Saturday, 25 May 2013 – Yogyakarta (Jogja)

After breakfast we set out along Jalan Malioboro to the Sultan’s Palace admiring some of the Dutch colonial buildings on the way.

At the Kraton we watched a shadow puppet show and then took our time wandering through the various courtyards and pavilions.

In one of the displays we found this painting of the Sultan complete with ceremonial ears!!

After leaving the Kraton, we caught a taxi to the Bird Market located on the outskirts of Jogja. There we saw snakes, bright green iguanas, turtles, a small Komodo dragon and a huge Burmese python (reputedly fed a dog every three weeks). There were also hedgehogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, a hare, mice, squirrels, tiny gliders, bats, and a mongoose. The range of birds was amazing from tiny hummingbirds, silver eyes and finches through to owls, parrots, woodpeckers, cuckoos, and various songbirds and more mundane birds – chickens, budgies, doves, pigeons and canaries all stored in large wicker cages. Some of the birds were incredibly beautiful but it was a little sad to see them all in cages.

Then there was the live food for the birds – mealie bugs, crickets and ants’ eggs all writhing in their different baskets.

In another section were all the dogs and cats – including some dogs with their ears cut off apparently to assist in hunting for pigs in the jungle. A helpful stall holder told us that there was a singing contest (birds only) and cock fights on Sundays.

Friday, 24 May 2013 – Prambanan Temple & Yogyakarta

It was an hour and a half to drive from our hotel at Borobudur to the Prambanan temple complex. On the way our taxi driver Fendi (the same guy that took us to Borobudur) stopped at a small supermarket where he purchased an energy drink, but despite that he still managed to fall asleep at some traffic lights just outside Yogyakarta. He didn’t seem to hear the cars behind him honking furiously and Keith had to wake him up!!

The temple complex is the largest Hindu temple complex in Java and was located in a beautiful park. Once again we had a view of Mount Merapi in the background. The complex contained three main temples surrounded by a series of smaller temples and shrines all dedicated to Hindu deities in various stages of repair. The complex suffered extensive damage during an earthquake in 2006 and some of the temples were fenced off. The temples were very different to the temple complex we had seen at Borobudur. These were towering vertical structures with a square base constructed from large porous stone blocks and decorated with reliefs depicting tales from the Ramayana. On each of the four sides of the temple were a set of stairs leading to a central chamber housing the deity to whom the temple was dedicated. We spent almost two hours walking around each temple on the site and climbing up the very steep stairs. In the main temple dedicated to Shiva we were issued with green hard hats despite notices saying that the temple was “relatively” stable.

After our visit our taxi driver took us to Yogyakarta.  Our hotel was located in a tiny laneway off Jalan Sosrowijayan lined with cheap guesthouses, tiny Laundromats, hole in the wall money changers and dodgy looking travel agents offering tours to Borobudur, Prambanan, Mount Bromo and Mount Merapi. Outside most of the establishments along the laneway were hung wicker cages containing songbirds.

 

Parallel to our street was the main shopping street of Jalan Malioboro stretching from the train station to the Sultan’s Palace (Kraton). The sidewalks on both sides of the street were crowded with mobile food stalls and makeshift stalls selling batik clothing, bags and fans, t-shirts, sunglasses, motorcycle helmets and colourful rubber thongs. The streets were crowded with people, cars, becaks (pedal rickshaws), horse carts and a never ending stream of scooters.

Thursday, 23 May 2013 – Borobudur & Mendut Temples

The alarm went off at 5:45 am and as pre arranged by the hotel, we went to the restaurant where we had a simple breakfast. Then we went to reception where we found that our pre-booked transport (which we expected to be motorised) was actually a small Indonesian man with a tiny cycle rickshaw (becak) which we both had to somehow fit into. It was hard work for the rickshaw driver as he had to push our combined weight plus his own weight and the journey seemed to take an age.

At the entrance gate we were issued with a Borobudur sarong and passed through a metal detector before entering the temple complex.

Our first sight of the temple was from the east side - the temple was surrounded by beautiful lush green gardens with the Mount Merapi volcano providing a spectacular backdrop. Borobudur Temple seemed to be an enormous sprawling structure – made up of six square platforms topped by three circular platforms. We spent the next three hours climbing up the stairs and walking around each platform admiring the reliefs and Buddha statues which were housed in alcoves. The top three circular platforms held 72 Buddha statues housed in perforated stupas. The whole monument was constructed from black andesite volcanic stone which had to be hauled up the hill from the surrounding rivers.

Later on the site started to get busy with hordes of Indonesian school kids wanting signatures and photos. In the beginning we found this quite amusing as we were mildly flattered by our newfound celebrity status, but this rapidly transitioned to mild annoyance and finally to our complete refusal to cooperate.

We found our rickshaw driver and he took us to Mendut Temple after changing from pedal power to a motorised rickshaw – much to our relief.

Mendut Temple was the starting point for the Waisak (Buddha’s birthday celebration) procession which would ultimately finish at Borobudur.  It was much smaller and contained a bronze Buddha which was being decorated with garlands of flowers for Waisak.

Outside Mendut temple, we had a coconut rice and palm sugar snack which was heated in an improvised steamer contraption held in some panniers on the back of a scooter.

After getting back to the hotel we went out for a walk around the nearby village. We took photos of green rice paddies and papaya plantations. There were baskets of peanuts, cloves and orange corn drying in the sun by the roadside.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

After raving about Air Asia yesterday we suffered a small setback today – taxied down the runway only to stop suddenly and turn back due to “technical difficulties” which we were advised would take around 10 minutes to resolve. After the allotted 10 minutes, the captain advised that we had to disembark and change planes so we actually took off over an hour and a half late!!

At Yogyakarta Airport Keith found a taxi driver to take us to Borobudur.  We drove past lots of small roadside stalls and businesses on the way to Borobudur. As we got closer, the stalls gave way to lush green rice paddies and fields

We were really pleased with our hotel as it looked just like the pictures on the internet. It was a small hotel with only sixteen rooms – individual villas set in a series of lush green gardens. These were connected to the open plan restaurant and a pavilion (which served as a kind of communal lounge) by a stone pathway lined with green shrubs, bowls of water with flowers and incense burners.

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

After what seemed like months of talking about it, it was finally time for us to leave Australia.  The alarm went off at the bone chilling time of 5:30 this morning and we left our airport motel and headed off to Coolangatta Airport in the hire car. We felt some last minute pangs of anxiety when our checked baggage had to be weighed. We were limited to 15kgs each and the internet forums seemed to indicate that Air Asia was particularly strict about luggage limits. Suzie’s pack weighed 15.1kgs and Keith’s pack weighed 15.8kgs – but thankfully the lady at the check-in counter didn’t even blink. When we left for our last Round the World Trip in February 2010, our backpacks and daypacks weighed a total of 32kgs. Oh dear!!

Coolangatta Airport was clean and efficient, in fact it was more picturesque than most airports with the green hinterland hills as a beautiful backdrop. The plane was clean and appeared fairly new. Our pre-ordered meal of Nasi Lemak was awesome and was some of the best airline food we have ever had - very happy to fly Air Asia again.

We have a busy week ahead of us – overnight in Kuala Lumpur, Air Asia flight to Yogyakarta, taxi transfer to Borobudur, 2 nights in Borobudur, taxi transfer to Yogyakarta, 2 nights in Yogykarta, Air Asia flight back to Kuala Lumpur, 2 nights in Kuala Lumpur then express train to Ipoh.  After that we’re just going with the flow – we don’t have firm schedules or onward flights booked.