The last minute flight from Labuan Bajo to Bali was on a very small propeller plane. Both Chris and I were a little nervous as we climbed the small and very few steps into the plane and took our seats in the second row. We had reason to feel nervous since an aeroplane had gone missing in Eastern Indonesia a couple of days before. However, as soon as we were in the air the incredible views over the world's biggest archipelagic state were enough to take our minds off the nerves. We landed into Denpassar and decided to see if we could catch a flight over to Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia on the island of Java. As it turned out, there was a flight later that evening, so we booked our tickets and went in search of some lunch. Luckily there was a shopping mall a short walk from the airport, an ideal place to spend a day with all our luggage. After a sweaty walk to find it, we plonked ourselves down on a sofa in the air-conditioned mall, and settled in for the day.
Later that evening we caught our flight to Jakarta. We ensured we had a hotel booked for the night, near the airport, and with a transfer since we would be arriving late. With our flight delayed an hour we were grateful for the driver to collect us at 1am. We checked into 'Aerofans’, a ‘Premier Inn’ type hotel, had a nice hot shower and climbed into a very comfy bed.

It took us a little while to realise that we had woken up in Jakarta, having been nearly 2,000Km east 24 hours earlier. With that, we were soon on the internet and trying to suss out how best to spend the next week. Understanding that Jakarta itself was probably not somewhere we wanted to spend an entire week, we soon realised that the best place for us to head to would be Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta is renowned as a centre of education due to its strong Javanese culture and tradition and also the best place to base ourselves for visiting Borobudur and Prambanan. Yogyakarta has become the second most important tourist destination in Indonesia after Bali. However, visiting Yogyakarta would mean either another flight, or a slow 9 hour train taking us over 500km south east.
We thought through our options and before we knew it we were back at the airport and purchasing two tickets to fly to Yogyakarta later that evening. So it was another day of waiting for a flight, but this time at the airport.
It was less than an hour flight to Yogyakarta, then we worked out the bus system to take us to the homestay we had pre-booked. The bus works by purchasing a card at a fixed price, which you use to take you past the turnstile and into the bus ‘shelter’ as such. It is raised up, so that when your bus arrives, the entrance onto the bus is at the same height as the shelter, so you can simply step over onto the bus. If you needed to change buses, as long as you don’t exit the shelter, you can hop on and off buses all over the city for the one fixed price. We jumped off the bus at a landmark given to us by the homestay owner, and walked about 10 minutes to reach ‘Omar Sabah homestay’, hidden amongst the midst of locals. We looked very out of place wandering the streets with our backpacks, and when we approached a street vendor to order some nasi goreng for dinner, they were very shy and embarrassed to communicate with us. Thankfully during our time in Indonesia we had managed to pick up some simple phrases, as we always try to put in the effort to do, so we were able to order in Indonesian.

One of the main reasons for staying at Omar Sabah was the raving reviews, and most importantly the extreme praise for the breakfast. We were sure to inform them that we would like a local breakfast. A large bowl, full to the brim with egg, tofu, tempe, vegetables, sticky rice cubes, and a chicken drumstick, all submerged in a delicious mild curry sauce arrived at our table. The reviews were not lying, or exaggerating. It was by far the best local breakfast we had eaten in Indonesia and ticked all the right boxes. Unfortunately, the great reviews on TripAdvisor meant they were fully booked for this evening, so we were unable to stay another night. We had a quick look online and booked up another room for a couple of nights. Annoyingly this required us to make use of the bus system once more, having to change buses, and then walk a kilometre or so to reach ‘Puri Minggiran Guesthouse’. Our room was lovely – a large, spacious room, with a big flat screen tv, small sofa, en suite, and AC, all for a bargain price of around £7!
We wandered out to have a look around and much to our delight found a sweet lady selling coconut water at the roadside. She added some white sugar syrup to the fresh coconut water which made for an incredibly refreshing and pleasant drink. Just what we needed in the heat of the midday sun. As we gulped down the sugary drink a very friendly and kind looking elderly man approached us on his tricycle. It was one of the more extravagant tricycles we had seen, decorated with British and American rock band logos. Since we were heading to the train station to purchase our return ticket to Jakarta for in a couple of days time, and realising it was around 3km away, we offered him a fair price with which he accepted. We squeezed onto the tricycle, which actually turned out to have a motor and working in our favour, as with him cycling it probably would have taken us all day to reach the train station. He chatted away to us about his time living in NYC as he battled his way through the hordes of mopeds, cars, and other tricycles. Thankfully we arrived at the train station in one piece and quickly popped in to purchase our tickets to Jakarta. He offered us a very good price to wait and take us onto our next destination, Taman Sari Water Palace.
Taman Sari is a site of a former royal garden of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. It consists of four areas: a large artificial lake with islands and pavilions, a bathing complex, an area of pavilions and pools, and another smaller lake. Not a touch on the water palaces we had seen in Bali, mainly because it was in a city rather than in the countryside, but it was still nice to have a look around. After visiting the water palace we walked through the Keraton Palace, which was very uninspiring.
Pondering outside the Keraton grounds a local middle aged man started talking to us. After a short conversation we asked him if he could recommend somewhere for us to have lunch. It turned out that just around the corner was a street lined with eateries and restaurants selling gudeg. Gudeg is a traditional Javanese cuisine made from young unripe jack fruit boiled for several hours with palm sugar and coconut milk. A concoction of spices are added and then served alongside rice, a hard-boiled egg, and a stew made of crisp beef and/or chicken skins. As it just so happened, we ended up walking into a famous and highly rated restaurant, ‘Yu Djum’ along this street. Unsure of exactly what we were eating at the time, and having had a bad reaction to jack fruit in Cambodia, I reluctantly picked away at the dish. Chris tucked straight in and enjoyed it whilst I filled myself up on the crackers served at a ‘help yourself’ basis from a large tin container. We headed back into the city for a look around the central area and much to my delight stumbled across a market.
We had one mission for this evening: to find somewhere to eat with a t.v showing the F1! Luckily and surprisingly this wasn’t too hard for us to achieve. A couple of hundred metres away we found ‘Kedai Kebun’, a restaurant with a social area and t.v with FoxSports. Much to Chris’ delight, we took a seat on the sofas and ordered a beer and some recommended fried tempe. We enjoyed the tempe so much that we also ordered a couple of noodle dishes each, which were also very nice and reasonably priced.

