- Home
- 80 Days
- Pole to Pole
- Full Circle
- Hemingway
- Sahara
- Himalaya
- New Europe
- 80 Days Revisited
- Brazil
- Photo Gallery
- Keyword Search
- Photo Search
- Geography
- Accommodation
- Activity
- History
- Nature
- Person
- Transport
- Advanced Search
- The Chatter Box
- Chat Room
- Competition
- Polls
- Register
- Bookshop
- Bibliography
- Links
- Instructions
Full Circle
Day 116: Bandung to Yogyakarta
Harvest on the most fertile island in the world.
One of the pleasures of Java is that so much of the island is still unspoiled by agribusiness. The main road remains a single carriageway and we are as likely to be held up behind a pony and trap as an over-laden banana lorry. The houses, standing amongst green fields and flower-strewn verges, are solidly built. Unplastered red brick walls are softened by shady wooden porches, louvered shutters and pantiled roofs more reminiscent of Provence than the East Indies. Nearly every one of them, however humble, sports a satellite dish. Once into Central Java, the countryside becomes less intimate and regimented lines of spindly white rubber trees stretch away on either side of us, bowing and bending in the wind like mourners at a funeral.At Yogyakarta, where we spend the night, I put a call through to the National Hospital in London. Helen's operation was completed thirty minutes ago. I'm assured that it has been 'textbook' and asked if I would like to send her a message. So I send my love and, best of all, she is already conscious enough to send hers back.
The Kraton, Yogyakarta.
Choose another day from Full Circle
PALIN'S GUIDES
- Series: Full Circle
- Day: 116
- Country/sea: Indonesia
- Place: Bandung
- Book page no: 169
Bookmarks will keep your place in one or more series. But you'll need to register and/or log in.
){kind=link}