After my great experience on my first trip to Indonesia (where I stayed in Bali only), I always wanted to discover other places in this huge country.
On April 11, I arrived in Jakarta early in the morning. Although it’s the second largest city in the world, there‘s not much to do. I enjoyed the amazing view over the endless city at a fancy skybar in the center and rummaged at a large market (Pasar Tanah Abang).
Two days later I went to Yogyakarta. I stayed at Mergangsan, a really nice and quite area in the south.
One day I got up in the middle of the night to go to the Borobudur Temple, which had been on my bucket list for ages. I arrived at about 4am. At this time, tickets are sold at an associated hotel only (Manohara Resort), and the entrance fee is much higher than during the day (about USD 34, it includes an abundant buffet breakfast at the hotel when you return from the temple). You get a torch and go to the top of the temple in the dark, accompanied by religious songs which cover the entire area. Just before dawn, it’s getting very crowded with selfiestick tourists. I made the best of it and walked around the upper platform to take some good shots without the crowds. Finally I was interviewed by Indonesian students who want to improve their English language skills. That happened very often to me when I was traveling on Java. After Borobodur I went to the so called „Chicken Church“ (Bukit Rhema) to get another amazing view over green Java.
There are a lot of other activities to do in Yogyakarta: Visit Prambanan or another of the dozens temples in the surroundings. Have a little adventure at the caves Jomblang or Pindul. Roam in one of the rainforests (I went to Mangunan). Enjoy the view to Yogyakarta from Bukit Bintang. In town, you can visit Taman Sari Water Castle and the Malioboro shopping street.
From Yogyakarta I made an amazing train journey along the magnificent landscape with thousands of rice fields, and very poor settlements on the other hand. My final destination on Java was Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, which I will show in the following post.