We got our bags in the hold and found our seats at the back of the bus next to the spare driver. We were then moved to different (more comfortable) seats by one of the bus company staff. We were very happy with our new seats.

The next three hours were filled with crazy driving down windy roads and I felt a bit sick! Thankfully by the time we reached Gilimanuk port town for the ferry ride I felt much better. We waited for a little while before the bus was driven on to the ferry and in this time we were entertained by various food hawkers coming on and off the bus, as well as people selling papers and buskers.

We were driven onto the ferry where Neil and I got off and found a seat upstairs just before we set sail. The ferry ride was the roughest crossing I have ever been on. We could see the lights on the shore disappearing and reappearing again - it made me feel really dizzy but not sick, thank goodness! There were a lot of people rushing to the toilets, hand over mouth, to be sick. I think if we had been travelling in the day light we both would have suffered more!

After about 30 minutes (and after noticing we were 2 of only 3 western people aboard!) there was an announcement in Indonesian, and we guessed by everyone moving back to the steps that it was time to get back on the bus. Once everyone was seated we drove off the other side of the ferry, now on the Island of Java, and we gained an hour in time too!

We drove for a fair few hours before we stopped at a service station type place. The man sitting in front of us motioned us to get off to get some food; we were going to anyway but were touched by this friendly notion. We were thrilled when we realised that our meal was included in the price of our bus ticket - so we filled our boots with what was on offer - chicken and rice! After dinner I made my way to the toilet, knowing this will probably be our last stop before sunrise, but never got to use the facilities due to Indonesian women stripping off and bathing in the mandi's! I had also seen a worried looking Neil motioning me back, as everyone else was getting on the bus and he was scared we would be left behind. Luckily the bus had a toilet (it was disgusting but needs must) so I relieved myself and then tried to get as comfortable as possible in the reclining seat which isn't as comfortable as it sounds but I settled under the blanket and hoped for the best!

We woke up about 6am, after a very broken night's sleep, to see lots of Javanese people on their way to work or school - it was really busy! We arrived at a bus office in Yogyakarta about an hour later and were told we were here - not at all where we expected to be dropped off. We stood around for a while wondering what to do, which meant we stood around with our hands on our hips looking blankly at each other until some of the others on the bus tried to help in us in very broken English.

It appeared that the only way to get to the centre of town from where we were was in a taxi, so after Neil haggled a price we jumped in one and were soon dropped off outside the train station opposite the backpacking area. We made our way down one of the gangs and started the search for a room. As soon as we started looking we were accosted by a local man who wanted to 'help' us, but who blatantly got commission from the guesthouse if we took a room he'd shown us.

After he had whizzed us around a few places not to our liking, we politely told him Thank you but that we could look on our own - twice! He continued to follow us around, even though we were ignoring him. It was such a weird situation. We really struggled to find a room, but eventually found one at a place that wouldn't give him commission so he finally b*****ed off. He was a right pain!

Unfortunately the room wouldn't be ready for another couple of hours so we went for a walk around and got some breakfast. We mooched around the shops for a while, looking for some wet weather shoes for Neil but I think his big European feet mean we may be out of luck! We wandered up and down Marlborough Street (the main street in the area) before heading to the train station to get our tickets for Jakarta for a few days time.

The train station was rather confusing. You had to take a ticket with a number on (like at Argos!?) and then fill in a form with which train you wanted on it. Sounds fairly easy but there were no instructions in English, and the trains were all listed in Indonesian too. We filled in the form as best we could (Thanks Lonely Planet!) and then waited an hour or so until our number was called. I got really wound up at one point while we waited as a western couple had walked in, by passed the system and walked straight up to a counter to be served - why did they think everyone else was waiting!? It just makes all westerners look arrogant, and we all get tarred with the same brush and it isn't fair! Rant over!

Anyways, we made our way up to the counter when our number was called and handed over our slip. We had picked the wrong box and requested first class tickets - not what we wanted, so the man looked for second class seats instead (why did we need the form if he could change what was on there??). We purchased the second class non air-con seats for an overnight train arriving in the capital at 4am - should be an experience!

Back at the guesthouse we checked into our room and spent the afternoon rather lazily as I had a headache and didn't feel too well at all. We went out for some dinner returning early for a good night's sleep.

