Jakarta to Yogyakarta (8 hours)

We got up at 5:15 this morning to catch our 8 hour (very bumpy and very hot) train halfway across Java island.  The guy at the hotel told us that a bajaj (rickshaw) would be about $1, so we went looking for one.  

Josie asked the first taxi how much he would charge ... $4.  She said $1, and whined, "noooooo.". Then I asked the next taxi driver how much he would charge for a ride to Pasar Senen Station and he said $2, but he eventually agreed to $1.  He took us to the station and then tried to get us to pay for the 20 cent parking.  We argued and just left because he didn't mention when we got on.  It was only 20 cents and maybe we're giving a bad name for foreigners, but he was being shady with that.  It was 50 feet from the parking lot entrance to the ticket counter.

The hawks don't even end at the station.  In the train, there were soany people walking up and down the aisle selling stuff.  Most of them would just walk up and down yelling what they had.  Others would just throw their stuff on you and come back to pick it up later.  At every major stop, new sellers would get on selling the exact same stuff, so you get it coming at you hard the whole way.  
• newspapers
• slippers
• pillows
• blankets
• tissues
• bags
• cell phone batteries
• coloring books
• rubix cubes
• tea in glass cups
• keychains
• foot massagers
• smoothies
• nasi goreng (fried rice)
• beefsteak
• bottled water
• cigarettes
• some weird herbal cigarette
• extra large lighters
• coffee
• bags of tofu 
• chips
• fans
• action figures that would spin their arms when you squeeze their legs (my favorite)
• books
• noise makers 

There were also all kinds of people just asking for donations ...
• nuns
• children
• mothers with babies
• a trio of girls singing and playing a guitarrita (their names were Guadalupe, Maria, and Lourdes)
• an old guy who just moaned
• some guy doing a Muslim chant on a megaphone
• a guy who would sweep the floor around you and then his friend would ask for money 
• a blind wan with a child
• an old lady who'd wake you up for a hand out

It was very annoying at first, but these guys are just trying to make a living.  Spending a whole day walking up and down a train must be very tough.  If they have to buy a train ticket first, then they'd have to make up forthat first before they can make a profit ... Kudos to these guys, but stop throwing shit in my lap.

This is basically how the train ride was.  There was no air conditioning and the window only opened about 5 inches, which was fine when the train was moving, but it would stop on average every 10 to 15 minutes.  Sometimes it would stay stopped for 5 to 10 minutes and that's when we'd start baking in the 90 degree Indonesian oven train.  After sweating profusely, that slow crawl the train started on was terrible, desperately waiting for that hot air wind to squeeze its way into that tiny crack.  It was 8 hours of this.  At some point, the storm clouds rolled in and the weather cooled off a bit, but only a little bit.  The bathroom was a toilet with the drain emptying onto the tracks.  It was interesting to use, but never dodge an Indonesian train by ducking under it.

This was one off the craziest endurance trials I've eve had to go through, and hopefully never again.  I killed most of my time writing a few blog entries, playing Sudoku, reading my book, and getting bit by mosquitos.  Only an hour and a half more to go ...

We finally got off the train in Yogya after a brutal 9 hours.  It was raining so at least it was a little cooler.  Now I'm relaxing in the courtyard of the hotel and enjoying wi-fi.