From Bali to Java

The short version of this post is that I left Pemuteran by bemo on 10th January to Gilimanuk and crossed by ferry from Bali to Java.  In Karangasem, Java (the town outside the port on Java I ran into some difficulty getting my planned bus ticket to Yogyakarta and ended up staying over night and traveling by train via Surabaya and onward to Yogyakarta.  The long version of this story is posted below  It may not be of much interest but I felt like posting just for the record

Today's tiring travel trials (Just for the record)

I was up early on 10^th January, checked out and just about stepped onto the roadway when I spotted in my peripheral vision, a red vehicle in motion and automatically flagged as it passed by. The driver saw me and stopped about 50 meters down the road. Yes he was going to Gilimanuk to the ferry, and I could go for 100000 Rp. I expressed shock and the price and it was immediately reduced to 50000 and even that would be considered 'tourist price'. I would bet these drivers get together at the end of the day and swap stories about how much they could get from crazy tourists. However I was more than happy to pay for the 30 km ride and to have successfully flagged my red Isuzu Bemo.

I don't have a picture but these bemos are like mini cargo vans of a vintage of many years back and are pretty well beat up. The one I was in had no paneling on doors or elsewhere and the door handles didn't work. There was a makeshift wooden shifting lever and generally the vehicle had been well used if not abused. The capacity of these vans are expanded way beyond design by adding wooden benches and rearranging seats. When I boarded there was one other female passenger and the back end was jam packed with carton of something. Along the way more passengers ( mostly workers headed for field work it seemed to me) were picked up until there were 10 adults and two babies plus cargo and driver. The side door remains open for the duration of the journey and once all the seats are taken passengers stand hunched over in any space available.

By the time we reach Gimanaluk I am the only passenger and the driver drops me at a “bus station” near the ferry terminal. It appeared to be one of those mini van stations and not a station for full size, long distance buses. A man comes to me and says he has a motorcycle and can take me to the bus company office where I can buy a ticket on an express bus that would take 10 hours to Yogyakarta. Of course I didn't trust the guy, especially when he said there where no buses on the Java side.

I walked away from him and crossed the street, bought a drink and asked the lady where to buy a ticket and she pointed me to a man on the gate going to the ferry. I am talking to him about where I wanted to go and he told me my options (including getting a bus on the Java side). He suggests that I might want to take the train. While he is explaining things to me a pickup truck comes to the gate with driver and passenger and the driver pays .Then the ticket guy talks to them in Indonesian, turns to me and says I can catch a ride to the bus station with them. So I go to pay for my ferry ticket and he waves me off. Apparently whatever the truck driver paid covered all passengers in his vehicle.

On the crossing the driver started talking money, but apparently knew no more English. I assured him I would give him some money after we got to the bus station I had already decided I would give him something. The question was how much? And of course there was flashing thought that once off the ferry and sandwiched between two guys about whom I knew nothing, I could be driven to a secluded spot, have my throat slit and they would take off with all my possessions. But I thought I was reasonably safe because it had been the ferry ticket man that set it up and the driver seemed Ok.

He was a bit lost in trying to find the bus station but after asking a couple of times finally arrived at another Indonesian bus station.

Well this time it did look like a long distance station as there were larger buses about. As I enter the compound a guy approaches and says he is security and offers to help. I ignore him and walk around the terminal ending up at a place that looked like an ticket agent 'office'. Basically a dirty hole in the was with a surly looking man and a desk with a banner showing a bus line advertisement. He and another man who appeared spoke no English but it seems maybe I am at the right place for a ticket. Just as I felt we had successfully communicated, my 'security' greeter appears and repeats that he is there to help me. After some discussion it seemed the options were basically a 14 hour air con bus today at 2:20 or a 10 hour express bus tomorrow morning. I couldn't really face 14 hours but after being told there were no hotels close by and with reassurance that the 14 hour bus made two stops, had air conditioning and reclining seats, I decided I had to go for it. This bus was scheduled to depart some four hours later.

I killed time by finding an internet, having some snacks and drying some damp clothes I had packed.

