Yogyakarta is literally a breath of fresh air compared to Jakarta. As we exit our airplane somewhere in the center of Java, we immediately notice a higher quality of air. ‘Jogja’ is a student town much smaller than Jakarta (population of 400K vs 10M) and the atmosphere is relaxed. There are plenty of hotels, coffee shops with WiFi and laundry places. It is clearly more tourist friendly than Jakarta.
The kindness of the Indonesian people we’ve encountered so far is incredible. When making eye contact with people on the street I notice that nobody looks away. They look at you for a few seconds followed by a gentle smile, a subtle bow or a nod of the head. It makes me feel welcome and safe.
We rent a motor bike for a few days to explore the area and visit some temples. The last (and only) time I sat on a motor bike was in Thailand two years ago. “This is how you start it, here is the gas, here is the brake. Be careful!”, the owner of the shop instructs us. It takes about 30 seconds to get comfortable and we are on our way. We are officially participating in the traffic chaos. We follow the pace as set by the other motor bikes and apparently you sometimes stop for a red traffic light and other times you don’t... Sometimes you have to give the right-of-way and sometimes you don’t... Somehow it just works. At one point I realize that I have no clue what the speed limit is. When there is finally a speed limit sign I notice that we’ve been speeding almost the whole time. Just as that thought crosses my mind a grandmother passes me like I’m driving 10KM/hour. I guess the rules are more like guidelines.
As we pass the city borders we drive through beautiful rice fields. Google Maps is giving me directions through my headset and Jake Owen is singing his song: “Never gonna grow up, whoa-oh! Never gonna slow down, whoa-oh!”. Koen pulls up next to me: “Remember that time we were driving through rice fields in Indonesia? That is now!” Yeah baby!
The first temple we visit is in Borobudur. Built in the 9th century, It is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. ‘The temple consists of nine stacked platforms, six square and three circular, topped by a central dome. It is decorated with 2.672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues’, according to Wikipedia.
It looks like we’re the only Western visitors and the other visitors treat us like celebrities: “Mister! Can I please take my photograph with you?” Entire families want to include us in their family picture at the temple.
The next temple we visit is Prambanan, a Hindu temple also built in the 9th century. The temple is dedicated Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Shiva (the transformer).
We continue to be an attraction for the other visitors as we’re also the only Western visitors here.
After staying in a hotel for two nights we discover that we can’t extend our stay through the weekend. “I’m sorry sir, fully booked.” We find a hostel in the area where we are greeted by Prams: “Welcome guys! Here is your room. By the way: these are my friends. We’re heading out for dinner. Would you guys like to join?” I guess that is the difference between staying at hotels or staying at hostels: do you prefer luxury or meeting people? Prams takes us to a ‘hole-in-the-wall’ place where we sit down on the floor. The cook is standing in front of us preparing one meal at a time, as she only has one pan. This 1 euro meal is by far the best meal we’ve had so far in Indonesia.
Our time on Java ends as we’re hopping on a plane to the next stop: Lombok.
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