Since the take off of Silk Air from Singapore Changi, the view of the islands below never ceased. The Sumatra shoreline was very long. Soon Java came into view. Very long and very narrow. The volcanoes were on the other side of where I was sitting (as usual), but the plane made a right turn and circled above Yogyakarta several times as if to give everyone onboard a chance to view the volcanoes. the summits of two were in plain view, above the clouds. One was of course Merapi and the other could be semeru which was spewing white smoke. Such a nice welcome view to Indonesia!
I've never heard of Yogya until I saw the trip. Our hotel, the Duta Garden, full of greenery and watery pools, was located in the old part of the city, nestled among alleyways, a micro city within a city. I quite enjoyed this hotel. the walk to the main drag where there were restaurants, shops, banks and convenient stores, was through a meander of alleys, lined on both sides with quiet single residences. I really liked this place.
8-6
java decor was not known for extravagance. The sultan palace, the Kraton, was constructed in traditional javanese architecture of simple black and white decor, nothing like the brilliant multi-color tiles and statues of, for example, thailand. I'm not sure if i prefer the toned down or the attractive eye catching colorful decorations. upon entry to the palace, everyone was first attracted to the gamelan musicians who were playing a monotonous tune that sounded very japanese. paused a moment to let the melody soothe your soul. here we've learned about the current and past sultans of Yogyakarta, the special region of Indonesia, in a museum dedicated to the last sultan. Next the Taman Sari water palace with bathing pools was also simple in decor. We climbed the narrow steep stairs to the top of the tower adjacent to the pool, but the view wasnt that great. We took the becaks, the bicycle rickshaw, to explore town. I've never enjoyed these things. They were bumpy and uncomfortable.
in late afternoon, just as the sun set behind the 9th century towers, we visited the temple compound of Prambanan, which from afar, almost resembled angkor wat. 3 main towers for the 3 main deities, Brahma, Shiva and Vishu, with their respective smaller temples in front of each, dedicated to the vahana (mount) of each god, Nandi, Garuda, and Hamsa. the hindu architecture not as stunning as the khmer ones. didnt tug my heart as much. but nonetheless still interesting and impressive.
on the second evening, we had very good laksa in one of the restaurants. It came in red, green and yellow curry. I had the yellow one, normally not my favorite, but I felt like some potatoes that evening. It was really good albeit a bit too spicy for my taste. I really liked this town.
Back at the Duta Garden hotel, took Snowie to meet Lilephant, Kenneth's stuffie. Snowie was a bit shy at the start and gingerly checked out lilephant who was much smaller, grey with grey and white ears, pale eyes and a long trunk, absolutely cute and very very bashful. But after a while they relaxed and cozied up. Cute stuffies.
Yogya photos:
Prambanan photos:
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