Yogyakarta, Indonesia Part 2

Today we toured Central Java.

In a hired van which costing us IDR 100,000 each, we went to see the beauty Java offers.

Our first stop is the ruins of the magnificent Borubudur temple. Borubudur is the single largest Buddhist in the world and one of  UNESCO heritage sites. Built in the 9th century the ruins were rediscovered  in 1814 by Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore. The temple has 6 square platforms, and three circular platforms on top.

Borubudur Temple

This is the most popular tourist spot near Yogyakarta. About 1.5 hours drive from the city, we arrived at 10am and the sun was scorching hot. Again, we got tickets as locals which saved us about 80% of the costs.

Visitors here are mostly locals (or maybe they pretend to be locals like us. Hmmm I doubt). There are some Western visitors, but Asians outnumber them. Outside the gates were vendors and hawkers selling water and souvenirs and renting umbrella. Upon entering, we got some sarong. Actually, the sarong are for those wearing shorts or sleeveless tops. (It's a holy place of worship, so decent clothing is required.)  But since everyone is getting, we got as well.

Then it's a whole lot of picture taking.

Elephants at Borubudur Temple

One of the 504 Buddhas

And more temple running.

We rode a kalesa on our way back from the temple to the van and headed for lunch in Sekar Kedhaton, a nearby restaurant behind a silver factory store.

Then we drove to View Deck wherein our view suppose to span from Mt. Kerapi, an active volcano to another mountain. It was a long drive up, and when we arrived it was raining and foggy. We weren't able to get out of the car and we didn't see the said spectacular view. We just bought some grilled corn and ate it in the car.

We went back to the city and headed to Marioboro Market which is lined up with Batik stores, souvenir shops, street vendors and more street vendors. It reminds me very much of Divisoria.

For dinner, we ate in an eatery which serves Gudeg. Gudeg is  young jackfruit stewed with palm sugar and eaten with rice, opor ayam (a sort of chicken curry or adobo), a hard-boiled egg, spicy buffalo skin (which is like soft chicharon), and tofu. 

Then, we had a quick stop in the only mall in Yogyarta for some Starbucks and we called it a night. An early trip tomorrow awaits.

Yogyakarta, Indonesia Part 1

It was an uneventful bus ride from Singapore to Malaysia. In KL, met a friend for dinner and spent the night in my cousin's place. Woke up at 4am to catch the earliest AirAsia  flight to Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Yogyakarta, Indonesia. My cousin mentioned in passing that she's going there for Easter. It was my first time to hear about that place. My little knowledge about Indonesia only spans from  Jakarta and Bali (and that Indonesia is #1 Facebook country in Asia). So when I learned that Yogyakarta has temples, one of which is Borubudur temple, 400 years  older than Angkor Wat in Cambodia, I felt excited to go. And so I went. This leg of the trip, I'm not traveling solo.

This is my first time in Indonesia. I don't know what to expect, but a voice inside my head keeps on reminding me to be extra careful. I'm paranoid with notions of swindle and tourist traps. My cousin who came a day earlier in Jogja warned me because she felt harassed by the Airport Customs.

But none of those things happened. Everything was, well, normal.  I stepped out of the airport, got my money changed, bought a local sim card, and lined up for  taxi from the 'official' taxi stand. It's airport looks like any provincial international airport in our country. Think CDO airport or Legaspi airport.

My cab ride going to the hotel is 50,000 IDR! Which is about P250. I stayed in Hotel Santika Premiere where my cousin and her colleagues were booked.

After breakfast and freshening up, we rode a 'padyak' pronounced 'pedjek' going to a nearby church.  It's a tricycle where the driver at the back. Scary thing is that for a while  we were traveling on the opposite lane, against the traffic. Vehicles were approaching us.  We were on the wrong lane. 

Padyak on the opposite side of the road. See the approaching traffic

After the church visit and action stunt, we hired a car to drive us to see the sights.  This cost 500k IDR for the whole day.


Our first stop was Taman Sari or  Water Palace in  Kraton village. The palace is where the Sultan  and his concubines hang-out before. 

It rained when we got there so I did not see the whole place. Stupid me for leaving my umbrella inside my back pack.

Taman Sari (Water Palace), Yogyakarta

Then we went to a Batik art gallery and bought some paintings

.

I'm a painting.

After, we traveled to Prambanan Temple.
Prambanan Temple is one of UNESCO Heritage Site and is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. It was built in the 9th century  to honor god Shiva. Entrance fee for foreigners is $13 (RP 137,000), but since we were mistaken to be locals, we only paid RP 30,000, a fraction of the price.

Ticket says we are Indonesians

Prambanan Temple was amazing.

Prambanan Temple

And here, I got inspired to do some temple running.

Temple Run in Prambanan

More temple runs!

Our dinner is in a lovely Javanese style restaurant named "The Secret Garden of Kalasan".

And after a long delicious dinner, we went back to the hotel. I had a massage and woke up by 1030pm to attend Easter Eve/Salubong mass.

My first time to attend mass in Bahasa. A perfect way to end day one in Indonesia.

Travel Solo Adventure-

I feel that each one of us should travel solo at least once in our lifetime, not for school or for work but just because.

Recently, I embarked on that solo trip- that adventure you have to do when you're young and single. Some may say it is an 'Eat Pray Love' moment, others may wittily say 'Eat Prey Love'. Some may find this to be soul searching experience. My mom even urged me to soulmate search on this one.

But for whatever reason, I just jumped right to it. It just one of those things I feel I have to do.

So, with my reliable red 30L backpack, I ventured to perhaps the most exciting and challenging trip I've taken. 8 days. 4 countries. And most of the time solo.

I started in Singapore, spent a night in Kuala Lumpur, headed to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and concluded in Thailand.

It was a trip of many firsts and of countless anecdotes.
In Singapore, I tried indoor sky diving, successfully finished Visita Iglesia (without the live aid of Google Maps), watched Wicked, and smoked some shisha sitting on a carpet by a sidewalk.

In Yogyakarta, started my Temple Run series and attended Easter eve mass in Javanese.

In Bangkok, destroyed a BTS (MRT) entrance machine when I put in a coin in the card slot *facepalm*.

For the first time as well, I've been in 3 countries in one day- eating breakfast in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, lunch in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and dinner in Bangkok, Thailand.

Each day, a new story. Each destination, a new experience. And here's how it goes...