We departed via metro train to the Singapore airport around lunchtime- next stop, Indonesia! We were a little disappointed to find out our flight was out of terminal 4- a newer terminal that doesn’t have all the glitz and glam that the rest of Singapore airport is famous for. We had seen specials on all the fascinating things at the Singapore airport and were looking forward to exploring- oh well. We did have access to a nice lounge where we had one more bowl of Laska for breakfast- yum!

And Conner really likes thing Asian 100 plus drink – like an energy gatorade type beverage

Our hour long flight on Air Asia was delayed 2 hours. Once boarded, the flight was quick and we soon arrived in our first Indonesian stop, Yogyakarta on the island of Java. A rather large city, Yogyakarta is located in Central Java, and is the only region governed separately by their own Sultan. Indonesia consists of about 18,000 different islands, Java being one of the largest.

Going through customs was quick and easy, and we didn’t need a visa, only our US passport. As soon as we stepped outside, we were swarmed with taxi drivers begging us to pick them as our driver. Conner had googled how much it should cost to get to our hotel and the drivers were all asking for much more. In many Southeast Asia countries we have learned it is best to negotiate the price before getting in the taxi. One man finally lowered his asking price and we compromised. He was very nice and spoke good English. He gave us his card and said to call him if we wanted him to be our tour guide to the temples the following day. Driving through the city, we immediately felt like we were in the SE Asia we remembered from other cities such as Bangkok, Siem Reap, Saigon. Singapore and KL were not typical SE Asia cities. They were so clean with everyone well dressed, and traffic flowing smoothly. Yogyakarta, known by the local as Jogja, definitely had a rougher, more rugged vibe. Hectic motorbikes and cars driving without any apparent order. Three, and four people on one motorbike, often times even a small baby or child. We arrived at the beautiful Jogja Dusun Village Inn, a lovely fortress like hotel. It was such a pleasant, earthy place somehow in the middle of a crazy city. The pool area was so lovely, and our room so pretty!

We enjoyed a nice lunch at the restaurant overlooking the pool.

A torrential downpour rain began, and it was quite pretty to watch. It lasted hours though. It was ok though, to have time to relax a bit. The staff in the restaurant was so nice and friendly. One guy was hilarious and entertaining. He recommended a fabulous restaurant which we walked to for dinner.

We texted our driver from the airport and arranged for him to pick us up in the morning for tours to the temples. The next morning he texted us saying he had a family emergency but offered us his friend to drive us. We felt a little uneasy about that, so we ended up booking a tour driver through our hotel.

The driver took us to the beautiful Borobudor Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the world , built in the 9th century. The second we arrived we realized we were the only white Americans. In fact, there weren’t any other obvious tourists. Everyone seemed to be Indonesian. They all stared at us. I read in other travel blogs, that Indonesians commonly stare very hard at tourists, and also like to ask a lot of questions. As we walked up, approaching the temple, we began getting asked by many if they could take a picture with us. Lines started forming around us. They all wanted a picture! There were many students as well, who wanted to practice their English. They were assigned to speak with tourists over the holiday break, and had little grading cards we had to fill out for them. They each said the same few questions, some better English than others. They asked “What is your name?”, “ Where are you from” and “what do you think of this place?”. We had to sign our names and circle if their English was “good enough” “Pretty good” or “excellent”. I gave them all excellent, but Conner was a harsher grader giving some “ good enough”. Conner definitely stood about a foot taller than the locals.
It was really, really hot, and we were both definitely sweating. Remember, with buddhist temples shoulders and legs must be covered. Typically shorts on females is not allowed, and they will sell you a skirt and/ or scarf for shoulders if you are not dressed appropriately. The temple was very crowded, but very impressive!

Women, children, men, people of all ages kept asking us for pictures. Now I know how celebrities must feel 😉 It was pretty flattering actually. Women loved my makeup, and the kids all thought Conner was an athlete. I was interested to see many Muslims at the temple, since it was a Buddhist temple. We spent about 2 hours walking all around the temple compounds.

Arriving back in Jogja city we spent the afternoon walking all around the city- probably a good 7 miles or more. We saw very few other tourists. That night we had delish Thai food. I had vermicelli noodles with prawns- so good! We then walked around the popular Maliboro street, where there is shopping, restaurants and pubs. We had a couple of beers ( yes, I had beer because wine was too expensive- typical in SE Asia.), at a cool place with live music and pool tables.Conner played pool and I chatted with some interesting people. Lusi, a waitress was very sweet and brought me some black rice dessert to try.

Luis introduced me to her boyfriend, an investor from the Netherlands, who was in Yogyakarta with a job to preserve the Borobudur temple. He had invested in a bio- chemist who invented a product that is organic and cleans algae and other things from ancient temples. The product had been UNESCO approved and he had already had jobs in Tibet. His plan is to eventually get approved to do temples in Siem Reap and Thailand.
I really enjoyed the band- they were so good! I requested “Maggie May” by Rod Stewart. They didn’t know it, but looked it up and I taught them how to play it and sang with them. It was so fun! Conner and I chatted with a guy from London, another from Belgium. Really nice guys who are political advisors. A cute older woman selling fans who had seen me earlier at our Thai dinner, remembered me and came over to say hello. She was so sweet but didn’t really speak English. Her smile was so warm and kind. I purchased a beautiful blue fan from her- definitely would be needed in the daytime heat!

