Blogs from Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia, Asia - page 25

Arrived from solo - much bigger city & many more tousists..hence not liking it as much, but still some nice things to see....palaces, especially the water palace (taman sari - had a great time playing with kids in the water!! : ) more markets full of wonderful foods, spices, etc. saw batik making & leather puppets - very high quality work & great to watch. i was very good tho - still not bought a single thing!!! amazing food here too & so cheap! (a full mela & drink for around 30-50p - keeping to the local places anyway - any touristy places become at least triple/ quadruple that!) watched the famoud Ramayana dance at open air theatre, based on the rama & sinta story. yogya defintely not my most favourite place so far, mainly due ... read more

Untitled Java, not quite the luxurious package tour that I firmly had in mind. I've been using the crazy Indonesian Bus system (and one ferry (that made NZ's crappy inter-islander look like a cruise liner). This island is so packed- there are so many people- 100 million infact, so with it come buses, trucks, scooters and plenty of pollution to go round- I've had my fair share. I took a gamble again as I never learn. My Bus from Denpassar Bali arrived in a Javanese town- called Probolinggo at 3am (not ideal). Everything was shut (except the local mosque) and here I was ready for the Probolinggo "how the hell do I get out of here challenge". Anyway things always work out for me just beautifully. I found a lovely mattress to sleep on in a ... read more

Von Kuala Lumpur aus sind wir mit dem Bus Richtung Melaka gefahren, dies war frueher die Hauptstadt Malaysias. Dort haben wir eine sehr schoene, saubere und billige Unterkunft gefunden und bezogen. Da die Stadt nicht sehr gross war, haben wir bereits nach zwei Tagen alles Sehenswerte besichtigt (Highlight war ein Caramel-Frappucino im Starbucks...). Da wir das Stadtleben satt hatten, beschlossen wir kurzerhand nicht nach Singapore weiterzureisen, sondern auf dem Wasserweg uns ueber die Grenze nach Indonesien zu schmuggeln (nach Dumai). Nach einer 4stuendigen und sehr wackligen Fahrt wahren wir froh, wieder Festland unter den Fuessen zu haben. Die Wasserstrasse von Melaka nach Dumai ist heute noch bekannt dafuer, dass die Schiffe von Piraten der Neuzeit ausgeraubt werden. Wir haben jedoch das Risiko auf uns genommen und hatten gluecklicherweise Glueck! Nach der Schifffahrt mussten wir da ... read more

I've just had an amazing experience and it all began with a simple motorbike ride. A local Balanise man took me on the back of his motorbike to the shops. From there we visited two small villages, ate stuffed pig in a local market and went to his family home. Afterwards we arranged to watch baraong and trance dancing, which is a series of dances that depict the struggle of good versus evil. This dance is an integral part of their village culture and is most definitely not for tourists. As I sat there in my traditional dress I was completely overwhelmed by what I saw and felt. I was both intrigued and apprehensive, then stunned, bemused and finally scared. As I watched the evil dancers fall into a trance I honestly felt terrified of them, ... read more

It rained, it finally rained. John figured out how to arrange the fans and the windows perfectly so that sleeping is now amazing, especially with the sound of the rain cleaning up everything. I have the most vivid dreams here, American dreams, last night it was something about my mother. I go to sleep hearing Bahasa Indonesia, reviewing words and intonations to lull myself and wake up in English. We have been here less than two weeks now and already we are already quite cosy. As our friends say, living in Yogya is enak (comfortable) while Jakarta, on the other hand, can be quite cruel. But I don't mean the flooding, just big city life in general. We have slowed down our pace quite unintentionally, even my breathing seems slower, and thinking up the words to ... read more