Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Well I arrived in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on March 8th and it didn't look good from the start. It was pouring rain and I had no reservation for a hotel prior to my arrival. That being the case, I just decided to grab a taxi and try my luck. After what seemed like hours (Yogyakarta has insane traffic problems and basically no traffic laws to speak of,) I arrived in the Sosrowijayan area which is ground zero for backpackers in this city. To add to my list of building problems, it happened to be somebody important in Indonesia's birthday and everyone and their brother was in town for the celebration. So now I was dealing with rain and what looked like no rooms to sleep in.

Just when I thought I was out of luck, a nice man saw me and realized what situation I was likely in. He then came up to me and told me that he had one room left in his "losman" or hotel. I gladly accepted his generous offer and then settled down for the night. The room was very basic but worked great. After dropping my stuff down, I went back to the street to see what was around. It had stopped raining by this point and so I decided to go hunting for a tourist agency to book a tour to this area's two most famous sights, the Buddhist, Borobudur Temple and the Hindu, Prambanan Temple Complex. I was successful and was then set up on my tour for the next day.

The next morning I awoke at 5:00 AM so that we could be at Borobudur for the sun rise and man was it worth it. Upon our arrival to the temple, which is fairly high up on a mountain, we hiked up to the top and watched as the sun appeared out of the mist of the extremely green and lush surrounding foothills. I have seen the sun rise over the Red Sea at Masada in Israel and this reminded me of that. It is simply amazing and something that I will never forget.

After walking around the temple grounds for a while longer, we set out for the Prambanan Temple complex. Upon our arrival at the Parambanan Temple Complex, I was once again amazed at the simple architectural achievement that these temple builders accomplished when this complex was build back in the 9th century A.D. The main temple stands a staggering 47 meters above the ground and that temple as well as the surrounding temples are FILLED with intricate carvings and statues dedicated to the various gods of the Hindu Religion. That was all for day one.

Day two brought me to a new hotel (the other one was full) but it worked out to my benefit. I now had a swimming pool at my disposal. After checking in, I dropped my stuff off and set out for another day of sight seeing. The first sight that I went to on day two was the Kraton, which is the Indonesian word for Sultan's Palace. This was very neat and was filled with HUGE open air rooms that were at one time used for various performances and ceremonies. I unfortunately did not get to see the living quarters (the Sultan currently lives there) and so it was off to stop number two. Stop number two was Yogyakarta's famous "Bird Market." As the title indicates, this is a market where thousands of birds, from little parakeet type birds, all the way to roosters, are sold daily. This was quite a spectacle and I do not think that I have ever seen so many birds in one place in my life. The final stop on day two was the Water Palace. This is another one of the Sultan's Palaces and use to be used for royal bathing and cooling down when it got hot out. It is no longer in use but was still quite a sight.

One final thing that I have DEFINITELY noticed and REALLY taken advantage of in Indonesia is how absurdly cheap things are. My dinners have basically cost me around 3 dollars each for as much food as I can eat, my hotel costs 15 dollars per night for a NICE place (you can pay at little as 4 dollars if you want just the basics) and a taxi to anywhere in the city only costs 2 dollars. That really puts things into perspective. A typical salary for a rice field worker here is 1 dollar a day. That amounts to 365 dollars a year at the absolute most. Just something to think about...

Well that pretty much brings me to the end of my Yogyakarta experience. Tomorrow it is off to what Southeast Asia is REALLY famous for. The golden beaches, crystal clear water, and never ending party. Time to head to Bali tomorrow. Until next time...


Also, if you want to see pictures from my travels do the following:

1. go to http://www.snapfish.com/

2. Click on login

3. In then field that says "email" type: motleyevan7397@yahoo.com

4. In the field that says "password" type: motleycrue

5. Browse on any of the albums titles "Trip of a Lifetime" The description accompanying each album will tell you where the pictures from each album took place.