h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We booked a trip to Indonesia in 2016 because my husband wanted to see a total eclipse of the sun. The holiday was organised by Intrepid Travel and turned out to be a outstanding. I had many first time experiences: the solar eclipse itself, crossing the equator, seeing active volcanoes and paddy fields.

The holiday started at the capital Jakarta, which is a city of 15 million people. We were taken on a tour, but I found the traffic chaotic. Hundreds of mopeds wove between cars and taxis Some seated whole families – a man and his wife with a couple of children clinging precariously. The air was scarcely breathable and many people wore face masks. A Confucian temple offered a peaceful retreat, with many burning candles and wooden joss sticks. For me, the most interesting visit in Jakarta was to the open air musem – the Taman-Mini Indonesia Indah -where there are reproductions of historic houses. Indonesia has over 300 tribes, all of which have their own traditions.

From here we went to Yogyakarta, which used to be the capital of Indonesia We visited the Prambanan Temple, which is the biggest Hindu temple in Indonesia. It was built in the 9th century and has three main shrines, dedicated to Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu. We climbed to the biggest shrine, and saw the statues of Shiva and Ganesh. Around the shrine is a beautifully carved frieze telling the Ramayana story. However, we were visiting Indonesia in the rainy season and our visit was punctuated by downpours. The next day, we got up at 3.00am and travelled to Borobodur, with the intention of seeing the sunrise from the Buddhist Temple. We climbed 150 steps to the top and waited for the dawn. A big party of visitors assembled, equipped with cameras and sat around the stupas. However, the sky was dark and thundery and all we saw of the dawn was a pink fringe to the cloud.

We flew on to Bali, which is an island where Hindus predominate. We saw little boxes of leaves and flowers left as offerings and glimpsed dancing in an ornate Hindu temple. After the solar eclipse, we returned to Bali and did a tour of the island. We saw rice paddies, where a man was levelling the paddy field: walking slowly behind two oxen, with his feet in deep mud. Our guide explained the flow of water down the hill was carefully controlled. We also visited a coffee plantation, where they make some of the most expensive coffee in the world, called Kopi Luwak. The beans are fed to civets, which excrete them. They are then washed and the outer layers removed before the beans are roasted. But the real excitement was caused by a huge yellow and black spider hanging on its web among the trees.

And I've been on a curious journey myself! I've learned about Engleby, imagined bikers with scythes arriving in France, wondered why I never joined the Girl Guides,(too late now haha), remembered holidays, and here I am in Indonesia, reading these gorgeous descriptions, and thinking how it would be to witness a total eclipse of the sun in this environment!

What a delicious brew is your alphabet soup, mvp!

Thanks cc