The breakfast at Puri Minggiran wasn’t even comparable to Omar Sabah, but at least it was Indonesian food and not a banana pancake! We had hired a scooter for the next couple of days to enable us to see the sights in our own time. So, we were up early and on the road by 8am en route to Prambanan, a UNESCO World Heritage site. This Hindu temple compound is the largest in Indonesia and one of the largest in SEA. After riding the perimeter of the entire compound and then trying to enter via the exit, we eventually found where we were supposed to be! The compound consists of the Prambanan complex, as well as the ruins of Lumbung, Bubrah, and Sewu temples.
As we approached Prambanan we were taken aback by its pristine beauty. With the main Shiver temple standing at 47 metres tall and 34 metres wide, we couldn’t take our eyes off of this impressive structure. The Prambanan temple complex consists of three zones; first the outer zone, second the middle zone that contains hundreds of small temples, and third the holiest inner zone that contains 8 main temples and 8 small shrines.
Originally there were a total of 240 temples standing in Prambanan, either big or small. Unfortunately, due to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, all of the 8 main temples and 8 small shrines in the inner zone have been reconstructed, some taking 25 years to fully reconstruct. The majority of the 224 pervara temples in the outer zone have deteriorated; what is left are only scattered stones.
As we reached the gate into the Prambanan temple complex we were approached by a friendly Indonesian girl, a few years younger than me. She was training to be a tour guide and was in her last week of training, which involved providing free guided tours of the complex to English speaking tourists. We were delighted to have been approached and very willing to accept a free tour. She was a fountain of knowledge with very good English, but most importantly she was appreciative of our constructive criticism at the end of the tour. She walked us around the complex for two hours, explaining then testing our knowledge. It is always nice to learn in more detail about the history and meaning behind the temples, however I am ashamed to say that most of the time the information goes in one ear and out the other.
After the two hour tour we were in need of a rest so made our way around the border of the complex to find the best spot for some pictures and a sit down, away from the crowds of tourists. We then had the remaining temples to look around, most of which were ruins and under reconstruction. However, Sewu was similar to Prambanan in terms of size and reform. We explored Sewu for half an hour or so before the heat became too much and it was time for us to find somewhere for lunch.
Chris found a recommendation for a restaurant called ‘Spesial Sambal’, and anything mentioning sambal was a winner for him. The restaurant was bustling with locals which is always a good sign. Luckily they did have a menu which had been roughly translated, so we managed to make some sense of it, as well as being nosey and peering at other customer’s tables. We ordered a selection of small dishes along with a variety of sambal and what a feast it turned out to be! Every dish was packed full of flavour and the smallest taste of sambal was enough to blow the cobwebs out! The spice was even at Chris’ limit which is saying something. The meal was great value for money as it didn’t cost much more than an average street food meal and we had plenty of choice, as well as eating in a restaurant. We scooted back to the guesthouse for a short rest and to let our feast of a lunch digest.
Later that afternoon we took the backroads across the countryside to reach Ratu Boko. These ruins stand at 196 metres above sea level. The central compound consists of the main gates, a crematorium temple, a pool, a stone pedestal and the paseban (audience hall). The function of Ratu Boko remains unknown, but some believe it was a palace, others interpret the site as a monastery, and some say it is a place for rest and recreation. We had read that Ratu Boko was a great place to enjoy the sunset, however it seemed we were not the only ones! The grounds were crowded with tourists and locals, and as the sun began to set it only became busier. We could only laugh as groups of friends, couples, and even solo travellers posed in some very awkward and interesting positions. Although it was a nice spot to watch the sunset, I would say it is a better location for people watching. Luckily as the sun set and the sky darkened, the crowds dispersed and we were able to take a picture with no one in! But mainly because we pushed our luck and sweetly smiled at the security guard who was ushering everyone out at 6pm. The best of the sunset was yet to come but it was not possible to stay for it.
We stopped off for chicken rice soup for dinner and Chris couldn’t resist the roti from a street vendor. Unlike the roti we had eaten in Malaysia, this roti was large chunks of bread, smeared with butter and fried to provide a crispy edge. One was filled with Nutella and the other pineapple jam. I was disgusted by the amount of butter the vendor was coating the bread in, however I have to say that it was comparable to a doughnut and was a pleasant treat.