We had a great night's sleep, and after a shower and some breakfast felt ready for the world again. We had ear marked the Lonely Planet walking tour for today so set off on that fairly early. We started off walking down the main street, Jalan Marlborough, looking at all the stalls and shops before reaching the local market - Pesar Beringharo. I was amazed at how big it was. 3 floors jammed with stalls selling everything you can imagine, and it was lovely to have a look around and not be harassed at all (one of the reasons we like the local markets). After this we carried on down the main street past food stalls, cyclos waiting to be hired and bands playing until we reached the old Dutch fort Benteng Uredeburg which unfortunately was surrounded by scaffolding and screens so we could only see the entrance.

As we walked towards the Kraton we saw some men giving haircuts on the side of the street and Neil decided to go for it. The man who cut Neil's hair looked about 100 with no teeth; it was such a funny experience, especially to see the look on Neil's face when the old man got the cut throat razor out! As I sat on the bench watching and taking photos I was spoken to by a man who worked for the local tourist office and was the hairdresser's grandson (unbelievable as the man talking to me looked about 40!). He said he had told his grandfather to give up work, but he carried on as he enjoyed it. I was also accosted by another man as I sat here who was helpful enough but I suspect he may have been a batik salesman.

We said thank you and paid the 5000 Rupiah (35p) for Neil's hair cut and carried on along our walking tour. I don't think much hair was actually cut off but it certainly was a little tidier! A little further down the street and Neil bought a coconut for the juice to quench his thirst. I had a taste but didn't like it much!

We soon found the disappointing bird market - no birds on sale at all just fruit and vegetables. We carried on past Taman Sari (an old water fountain complex) and towards Alun Alun. These are 2 trees and it is believed that if you can walk between them blindfolded you are predicted good fortune. You could see where the grass had been worn away from people walking between them. Lacking a blindfold we gave this a miss but carried on walking to another popular area of Prawirotaman. Here we stopped for some lunch at an environmentally friendly restaurant - it was delicious. We also bought a purse and bracelet in the shop. All products are made by local people trying to support themselves so it was nice to give something back.

We then started the long walk back to the Sosrowijayan area which is where our guest house is. On the walk back we were greeted with lots of hellos and smiles - it's such a friendly place here. Back at the room we did some reading, internet research and chilled out. We also booked our tour for tomorrow and watched some TV with an early night scheduled ready for the 4.00am start!

We were awake at 4am for our 5am pick-up; we had breakfast at the guesthouse before setting off towards Borobudur. I couldn't believe how many people were awake at 5am as we made our way through the streets - people were at markets and on buses, it was crazy! We arrived at Borobudur and paid our entrance fee with 50% off thanks to our ISIC cardsJ. We then walked up towards the temple just as the sun was starting to appear through the clouds.

It was beautiful. The temple has so many intricate carvings that have luckily survived recent earthquakes and volcano explosions. We enjoyed making sure we circled the top 3 times clockwise to respect the Buddhist temple. It has loads of bell shaped statues at the top, culminating in one big bell shaped stupa. The Buddhist temple has the most stunning backdrop of palm trees, rice fields and mountains - simply amazing.

We were surprised that it wasn't very busy, not compared with other sights we have been to anyway. I was also shocked at how some people were dressed - skimpy shorts and boob tubes don't feel very respectful to me when visiting a religious sight but maybe I am just being old and judgemental? Neil laughed at my bright outfit today telling me I was old because I didn't care what people thought about what I wore! Thanks hubby!

We went back down to the entrance to wait for the rest of the group and our guide, grabbing a free cup of tea while we did so. We were then driven an hour and a half across busy Yogyakarta to Prambanan. This is a very Angkor Watesk looking Hindu temple with smaller surrounding temples being Buddhist. We wandered around all the temples which are beautiful but not as breathtaking as Borobudur. We also enjoyed a little train ride to get to the temples a little further away. It was again a place of lovely intricate carvings. Unfortunately some of the smaller temples are in a slight state of disrepair but the good news is they are currently being reconstructed. People here are so friendly - We had so many hellos and someone also stopped to take our photo.

