. I sat there shedding quiet tears -- the only way I could somewhat withstand the pain was for me to bend over with my chest in my lap. I sat like this for hours until I needed to get up and use the bathroom. And this was the only train where I had to visit the facilities more than ... well, I couldn't tell you how many times I had to get up and go. I lost count after the fifth visit. The silver lining to this dreadful experience? The bathroom was the cleanest of all four trains. Lucky me. Still, it was a squat toilet where you essentially drop everything into a black hole. You can see the ground, the train tracks, look out the open window, and hear the wheels of the train grinding against the tracks loud and clear. It was anything but peaceful.
At 4:30 AM, my seemingly endless cycle of sit, get up, and go, came to an end when the train finally came to a halt. We were so relieved to get off the nasty ride and stretch our limbs. I however, proceeded to the nearest bench and sat with my chest in my lap as I was still in agonizing pain. It was pitch black outside. The only people at the station were the people that came off our train, the majority of them on their way to Denpasar, Bali's capital. They all seemed in a hurry to get away from this place. We were the last people from our train to leave the platform. We slowly headed out to the front of the station where many men looking for passengers called out, 'Denpasar! Denpasar!' We, however, were not among the people hopping on the bus to Denpasar. Instead, we were heading to Gilimanuk, Bali via the ferry from Ketapang Terminal, maybe only a 10 or 15-minute walk from the train station. But I was in no mood or condition to walk. We hopped a becak (in this case, two) and rode the 3 minutes to the ferry terminal whose 24/7 fouty-five-minute ferry only cost Rp. 6.000 (or 65 US cents) per person to ride. Good-bye Banyuwangi. Good-bye Java. Here we come Bali!
Stay tuned for our adventures in Bali.
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| Ocean views on the ferry to Gilimanuk, Bali |
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| Another beautiful sunrise from Ketapang to Gilimanuk, Bali |
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| A sickly me watching the sunrise on the ferry ride to Gilimanuk, Bali |
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