Blogs from Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia, Asia - page 2

Stretko naplanovane na 7.30. Po navigacii prichadza na skutri pred moje ubytko moslimka. Hlavu zahalenu, na rukach rukavice. Tie ma vsak len na skuter. Ten odstavuje a prilbu si zamyka o sedanku. Otvorila sedanku, popruh dala dnu a sedanku zavrela. Toto som este nevidel, zvacsa si domaci nechavaju prilbu na zrkadle ale zas toto je mesto. Na malioboro ulici zapadame do pojazdneho obcerstvenia. Objednava nam Soto ayam kampung. Polievka s nudlami, ryzou, kuracinou, zeleninou. Velmi chutne, lepsie nez bakso. Po jedle (ona zjedla asi ¼) smer pevnost vredeburg. Ranajky mi dievcina aj na protesty zaplatila. Robi v banke, teraz cez nich dost pumpuju prachu politicke strany, blizia sa volby. Povodne mi ponukala aj noclah ale kedze nemala ziadne recenzie zvolil som len stretko. Ono v azii k ludom bez recenzii spat nepojdem (vynimka bude japonsko). Moc ... read more

Coming back late afternoon after the temples meant every opportunity to get straight out and explore the local area. No rest for the wicked ? My roomie Matthew from the USA but lives in China for 3 years already, went to explore the local streets. To be fair he’s been here for 4 days already so he was pretty much my tour guide which was superb AND of course being the tourist attraction I have become, it made the stares and selfies a bit easier to digest! Lol ? We roamed through the hustle and bustle of Yogyakarta, batik stalls, food stalls, souvenirs - all in its abundance!!! How do they all make money when they sell the same thing?! ? Naturally everywhere you go there’s a McDonald’s and a Burger King and a Pizza Hut ... read more

Once we arrived in Yogyakarta I fell violently ill for about 12 hours with food poisoning , of which I will spare the details but my last beloved meal of fried noodles “Mie Goreng” will sadly never have the same appeal to me. Ive only been similarly sick two other times, once while tea house trekking in Nepal and the other in India. Happily this happened during a time in the trip when we had some downtime and were situated in a comfortable room and I could hang out around a clean toilet. Our hotel (D’Anjek Hotel $25) was situated literally right next door to a Mosque so we got woken up to call to prayer every morning at the ridiculous hours of 0420 and again at about 0520. Coupled with our daily scavenger hunt to ... read more

We woke up at 4.15 in order to be ready for the meeting time of 4.50, when we sleepily dragged ourselves onto the minibus, accompanied by the call to prayer. Through the darkness, we could make out the blurry forms of worshippers heading to the mosque, the traffic far less frantic than it had been on the previous evening. We devoured our pack-up breakfasts in the way that only the sleep-deprived can, and soon we were out of the city as the sky began to lighten around us, a faint pink beginning to appear in the inky dawn. As the sun began to rise, we were able to see more of the scenery around us, and soon the imposing form of Mt. Merapi emerged from the darkness, a plume of steam rising from it, tinged a ... read more

We left the beaches for a few days of culture in Yogyakarta (pronounced and also spelt Jogjakarta) or Yogya (Jogja). The main tourist attractions in the area are the temples which are said to be on a par with Angkor Wat, in Cambodia. The great thing about leaving the beaches behind is you find accommodation, food and drink are much cheaper. This meant we were able to stay in a lovely hotel (with a pool!) on a street that ran parallel to the main backpacker hub. The not so good thing about being in a city is the stiflingly heat, and gridlocked roads. We had three nights in Yogyakarta, which basically gave us two days of sightseeing. Our first stop on day one were the temples at Prambanan, just 17km away. Unfortunately due to traffic it ... read more