We circled Jogjakarta airport for ten minutes before being given permission to land. As we went around and I could see the same landscape time and time again, I could see the skies darkening and I was keen to land before the storm broke. We did, just. The heavens opened just as we settled ourselves in a taxi, and stopped just before we pulled up at our guesthouse. Talk about timing!

We thought we may not need a visa, we did however as exemptions only apply if flying into certain airports. Jogjakarta wasn't one of them. We had no rupees or dollars and there was no cash machine. Oh dear.

Thankfully they accepted Singapore dollars at a poor exchange rate. We just had enough, leaving us two dollars spare. Relief!

We raced against the rain to the other terminal where we were informed there were cash machines so we could pay to travel the 10km into town.

Jogya, as it is affectionately known, is an 'arty' city. Graffiti, but good arty graffiti, adorns walls and any other suitable surface. Colourful rickshaws travel the streets acting as local taxi's, rescuing people from the daily 2pm deluge. Little alleyways burst with independent restaurants and coffee shops serving Javan and Sumatran fresh coffee. The city is peppered with both large and small neighbourhood mosques and the calls to prayer are heard all over the city; it's a sound I always find quite soothing for some reason. At the back of our guesthouse was a Christian church and each evening, the various choirs would practice so as well as the call to prayer, evangelical music wafted through the air. It was a nice environment in which to read whilst escaping the heavy downpours.

Despite the bohemian, culturally diverse ambiance, Jogya is still a busy bustling city, which I'm not keen on. We're here though as it's the gateway to Borobudur, the world's largest Buddhist temple; as though we haven't seen enough through Nepal, Laos and Myanmar!

We could have taken a local bus but as this is our last three weeks, we are seeing it more as a holiday and if we can make life easier, even if it means spending a bit more, we are all for it. So, we arranged our taxi to pick us up at 5am so we arrived at the temple just as it opened, which unfortunately is just after sunrise.

En route we saw our first active volcano, smoke billowing from its crater. We passed lush rice paddies and swaying palm trees; the Indonesia you generally imagine.

The temple was.... a temple. It was nice in that it was quiet when we arrived, the light for the first thirty minutes was great for photos, you could walk all around and see mountains and volcanos as the sky hadn't yet clouded over and it was well preserved. Well actually, it has been totally rebuilt in the last thirty years. I'm glad we've seen it and as a friend said, you can't visit Java and not visit Borobudur.

We're now on a ten hour minivan journey, with rather poor air con, across Java to visit Mt Bromo. From reviews we have read, we are fully expecting the accommodation to be up there amongst the worst of the trip. We won't arrive until 8pm ish and set off up the volcano at 4am so at least we won't be there for long. Our hotel in Jogjakarta, whilst nice enough and clean, didn't induce great sleep. Our room backed onto a building site where work started at 7am on the dot and finished at 10pm. It seemed the work men stayed up on the roof over night getting drunk and partying and so we were also frequently woken during the night by their laughs and music. Sometimes though, it's easier to stay put than traipse around finding somewhere else to stay, when you don't know what that will have in store for you.