Pronounced (and in fact often spelled) Jogjakarta, I love this city. With lots of examples of performing arts, it is the cultural centre of Java. The hypnotizing gamelan orchestra music can be heard everywhere, which sounds like a garden full of wind chimes being blown by some magical wind. There are also the famous leather puppet shows and the Ramayana Ballet to which this music belongs. There are cycle rickshaws and horse drawn carriages to take you to the many sights, including the Kraton - the Sultan's Palace. The city even has a backpackers' area, the likes of which I have seen in no Indonesian city so far (hardly surprising considering where I have been), where on Friday there was a great local band playing at one of the bars. The narrow winding alleys and lop-sided buildings help retain a local "kampong" identity, because the accommodation is mostly in family run home-stays.

The ballet is performed indoors until May when it moves outdoors to use the Prambanan temple as a backdrop, and the size of the pyrotechnic display increases. I would love to see that, but I don't think I can hang around long enough.

I have seen plenty of other sights though. I cycled the 14km from the city centre to the Hindu and Buddhist temples, following a canal through rice terraces and villages. It was great to witness rural life on the most heavily populated island on earth. And now that I have got to know this country much better than I did before, I feel slightly embarrassed that one of the first few facts that I threw out was about its predominant religion. But there are so many other beliefs and religions here, many going back to ancient animist ideals; that it is a much more diverse and accepting country than most people realise - myself included.

I also stayed overnight in Borobudur, the sight of a huge Buddhist temple built around 900AD. It is thought that it was abandoned soon afterwards due to a huge eruption from nearby Mount Merapi, but more on that later. I cycled through the villages surrounding Borobudur to visit locals working at their specialised trades. Each village has its own cottage industry - glass noodles, tofu and pottery. I was welcomed into the villagers' tumbledown workshops to see their wares being produced, and offered coffee and food. As I meandered through this beautiful area, I was struck by how many happy smiles I was given, and how much laughter I heard. It always seems to be the people who live the simplest lives that are the happiest.