It was a massive shock to the system when our alarms went at 3.30am! But we were up, ready, and on the road by 4am, trying to navigate our way to Borobudur, the world’s largest Buddhist temple, and Indonesia’s single most visited tourist attraction. We prepared for the cold morning with jumpers and temple trousers, but we had not anticipated the additional cold wind from riding the scooter. For once it was a relief when we had to stop at traffic lights, so that we could warm up a little. Needless to say the journey was not pleasant; dark, cold, and long. We arrived just after 5am, purchased the very expensive entrance ticket, picked up a torch, and found our way by following the crowds to the temple.
No one knows exactly who or why Borobudur was built. The monument consists of nine stacked platforms, six square and three circular, topped by a central dome. The temple is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. The central dome is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues, each seated inside a perforated stupa, and each displaying a subtle different hand position to demonstrate varying symbolic meanings. It was absolutely incredible and no wonder it is named as one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world.
Unfortunately the crowds were in to watch the sunrise and we struggled to find a decent spot to sit down on. After a little pondering we accepted that wherever we sat was not going to satisfy our expectations. Nature is always unpredictable and luck was not on our side. Sunrise was not as spectacular as we had hoped. However, the reflecting colours from the sun on the temple was lovely and it was wonderful to enjoy the early morning exploring the magnificent structure. As we wound our way down the varying levels we were impressed by the intricate stories carved into the walls. Some of the most detailed carvings we have come across during our travels. Finally looking at Borobudur front on allowed us to appreciate the sheer size. It was undoubtedly one of my favourite temples.
After a long detour around the grounds having taken the wrong exit, we eventually ended up back at the entrance for our complimentary coffee and traditional Indonesian cakes. It was a perfect setting, sat in the warmth of the early morning sun with views of the spectacular monument. We decided to take the scenic route back, riding amongst the local farmers setting out for work and admiring the villagers purchasing their goods from the morning markets. It was a very pleasant journey back, and we even made it back just in time for breakfast at the guesthouse. Unlike us, we decided to take a nap to revitalise ourselves.
Chris always ensures he researches any specific foods or delicacies for the city we are visiting. Having not been too fond of the gudeg from the previous day, he found a popular beef noodle soup eatery for us to try. The family owning ‘Soto Pak Soleh’ bought us over two beef noodle soups and placed a plate of cow’s innards in front of us! The soup was nothing amazing, and the innards were to my liking! I did try some intestine, which surprisingly tasted quite nice compared to pig’s intestine. More shockingly was the price of the lunch, way above our average lunch and we left feeling a little disappointed.
Yesterday at the market I had noticed an array of ‘bakpia’ – a popular Indonesian pastry with various sweet or savoury fillings. My sweet tooth couldn’t resist purchasing an assorted box for us to tuck into! The brother of the lady we purchased them from informed us of a small student Batik art expedition just around the corner. It sounded interesting so we decided to take a look. The artwork in this small gallery were incredible; really colourful and unusual. The owner briefly explained to us how the artwork is made, using a technique of wax-resist dyeing. A cloth is washed, soaked and beaten with a large mallet, then patterns are drawn with pencil and later redrawn using hot wax, which functions as a dye-resist. The wax can be applied with a variety of tools. After the cloth is dry, the resist is removed by boiling or scraping the cloth. The areas treated with resist keep their original colour; when the resist is removed the contrast between the dyed and undyed areas creates the pattern.
We returned to the soup eatery for dinner, opting for noodle soup, and sampled a couple of the bakpia I had purchased earlier for dessert.

After some rice and soup we caught a taxi to the train station and waited to board the 9am train heading to Jakarta….