We were taken back to the guesthouse, where we got changed and went straight back out for some grub - it was about 2pm by now so we were very hungry! We went to the local shopping centre and ate at the food court - delicious, traditional and cheap! We did a spot of shopping and then returned to the room to relax; we were both tired after our early start this morning. We chilled in the room watching TV, travel planning and just enjoying not doing much. We went out for tea later at a restaurant down one of the gangs before returning to the room for a fairly early night after an exciting day.

We had a little lye in today which felt like a long one compared with yesterdays 4.00am alarm call. We had some breakfast and went out to the Sultans Palace. On the way Neil's tummy started grumbling so he had some noodles off a lady in the street - they were delicious. I have to admit I was rather underwhelmed by the Sultans Palace. There was a huge lack of signage so we were confused at what we were looking at. As well as this none of the architecture was particularly stunning or different. We both left feeling a little disappointed.

After this we went to the bus stop to catch the bus to the zoo. The buses have a different system to what we have at home, where you pay in like a shelter thing before you get on the bus and then they tell you which number bus to get on. When our bus came we were herded on with the other passengers by the conductor lady. The conductor lady spent the whole time arranging people into the right order for them to get off the bus. It was so cramped. After about 15 minutes the conductor lady turned to me, smiled and told me it was the zoo stop. She had been so stern the rest of the journey I was genuinely touched and surprised at her kindness!

We got off the bus and walked the short distance to the zoo paying the 1 pound entrance fee - 1 pound! Bargain! It was a great zoo. We stopped and had some food - nasi pecil for me and mie ayam, for Neil. Surprisingly the food was not at an inflated price inside the attraction, but the same as you would pay anywhere. We saw elephants, tigers, bears, zebras, snakes, geckos, lizards, rhinos and lots of fish. Neil especially enjoyed the fish touch and feel pool! We were photographed a couple of times by local tourists and it reminded me of our days in China.

We also saw a kangaroo with a baby Joey in her pouch, so cute, it was amazing. We were lucky (or maybe unlucky) enough to catch the snakes feeding time so witnessed the keeper putting live mice into the tanks. The snakes then either squeezed the life out of the mice before eating them or simply swallowed them down whole still alive! You could see the mouse moving down the snake's body once it had been swallowed - so weird!

The main attraction for us was the komodo dragons. The komodo dragons only live on the islands of Flores and Komodo in Indonesia but the zoo has successfully bred some to try and stop the species from dying out. They are like a cross between a big lizard and a crocodile - scary. They are also deadly and can kill you with the bacteria in their saliva when they bite you (they also move really fast!) and this is why we did not choose to go and hunt them when we had the opportunity on Flores and neighbouring island Komodo. It was however great to see them here in the zoo.

We wandered around some more and saw someone feeding a hippo an apple. The hippo was huge and it had a massive jaw! After a few enjoyable hours at the zoo we got the bus back to the main street. Back at the room we relaxed for a while before going out for dinner.

After a delicious dinner we searched for some flights home and were amazed to find two seats to Heathrow from Rio on 28/01/13 for just over 400 pounds each! We had been quoted over 800 pounds each for our flights home, so deciding this was too much of a bargain to miss we bit the bullet and booked them. We have been discussing and trying to plan South America for a while as well as assessing our cash and we feel this is about the right date for our return. It feels weird knowing when we will be going home after such a long time of uncertainty. It's not a happy or sad feeling - just weird. I guess it signifies the next step for our lives together J .

We enjoyed another lye in before having breakfast and checking out. We went for a wander to do a spot of shopping but most stalls were not open yet so we decided to go to McDonalds for an ice-cream. It is the first day of Ramadan today which meant that there were a lot less food stalls about. Also all the eateries had drapes or blinds across the windows and doors, so as not to offend people taking part in Ramadan. This is something I have never seen before.

We munched down our ice-cream and carried on shopping purchasing a pair of canvas shoes for big foot Neil - a very rare size 11 found so we snapped them up! I had less luck at the market and didn't find anything I liked so we gave in and went for some lunch. We went back to the guesthouse and used the free Wi-Fi for a little while before deciding to try the shops on the main street again.

We returned from the shops happy with a pair of trousers for me, and some matching t-shirts for us both. They are all the rage in China and we thought they were funny so bought some! It was then back to the guesthouse to collect our bags and make the short walk to the train station.

Hope you lot are still enjoying the blog J

Lots of love and miss you all millions xxxxx