Yes, we arrived safely in Kediri. Home Sweet Home. (June 16, 2011)
A 4-hour ride from Jogja to Kediri by train was somewhat a smooth one. I never thought that it would be this fully seated. All compartments were full of passengers travelling eastbound. I happened to notice a group of 20 or so European tourists (or so I thought) who were also getting off in Kertosono. I assumed they were heading to Bromo Mountain Resort since Kertosono is a stopover where a tourist bus usually awaits for the group and takes them to Bromo (another 4-5 hour ride to the famous mountain resort in East Java).
Back to my story...
I think I haven’t mentioned that we did not manage to get the executive class since it was fully booked 2 months earlier. *GOSH*. So, as you can imagine, I could only take the business class with no AC on it. But, hey...it is summer and as illogical as it may sound....it is unusually cold at night and in the morning during summer. So, we got up really at 4.30 and woke the kids up—to no avails...since it was only Eyra (my eldest daughter) who eagerly woke up as I asked her to. As for her sister, Freya was asleep soundly until the taxi arrived. We had no time to catch the train if we had to bathe Freya first...so, I just grabbed her ( literally grabbed her)...of course, I carried her gently and hugged her while taking her into the taxi that would take us to the train station.
She regained her self midway to the station...
The Sancaka express train leaves at 7.15 am, and it was 06.45 already. We had 30 minutes left to catch the train.
Dayu Permai (my home) to Tugu Station is about 10 km away. And..we got only 30 minutes left to go. Well, despite the fact that it is reachable within 15-minute drive or so...but ....it was Thursday morning (read: not yet a holiday), so all kinds of flocks of people: school kids, high schoolers, white collars, blue collars, yellow collars, and other colorful collars you cud think of.... you could imagine yourself...were all scattered...right in front of our taxi as it was trying hard to slide, skip, skiddle, make way, twist, turn...and....go catching the train.
I barely managed to grab my consciousness as we drove on the streets.....
Did we make it? Of course we dit. You could just know it simply from the very first sentence of this blog entry. YeP....home sweet home. We are now in Kediri—as I am typing and jotting down this entry at my home.
Back to my train-ride story...
Usually, I am a kind of person who is a bit strict—at times stingy—when it comes to bills. Then, the taxi cost about 31,000 Rupiahs. But, I had no small coins or notes, so I simply handed the driver 35,000 without hesitation. To my surprise, I just let it slip off my mind that I should’ve asked him the change. But, instead I just let it go and took all the huge luggage (luggage 1, luggage 2, luggage3) and dashed ourselves to the gate. The train was ready to leave....it was 4 minutes to go.:)
Yes, we managed to arrive in time before the train left. What a relief.
After a strenuous neck due to my act of perching and stretching my arms, legs, and hands to put all of the luggages inside the over- cabin-cabinet, I finally let out a *relieving sigh*.
The kids were so excited about getting on the train. Well, of course it was not their first time....in fact it is safe to say that we take trains more than we do on bus.:)
..to be continued on part 2
