sat day 57

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Having booked to stay for a 4th night this morning I had to move from my room to a deluxe room ( but hotel kindly offered it at the same price - I explained im a poor traveller on a budget!) the only difference being a teas made and air conditioning - as apposed to free tea 5 metres from your room and a perfectly adequate fan! After breakfast and heading off together, this time hiring a motorised rickshaw ( our guilty conscience from yesterday!) we were first taken to the sultans palace. With not really a huge amount to see we then popped back to the cafe - which is very close - to say our goodbyes to the lovely couple from Thursday. What is special about the cafe is a large cat type creature - called a palm civet who lives at the cafe. This animal eats the ripest and sweetest of red coffee cherries - usually in the wild in west Sumatra. Enzymes go to work in the civets stomach to give the coffee its bitter taste and then its poo is basically collected, cleaned, sun dried and roasted over cinnamon wood and finally ground to produce one of the most expensive coffees in the world! Not being a fan of coffee - but with lots of sugar I had my 2nd free small glass given to me today. Not being a expert I cant judge it against anything - and with all the sugar it was well sweet and hot! Next on the days agenda was to visit a bird market - sounded like a good idea initially but walking around I didn't like to see them all caged up - they even had baby owls, day glo chicks, bats, crows and lizards all squeezed into tiny cages - as well as many others. Moving on quickly we were taken to see tradional Javanese jewellery being made and after a 20 minute look around the factory the last stop was our hotel. Sitting chatting and learning a bit about Catalonia's fight for independence over Spain ( Rebecca's from Catalonia) we got ready and headed out for some dinner. Not wanting to have such a late night as having to get up early for my flight it was sad to say goodbye after spending a lovely few days together. Me heading east while Rebecca heads to Singapore at least we could share some hints and tips for our travels. Back in my room I packed and set my alarm for 05.30.

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