At about 2:20 a bus arrives, my greeter comes to get me and sells me a ticket for 15000 (he had said that tomorrow's price will be 275000 and so much for the security gig! He was obviously making a commission. But what I couldn't understand on reflection is why the other two men seemed to accede to this guy. Maybe it was because he spoke better English.) Anyway I get on the bus look around and it doesn't seem like any bus described earlier. I look at the ticket and it has has a list of about 20 place names indicating more than the promised 'two stops' – I am thinking 'milk run' . I am stowing my things, sit on an uncomfortable seat but cannot find any recliner. I look around the bus more carefully and I realize I am being had. I retrieve my bags and get off the bus – my greeter comes over. I say it's not the bus he described earlier and there is no way I am traveling 14 hours without a reclining seat (and no toilet). He doesn't argue and has to get my refund from the driver who doesn't seem too happy about these goings on. My greeter then tells me 'no problem' a bus with reclining seats will be here in one hour. I tell him I will think about it and I walk away not sure what to do next.

I walk back to the internet I had used thinking I would try to sort things out from there. Before going on line I start talking to three people ( maybe family) and after some time they point the direction to the train station. I had decided to check it out and if that didn't work I would come back to the bus terminal. The older man of the three called a motorcycle driver over and asked how much he would charge to take me to the station. Just then a bemo passes and I flag it down and ask my 'helper' to find out if he would go to the station. In the end I took the bemo and eventually arrive at the station which is quite removed from any other commercial type activity. The ticket wicket is closed. I could however see from the published schedule that there was a train to Surabaya that evening and another in the morning.

I am getting quite tired by now and ask a shop owner at the station if there was a hotel close by. The answer was in the negative. I head back over to the terminal and see a man exit with a ticket in hand. At the ticket counter two men are explaining bisinis ( second class) and executif (first class) prices and the departure time. They call another person over who they seem to know. He speaks very good English and clarifies everything. He says he's a tour guide (yeah, right I am thinking) He pulls out a testimonial letter from some Canadians that had a couple of Canadian flag stickers and wanted to know if I had any. Then he explained he had been guiding for two Italians. His credibility was increasing and he suggested the morning train would be better and I agreed provided I could find a hotel. He said he knew of one close by and near where he lived and offered to take me there on his motobike.

I gave him some money for his help (he didn't ask for any) and he offered to pick me up in the morning and take me to the train, which he did. I gave him some more money and he said “are you sure?' I was very thankful for all his help. In the end I think he was a legitimate independent, self styled tour guide – but who knows? Maybe he was just a good confidence man.

So after a night's sleep I settle in to my bisinis class seat for an on time departure at 8:17 with a schedule to arrive at Surabaya at 2:57. I need to buy a ticket and change to a different train in Surabaya for the onward trip to Yoyakarta. There is a train that leaves at 3:00 PM but I figure that three minutes will not be enough time to buy a ticket and get to the next train so I had expected to have to find a hotel in Surabaya and travel the next day

And here is the train station in Karangasem, Java, Indonesia and the arriving train

Bisinis (business or second class) car with a coffee (Kopi) that definitely wasn't Starbucks.  Which reminds me:  There was a good cafe in Pemuteran, Bali where you could buy one cup of special Indonesian coffee for 200,000 Rp (about $21. Cdn)

Needless to say, I didn't try it!

As it turned out, exiting the train in Surabaya one actually passes through a train on the adjacent track. As I am doing so a trainman asks where I am going. When I tell him he points to the train I just walked through and tells me it is going to Yogyakarta. I thank him and say I am going tomorrow. I exit and go to the ticket counter to buy my ticket for the following day. The ticket seller gives me prices and times and says I can still make the 3:00 PM. I make a snap decision and buy an executif ticket – she says “hurry to track 6” I rush back into the station, show my ticket to a trainman who points me to the last car. I have my foot on the top step of the entry as the train begins to roll away.

What a difference executif makes versus bisinis – reclining seats and air conditioning and quite comfortable as I make my way to Yogyakarta.