Of Taman mini, gudeg, and Indonesia

CEBU, Philippines – I love being in the debating team not because I’m head over heels with arguing over issues that stretch from health to international politics but because I’m a travel bug. Truth be told, if it weren’t for debate, I don’t think I would have ever been able to set foot outside the Philippines. I remember that giddy excitement that kept me well awake until our 4 a.m. flight for the Asian Universities Debating Championships. Since then, I got hooked and no school year would ever be complete for me if I didn’t have an international trip.

One of my favorite destinations is Indonesia because of the seamless blend between the ancient and the modern world cultures. Despite the skyscrapers that poked the clouds in highly urbanized Jakarta, Indonesia retained much of its cultural heritage, particularly through its architecture. The Sukarno-Hatta International Airport, for one, sprawled throughout the airport compound like a traditional Balinese house. Indonesian-inspired buildings surrounded the Bandung Technological University campus, the venue of our debate tournament.

One of the spots I’ll always want to revisit would have to be the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah which roughly translates as “Beautiful Indonesia Miniature Park”. The Taman Mini is Indonesia in a nutshell with 165 hectares of impeccably beautiful miniature houses representing the rich diversity of the culture, heritage, customs, and the people of the world’s largest archipelago. Inside each pavilion is a stark depiction of Indonesian culture, music, clothing, dance, and art. One day—and one extra digicam bat—is definitely not enough to cover each pavilion from Bali to Sumatra Uttara. The best time to visit Taman Mini is during the weekdays when it’s empty of the weekend crowds. Since a lot of walking will be involved, it wouldn’t hurt to bring an umbrella or a cap. If you want to cover a lot of ground in one day, it’s best to wear flip flops so you won’t waste time tying and untying your shoe laces since you’ll have to enter the pavilion barefoot. 

One of our favorite after debate treats in Indonesia is gudeg. Gudeg is one of the more popular Indonesian street foods. It’s jackfruit cooked in the traditional Javanese way, although it’s said that the dish originated from Yogyakarta. Gudeg is definitely a treat for those with a sweet tooth as the jackfruit is boiled in palm sugar and coconut milk. I remember how we’d always rush out from Bandung Tech to the streets to get a helping of gudeg to at least pick us up in time for the next round.

Because our debates were based in Bandung, even our shopping trips were constrained to the rustic university town, which proved to be quite a treat since student prices usually spelled c-h-e-a-p. Factory outlets carrying designer goods like Emporio Armani, that didn’t bust our budgets were among our favourite stops especially a day before we had to leave for Jakarta. 

Although not many Indonesian natives can speak fluent English, it was comforting for many of us when we found out how close the Cebuano language was to Bahasa Indonesia. It was a snap for most of us to master how to count from one to ten in Bahasa because there really wasn’t much of a difference in terms of how we say many of the numbers. Two was dua, five was lima,  for example. Need an umbrella? It’s still called paying. Which way do you want to go? Right or left? Kaliwa or kanan? The word for ‘open’? Well, let’s just say it’s ‘buka’.

The best part about Indonesia apart from the laag moments? Definitely the fact that we were virtually millionaires the moment we set foot. After we converted our ten grand into Indonesan rupiahs, we couldn’t help but giggle at the thought that we had nearly two million rupiahs in our hands. Thing is, the shirts also cost around 183,000 rupiahs. Nevertheless, that wasn’t really an issue for most of us, nothing that we really wanted to argue about too much. (Some photos are from the wires)