Went to Yogyakarta
(I don't know how to say it correctly. I think JoeJakarta might be right)
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| This greets you on the end of a runway when you land |
My friend booked the hotel and I'm happy to say that she picked a great hotel. Staff were super nice and helpful. The rooms were really clean and nice.
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| Our hotel entrance |
It looks as nice on the outside as the inside.
As seems to be the norm, there was controversy in meeting up with my friend. She was coming from Thailand and I was coming from Malaysia. She couldn't get on her connecting flight, so I had to spend the first night alone. Not the best way to start a short vacation, but I've learned a valuable lesson from my travels. The first thing you do is get a SIM card for your phone so you can communicate. Because I did this, I didn't spend a lot of time wandering around the airport waiting uselessly.
The next morning she made it and we started planning what we would do. Our first order of business was to rent a car with a driver. He would then take us to Mt. Merapi, an active volcano, for sunset. I thought this would be a super exciting excursion.
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| my friend and me |
As you can see, not much of a sunset. The ride up to the top of the mountain (I'm assuming this was the top) was an adventure in itself. Once you get there you then have to rent a Jeep and get driven up to the top. The roads are really rough, but lots of fun if you are into off-roading.
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| I think the lava from the volcano came this way. |
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| The remains of the settlements after the volcano was done. |
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| A local rock quarry |
A lot of devastation was left in the wake of the volcano but there was also a lot of nice scenery.
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| There was a small museum on the way to the top |
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| Alien Head rock. I c an sort of see it. |
Here's our transport to the top.
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| Off-roading in a Toyota Landcruiser disguised as a Jeep Renegade |
After a rough ride around the top of Mt. Merapi we made it home safe and sound. Once back to the hotel we immediately had to go to bed because we were going to do the sunrise trip to Borobudur Temple. It left at 3:30am. I wasn't to excited about it, but sunrises are usually pretty nice, so I was in.
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| Sunrise |
As you can see, sunrise was about as successful as sunset was the day before. Having said that, there was certainly some nice scenery to be seen around here.
The walk up to the top of this hill wasn't to hard, but by the time I got to the top I was completely soaked with sweat. This country is very humid.
After the sun rose we went to Borobudur Temple to look around. This is a really old Buddhist temple, and it is actually a nice looking monument.
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| Path to the temple |
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| Borobudur from a distance |
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| Yes, I was really there. |
We got there nice and early, so there wasn't to many people wandering around. It didn't take long though, for school tours to come and that means trouble for foreigners.
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| Picture Please! |
It's a good thing my friend is very attractive, they always wanted pictures with her and not me.
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| Replacement Head |
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| Nice looking park |
Once we were done with that we got back to the hotel around 11am. What to do with the rest of the day? We went to the Water Palace. Stupid me thought, hey it's only a 45min walk by way of google maps. We went to at least two different places before we finally found it two hours later.
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| underground passage |
It's a pretty nice looking place. Lots of work to get to unless you take one of the bike taxi's. It only took about 15mins to get back to the hotel.
That night we just relaxed and took it easy. Had some good eats at a guesthouse restaurant nearby. Food was really good and filling.
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| I ate all of this, except the salad's |
The next day we both went to the airport and traveled back to our respective homes. I had a five hour layover in Kuala Lumpur and I had made arrangements with Hertz rentals to leave my car keys where I could get them, but of course they forgot. I had to wait about an hour and a half for someone to come and give me the keys to my car, but I finally made it home safe and sound. As tiring as the trip was it was exactly what I needed to feel a little work stress relief. It was well worth it all and I would do it again, especially when you consider I only spent about $500.00 for everything. One of the cheapest vacations I've ever been on.
