Blogs from Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia, Asia - page 5

It was a choice between Bali and Yogyakarta (Jogja) for our year-end trip, and considering the crowd heading to the former, we hopped on the less conventional destination and based ourselves in Kasongan town, some half an hour south of Jogja city to spend our 5 nights spanning 2015-end and 2016-start. Here are 7 experiences we shared while ushering in the new year: 1. Infinite sunset by Parangtritis beach We rented a motorbike and headed down south where the beach was. It was massively crowded! Lots of people enjoying all the various offerings by the beach; ATV across the sand, horse carriage, kite flying, swimming, sunbathing, etc. We were equally amazed at how everyone's having a great time despite the huge crowd. Not wanting to jostle with the locals for space, we took a stroll to ... read more

In Bandung lopen we vroeg in de ochtend naar het station om de trein van 07.20 uur te nemen naar Jogjakarta. Wederom zitten we in de Eksekutif klasse, die dit keer helemaal vol zit. Stipt op tijd vertrekken we in oostelijke richting en maakt Bandung plaats voor het platteland. Vooral de eerste paar uur zijn interessant. De trein gaat door een heuvelachtig gebied dat afgewisseld wordt door uitgestrekte dalen. Dan gaan we met veel bochten omhoog, daarna dalen we weer af een vallei in, waar voornamelijk rijst wordt verbouwd. De kegels van oude vulkanen zien we aan de horizon voorbij trekken. Op het land wordt druk gewerkt: de rijst wordt geoogst of aangeplant, andere akkers worden omgeploegd. Af en toe passeren we een dorpje waar ook een station is. Daar staat altijd een medewerker van de ... read more

Landing in Jakarta: the Airport LIA -- Language in Action, hosted their 2nd International Conference in Yogyakartha at the end of April and beginning of May...still Southeast Asia but how different the culture from Vietnam! Landing in Jakarta at the airport I found so many different groups, each wearing distinct clothing to distinguish membership in that clan as distinct from others -- different colors, different head scarves, some with particular embroidery, some wearing the headscarf in a different way, some wearing skull caps, some a kind of fez. quite extraordinary. I wanted to whip out my camera but was a little too stressed with some visa and passport challenges to fully savor those moments and my first impressions. Hotel Aryudata Changing my plans to fix those problems I had to book a hotel in Jakarta and ... read more

On the train to Surabaya, East Java March 30,2015 Yogyakarta is very pleasant compact city in Central Java. We have had a very enjoyable five days here. It would have been four but one was a Sunday! So what is special about Sundays? Well first it must be appreciated that Indonesia is a country on the move in many ways. It is the third most populous country in the world after India and China and it had seen substantial economic growth over the last twenty five years. Indonesians are mobile and they appreciate that Yogyakarta is the cultural hub of Java. We have met local tourists from Sumartra, Jakarta and Bali at the city's sights. So, when I went to buy tickets on Saturday for the train to Surabaya in East Java on Sunday morning I ... read more

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 ... read more