Della in Jogja: Pantai

On Saturday morning the NGO volunteers and my buddy, Bila, rented a car and headed out to the beach. Since none of us have a license here, we rented a car with a driver. The total package with fuel included was only $45 between the 5 of us. Such a steal!

As we headed out of the loud and bustling city, we began climbing up treacherous mountain highways. With very little in the way of guard railings, the 2-hour drive was pretty unnerving at times. Especially because, just like in the city, there are very few traffic laws and people are constantly passing each other. Despite a few screams from the American volunteers, we made it to the beach safely and saw a ton of great scenery along the way!

The beach was absolutely gorgeous, but our first reaction was: why is everyone wearing clothes? Across the board everyone was wearing their regular clothes. Men were swimming in jeans and a t-shirt, women were in full-length skirts and blouses. There were even women wearing their hijabs in the water. No one was laying out and tanning and absolutely no one was wearing a bathing suit.

We immediately bombarded Bila with questions (as we always do). It was just so unbelievable to us that no one was showing any skin. Clearly the expectation of modesty doesn't stop at the beach. Bila also explained that to Indonesians, being tan is ugly. Fair skin is considered beautiful.

Even though we felt extremely uncomfortable, we shed our modest layers and carried out our day in our one-piece bathing suits. As you can imagine, this invited everyone to stare at us. Not only were we the only foreigners on the entire beach, but we were wearing the least amount of clothing. We've grown accustomed to having our picture taken, since many Indonesians we encounter rarely see white people, but this time it was especially creepy because we were wearing bathing suits.

Despite the stares and odd beach customs, this was the most beautiful and incredible beach I've ever been to in my life! Called Ngandong beach, there were endless areas to explore. We walked out to beautiful rocks and were able to get up close to a coral reef and see a ton of marine life. The Indian Ocean is very rough, but there was an area shielded by a reef where we could swim and the water was incredible! Much saltier than the Atlantic or Pacific. We even found a gorgeous cave that we climbed through and watched the waves crash on the rocks. One of the most beautiful and serene spots I've ever visited!

After watching the sunset, we headed back to Jogja via the same treacherous route, but this time in the dark. Once we got to the city Bila took us out for "western food" (aka non-Indonesian food). When we walked in the door, I was instantly shocked by how many westerners there were. There were more white people in that restaurant than I've seen the rest of the trip combined. So I guess we finally saw where all the foreigners hang out and eat, which was actually pretty nice. I didn't even realize how much I had been missing western food.

I've included a bunch of photos of Ngandong beach below! By the way, the name is impossible to pronounce. I still don't think I can do it.