A Morning Escape from Jakarta

Dave's parents were in town this week.  We showed them around town, and we all took the day off on Monday to escape the city and walk through the rice terraces and villages that make up most of the island of Java.  We went hiking with idGuides, who were very well organized and kept us all safe and happy.

Dave and I fully prepared for a morning hike by packing our water bottles, granola bars, and rain jackets and charging the camera batteries.  Only when we got out of the car did I realize that I had brought my camera, but not my battery.  Luckily, my father-in-law is never without at least two cameras.  He handed me his smaller camera and here is what I saw.

The landscape is gorgeous, a green mix of wild jungle and agricultural terraces.  The sun did come out for part of our walk, but the ominous dark clouds made for dramatic photography. As I sit at my desk, I am amazed that this scenery is just an hour away from the heart of the urban jungle.

Although we could drive to the trail head in about 90 minutes, the village was not accessible by car.  We wandered a bit through the village and then out around the fields and hills, all guided by a team of local villagers.  There was garbage everywhere. It is difficult to explain the trash on the street in Jakarta, and the girls and I were even more disturbed by the trash on the side of the trail. I told them that garbage trucks certainly can not reach this village, which is true.  But that doesn't fully explain the problem.  The first and second pictures are taken from the same place, first looking out and then looking down.

Sophia was in awe of the pink pineapples.

Life had all of the romanticized benefits of rural living, but living in this village is clearly hard work.  These were the roughest and the nicest houses I noticed on our walk.

These men are digging a new water route through the rice field.  Farmers rotate their fields of rice   regularly, and divert irrigation to whichever field needs it.

This man is managing the scarecrow lines, a number of cables crossing the rice paddies with plastic bags or noisemakers attached.  He shakes the lines to scare the birds away.  This seems wildly labor intensive to me; also rather relaxing, possibly on par with going fishing - another activity that only keeps my interest for about 10 minutes.

The madness of an Asian megacity makes me forget what a beautiful country we live in.