The next morning we awoke and had the hotel arrange another driver to take us to the other famous temple Prambanan. It was near the airport , so we timed it so we could just go catch our flight to our next city, Surabaya, right after the temple. Our driver was really great and explained so much on the ride. He told us his family was from a very small village of 400 people about an hour away. The village makes brown sugar, and he taught us the whole process of how it is made.
We loved the temple! It was just as marvelous as the Borobudor, in my opinion , and way less crowded. Part of the temple compound had HIndu characteristics as well. Conner took a try at archery, and did pretty well! We had more admirers ask for pictures.

 

Arriving about an hour before our flight to the super small airport, we went into the lounge area. It was pretty disappointing, with cold food and really dirty bathrooms. Our flight on Wings air, part of Lion air, was delayed 2 hours. Argh! This was not an airport we wanted to spend more time in. It was hot, and nobody could seem to explain in English to us, why the flight was delayed. Conner and I came to the realization that about 90% of all flights we have taken have been delayed. Again, I am equating this a quantity versus quality issue. More and more and more flights, less likelihood of good quality and accurate schedules.
We boarded the old school propeller plane, and set off for Surabaya, in East Java, the second largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. We chose to skip Jakarta, hearing from so many that it was just an overly crowded city not worth visiting. I have had patients who lived there, and said it was good to live, but to visit not so much.

We hired a taxi and had about a 45 minute ride to our hotel Swiss Belinn. Surabaya was much more modern then Yogyakarta, with many sky scrapper buildings. Our hotel was pretty nice- the room very clean and modern. We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant and relaxed. We booked our day tour the next day to Mt Bromo, a huge active volcano. We paid 3 million in Indonesian money- about $220 USD.

The driver picked us up at 7am and we had a 3 hour drive towards to volcano. The drive wasn’t bad, and I enjoyed seeing the sights and villages along the way. Once at the volcano base, we switched to a jeep (included in our pre paid deal). We crammed into the front seat of the jeep, me in the middle of Conner and the driver. There were no seatbelts, and I was a little scared as we drive around the curves up the mountain.The jeep driver was more talkative then our car driver. He pointed out potato and green onion crops along the way, as well as a Hindu village area. Arriving closer to the volcano, the terrain switched to desert sand-like, formed by lava flow. It was really neat!

The driver loved taking selfies and pictures with and of us- which was really sweet, except when he was driving around cliffs! The volcano was so incredibly beautiful! We climbed to the top passing all Indonesian locals- once again the only white Americans/ Westerners anywhere in sight. Again, locals wanted pics with us- celebrity status! I didnt mind 🙂

The smoky, active volcano was by far one of the coolest things we have ever seen. Standing at the top, looking into it , the sound of a roaring ocean- or I guess lava in this case, is what we heard.

 

We spent a good amount of time enjoying the view and sounds until it looked like a bad rain storm was approaching. We rushed down the super steep volcano, trying to beat the storm. Some locals tried to sell us variance of items- peanuts, hats, bracelets.

Once back at the bottom we found our jeep driver buddy, who wanted more pics and then we headed back down the mountain.

Once back to  our faithful original car driver Conner inquired about where we could have some lunch. The driver said if we could wait about 30 minutes, he would stop at  a place we would like. Well, we waited and waited- about 45 minutes until he stopped at a place. It was very underwhelming- or overwhelming depending on how you look at it. The place was a huge cafeteria type setup , not appearing very clean or organized. Everyone inside was local and nobody spoke English. Approaching the front, we assumed we had to order at the counter. The man handed us a menu with all Indonesian writing. No pictures  Nothing, We had no idea what we were ordering. I tried to ask the man for “chicken?”, “fish”? He looked at me puzzled. Conner, frustrated said “ just pick the first thing on menu, thats probably safe”. Umm or their local speciality like fried chicken toes??? Eventually another customer walked up who sort of spoke English. He pointed out a beef soup to me and another beef dish. Ok fine- sold. We sat at a dirty table waiting for our food. It arrived and was eh—- let’s just say this was a praying we don’t get sick moment. This happens in travel and you just have to go with it.

Back in the car we headed back on the 3 hour journey to Surabaya. Getting back to our hotel we were exhausted. Settling in for dinner at the nearby famous and gorgeous Hotel Majahapit was all we had energy for! It was lovely!!

One major downside to the Swiss-Belinn hotel was the very loud , and very early Muslim  prayer call at 4:30am. We respect other cultures and religions, and have awakened many times in other places due to prayer calls. The difference at Swiss Belinn , was that they opened the pool at 5am after prayer, so all the children were loud and screaming/ playing at the pool from 5am on. And we had a room overlooking the pool.

In most Muslim dominated cities, the hotels have an arrow on the ceiling pointing toward where they are to pray-

But the next morning – Christmas Eve, we were heading to the islands- yay! The Gili Islands- what a  dream come true ❤

For those traveling to Indonesia, I would say Yogyakarta and its temples are amazing! The volcano Mt Bromo also unbelievable!!! But be prepared for cities that are crowded, with traffic and not great food. One thing I will say, Indonesians are welcoming, sweet and sincere people. Way more friendly and curious about us than Singaporeans or Malaysians.Yogyakarta and Surabaya are great destinations for well-seasoned travelers- perhaps those with previous South East Asia experience. I would not put it as the first choice destination when going to Asia for the first time.

Where do I think are great first time travel spots to get acclimated to Asia? I think Tokyo, Japan is a fabulous start to begin travel in Asia. As far as Southeast Asia, I think Chiang Mai, Thailand, Siem Reap, Cambodia, Hoi An and Saigon, Vietnam and Luang Prabang, Laos are great first timer destinations! Feel free to message me for any tips/ suggestions 🙂

More on the beautiful Gili islands coming soon

<3,

Kinz