As early as six o'clock in the morning, I was already at the Gambir train station, excited for my first 'long train ride'. Even though I was a train veteran with thousands of railway miles under my butt courtesy of our own LRT and MRT lines, the trip to Yogyakarta from Jakarta would be my first time trainspotting for more than seven hours. I had already pre-booked a ticket for myself via Tiket.com for 300,000 IDR one-way (1,500 PHP) a few weeks before I departed for Jakarta. So when the ticket counters opened a quarter after six, I hurriedly entered the station and found a seat where I just sat and waited for the 8:10 AM train to Yogyakarta.
8:10 to Yogyakarta
The Wait at Gambir Station
There were a couple of trains going to other destinations that left before my train. Each one had me a bit confused, thinking my train was the one about to leave. The female staff member calmly told me that I should not worry. "Your train leaving on time, relax and sit there, you be fine," she assured me. I sat for over an hour and watched dozens of people come and go. I felt my head bowing down and my eyes closing a bit due to a lack of sleep. I thought about the two girls who were on the same flight coming to Jakarta with me and wondered where they were heading. I somehow wished they were bound for Yogyakarta as well.
Cruising the Javanese Countryside
I got a seat by myself in the last row near the dish case and the connecting door to another car. As the train departed right on the money at 8:10 AM, I stretched my legs and tried to be as comfortable as I could. The seats were soft, and I instantly stared out the window to see as much countryside scenery as possible. Whenever I felt my eyes shutting down on their own, I would stand up and walk to the other car, then toward the dining area in the second coach.
We passed by small pockets of towns in between wide and almost unending fields similar to ours back in the Philippines. I noticed most of the houses had roof shingles made of terracotta; the shimmery red-colored clay ceramic represented the minor difference from their countryside houses to ours. Three hours into the trip and facing another four hours more, I got bored with rice field-watching and pulled out my e-book reader. I read a few pages of Murakami's "After Dark". I was at the part where one of its characters, Eri, lulled into sleep and was haunted by a strange figure, when my eyes succumbed to a slumber.
I woke up past one o'clock in the afternoon after I bumped my head into the glass where I was leaning. The train had gathered a bit of speed and was shaking more than usual. We stopped for five minutes at another station where I walked out and stretched my feet. My patience was wearing thin; I had enjoyed and had enough of my 'first long trainspotting' experience. I could not wait to drop my backpack at my hostel in Yogyakarta and explore the city.
Arrival and the Becak Ride
I spent the next two hours counting the kilometer markers by the side of the track until we finally reached Tugu Station in Yogyakarta. As the sound of the train buzzed and signified its arrival, I got jolted by a feeling of excitement similar to every time I visited a new place. My excitement turned to apprehension as I walked out of the station and was met by half a dozen becak drivers who were trying to rip me off.
Fortunately, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a middle-aged man sitting quietly on his becak. I proceeded to him and asked how much it would be to go to my hostel, which was the Edu Hostel. We agreed on a 20,000 IDR fare (100 PHP), which seemed to be a bit expensive to me at that time, but afterward, when I realized that it was a cycle longer than I had expected and I really enjoyed the ride aboard his becak, I gave him an extra 5,000 IDR as a tip.
So there it went; my seven-hour train ride surely beat the half-hour LRT rides back home, plus it was more convenient and spacious. I was just glad to have tried out a new mode of transportation on my way to Yogyakarta.
I took a brief rest on my bunk bed at Edu Hostel and just processed the whole day spent traveling from Manila to Jakarta, waiting for the bus and the train, plus the journey to Yogyakarta itself. I realized I was starving, so I took a quick shower and went down. I asked the friendly staff for directions and immediately went out and happily explored the new city on foot, looking for interesting things to see and side-street food to fill my famished tummy.
