Yogyakarta is a quiet town of culture. A great deal of my time there was spent trying to book onto a tour to Mount Bromo and onto Denpasar in Bali - unbelievably difficult as a solo traveller. Apparently no one else in town wanted to do the same. I also spent a great deal of time in an amazing bar/cafe, where I sampled Balinese cuisine for the first time which was absolutely delicious and made me keen to get to Bali itself. To my delight and my bank account's chagrin, they also served some good white wine, which helped the people watching go down very well. I couldn't resist a few purchases either - some notebooks (surprise surprise, I think I'm subconsciously collecting them) and a batik painting, which is a traditional Indonesian art form using wax and paint that some may remember from year 7 textiles. I can feel the same dangerous pull to the markets as I did in Vietnam...

One of the main attractions of Yogyakarta itself is the Sultan's palace, which was incredibly interesting. I was shown around the palace by a tour guide to the sound of traditional Javan music being played in the grounds by older gentlemen of the court. The palace is designed with all religions in mind; taking traditional colours from Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism and incorporating them into the design of the palace in order to represent the different religions around Yogyakarta. The family tree room was particularly interesting; paintings of an actual tree represented each Sultan's direct family, the fruit on the branches standing for the sons, the leaves being representative of the daughters of the Sultan. One Sultan had something ridiculous like 83 children by THIRTY wives. I kid you not. Busy guy. The current Sultan married a commoner for love, and therefore is only allowed one wife which is very rare. The lady showing me around of course pointed out the similarities between this situation and Britain's very own Prince William marrying a commoner recently - they love the Royal Wedding in Asia almost as much as everyone loved the four day partying at home.

I rose at 4am one morning to visit Borobudur, an ancient religious site dating back to the 8th century. Borobudur was mysteriously abandoned around the 14th century. The temple is beautiful (very symmetrical), and quite mysterious as not much is known about its' history; no one knows who built it or why. The majority of my time spent there was spent conversing with young Indonesians who were either practicing their English or taking an exam in the language by having a conversation with yours truly, who seemed to be the only Brit around. Most of them were very polite and sweet, but after being asked the same questions about six times in the space of an hour, I was trying to find a quick escape by hinting that I enjoy photography, waving my camera in the general direction of the nearest dome. I later got accosted by a group of boarding school girls in bright pink uniforms with some of the biggest personalities I've had the fortune to meet so far in South East Asia - definitely brought a smile to my face at 6am.

I had thought that Yogyakarta would be a place slightly easier to meet other backpackers but unfortunately not in my experience. It's a great little town which I liked a lot, but at the end of the day even great places are lacking if there isn't much banter going around. Next, off to Bali via Mount Bromo. Fingers crossed for meeting some Brits. (Terrible I know; I've come halfway around the world and I want to meet British people. But frankly they're some of the funniest people around and I could do with a few days of laughing non stop).