Yogyakarta (Jogja), Java, Indonesia - 3/1/10

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Happy New Year!!

We're in Yogyakarta, called Jogja by the locals, having had a very busy day of travel yesterday. To recap:

On the 30th we arrived in Pangandaran, and we stayed for New Year's Eve on the 31st. But then we decided we wanted to move on because it was rammed and very expensive because everyone in Indonesia seemed to have gone there for a holiday as well!

On the 1st we went to Batu Karas - advertised in Lonely Planet as a sleepy one lane fishing village. Hmmm.... not exactly true, seeing as the beaches were almost as rammed as Pangandaran and the hostels all full. Overall we found this part of the coast to be an Indonesian equivalent of the Costa Del Sol!!

So we gave up on the whole effort. Yesterday we got up at 6:30 and went to the Green Canyon just outside of Batu Karas which was fantastic, you can swim up through this canyon that looks like it should be out of something like Indiana Jones. Sarah had a bit of a near-drowning incident but otherwise we can definitely recommend it as something to do if you find yourself there.

Then we headed to Jogja, getting on the back of a couple of mopeds to get to Cejulong, getting a bus from there to Banjar, then getting 2 pechuks (a push-bike thing that you sit on the front of) to the Banjar station, getting another bus to Purwokerto and then a final but to Jogja, arriving at about 10pmish (after sorting a taxi from the bus terminal). Quite a long day!

Jogja seems nice and is apparently a cultural city, so we'll get out and see some of that in a bit. Then we're hoping to get to the Bromo volcano - one of the most famous and impressive volcanoes in Java!

I hope you all have a great new year!

Tim

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