The Losari Coffee Plantation

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Sunday, 8th August 2010

After finishing our tour at the Borobudur temples, 4 of us continued our journey in the afternoon towards the north in the direction of Magelang where the Losari Coffee Plantation was located. It was fortunate that our stomaches were not growling even though we had missed our lunch today. I guessed this had got to do with the hearty breakfast we had this morning for this unusual phenomenon. Located at over 800m above sea level (at least that's what our guide told us), the Losari Plantation had a relatively cool weather to thank in a lush and idyllic backdrop. This was in stark contrast with the scorching heat and the consequential sun burns we experienced in Borobudur.

After an hour’s drive, we reached our destination sometime after 2.30pm today. The Coffee Plantation tour cost a whopping USD 18 (this worked out to roughly the equivalent of a 1 night's stay at the Santika per person). The 1 hour guided tour included a small cup of freshly brewed organic coffee and a small pack of coffee powder for take-away. Even HQ who normally skipped coffee loved the aromatic gentle taste. For the local standards, the price of the tour was exorbitant. Even though one might gladly pay the premium in developed countries.

After the salty experience at Jalan Malioboro the previous evening, we decided to stick to some “safe” alternatives for our dinner this evening. About 5 minutes walk from our hotel brought us to the door steps of Pizza Hut Indonesia. We were pleasantly surprised with their courteous service where piping hot pizzas were served promptly from the kitchen. Compared to last evening, our dinner at Pizza Hut was delicious and value for money. We stopped by for some last minute grocery shopping at the Circle K convenience store opposite the road as SS was craving for some piping hot soup. We found crossing the Yogyakarta roads an even more uphill task compared to Hanoi as the drivers making their road turns would never give the pedestrians the right of way.

We spent the rest of our evening cooping up in our hotel rooms for our sunburn "regime" as we welcomed the early hours of day 3 in Yogyakarta.

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