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.
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| 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.
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| Taman Sari (Water Palace), Yogyakarta |
Then we went to a Batik art gallery and bought some paintings
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| I'm a painting. |
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.
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| Ticket says we are Indonesians |
Prambanan Temple was amazing.
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| Prambanan Temple |
And here, I got inspired to do some temple running.
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| Temple Run in Prambanan |
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| 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.
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