so today i turn 35 and in in a luxury resort with dirt cheap prices in town
still in yogyakarta indonesia
there is a convenience store across the road
coke .65 cents, water .20, ice cream .17 cents, chips .30 cents
room service is the same price as the food court
they even had tradional javanese musicians playing during breakfast

so this morning i got one of those bicycle richsaw guys to drive me around
i picked a fit healthy looking guy not the frail old ones
first he wanted 2000 to take me one way
the he suggested he'll take me all around the palace area and wait for me
and take me back to the hotel for 4000
can u believe thats .40 cents for two hours work in the hot sun!!!
i gave him a 5000 note

so he speaks passable english and apoligized coz he didnt goto school
cant remember or say his name
i always make friends with the locals
so he takes me around to each place and good things is his buddies at each
place take me around too

the royal palace was nice, open air with no walls
quite different from everything u see in europe
then we saw the water gardens which is also quite arabic in concept
but more oriental in design
there was a ruined palace destroyed by an earthquake 200 years ago
last we went to what i call bird flu market
nice exotic birds and a good whiff of bird ****
then even had worms and insects there for sale

afternoon arranged with the cab driver from the airport yesterday to take me to the
historic places of borobudr and parambian
he wanted 500,000 which is $50 which is quite good considering
borobudr is 45 km one way, and parambian is 25 kim the opposite way from the hotel
hotel wanted 600,000 just for borobudr and he was offering both

borubudr was cool.. can u believe they built it 1000 years ago then it was buried by
a volcano and they only found it 200 years ago
lots of volcanoes here, i even saw the mouth of the crater of one
parambian was next, from the same time period as borobudr
they have two prices
8000 for the locals = .80 cents
$11 US for foreigners!!

tonite my richsaw buddy is taking me to an evening javanese dance performance
better not be some sleazy niteclub
this morning i couldnt see javanese dancing or puppet shows coz they said for
ramadan they are not doing it

tomorrow is eid and this is my first time in a muslim country
i have my 8 hour train ride to jakarta so that is how i will
end up spending eid my one time in a muslim country!
looking forward to doing more dirt cheap shopping while im here
i keep getting mobbed by the locals and picking up stuff
will go and order more room service and birthday cake now