Nobody actually says that on Java, but we like to imagine that they might (more on this later).

Java is a massive island, and we spent a long time trying to narrow down the sights that we wanted to see in a realistic time frame. Luckily, Clare's sister had been interested in seeing the same areas as us, so we timed this island with her visit. Upon arriving in Yogyakarta (pronounced with a "j" and often just referred to as, "Jogja"), we immediately noticed that we were in a much quieter area, tourist wise. This translated to relaxing, chaos-free visits at the most famous attractions, which was a welcome novelty!

The two main temples in the area, Prambanan, and Borobudur, are Hindu, and Buddhist, respectively. At Prambranan we took in a performance of the famous Ramayana Ballet in the evening, which featured storytelling through dance, singing, and the famous gamelan (traditional percussion ensemble), which Clare had been waiting to see since first arriving in Indonesia. A perfect package to highlight the cultural side of Java. We visited Borobudur early in the morning to catch some perfect light on the stone of this beautiful temple, and marvelled at the intricacies of the carvings. The complex is set in a pyramid shape, and you slowly wind your way to the top before reaching the open level with the famous bell-shaped stupas. This top level represents the concept of englightenment, and so it is fitting that as you arrive, a certain sense of stillness and calm arises and you take the time to sit and enjoy the quiet space while looking out at the morning mist. Some may scoff, but for Clare, this temple is on par with Angkor Wat in terms of presence and detail, and the complex scores more points in terms of atmosphere. Discuss!

We hired a driver for one day who took us to the south coast of Java to visit Indriyanti Beach - a secluded, rugged coastline with HUGE, crashing waves that reminded us that the next available land directly south of here is Antarctica! Wild! This beach is still very much one used only by locals, and we had it almost all to ourselves. One can imagine though that if/when it is built up, it could be a hot spot for tourists. We also tried out the famous loewak coffee, apparently the most expensive coffee in the world, and found in this area of southeast Asia. The coffee beans are eaten by a little animal called a civet (looks a bit like a cross between a cat and a rodent) and then excreted to be collected again for making coffee. `The digestive process results in a tasty, low-acidic coffee. The only one of us who actually drinks coffee, Clare's sister, declared it to be tasty, with a better aftertaste than regular coffee. So there you have it!

The rest of our time in Yogyakarta was a bit slow going in that we had some difficulty with ATMs and banking and other practical messes that involved the inability to make a proper phone call home to Canada to try and rectify the situation. It is hard to understand why in 2018, there is any scenario that still absolutely requires a telephone call, but clearly this is beyond our scope of expertise. Luckily we were saved with some emergency US dollars that could be exchanged, and so we made it work between the three of us, but it seemed like the situation could get dicey. Looking forward to swiping the good old credit card for everything back in Canada.