I stumbled upon priceless rubbishes!

Months after coming back from Indonesia, I finally cleared these papers off my bag to give way for the incoming papers from my incoming trip! I took a picture, placed them into a big envelope and put them in my memento box. I got a box full of stuffs – all collected from places I’ve been to

Ah, I couldn’t be more excited on my coming trip. 4 weeks to go! Can’t wait! <3

To read about the Indonesia trip, please click the links below.

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From Delta Homestay at Jl. Prawirotaman, it took only 10 minutes to reach Taman Sari Water Castle. The van driver parked his van at the car park area and again, knowing that we have to pay for the car park, we asked on the price. But our van driver told us to pay only when we’re leaving. Without wasting any time, we quickly got off the van. It was a sunny day, and I hate sweating after showering. Blah.

We then sent someone (can’t recall who) to check out the entrance fee while we waited near the van. He came back with surprising news – something about taking camera in and has to pay 50.000 Rupiah (RM18.50).

Shocked upon hearing the news, most of us decided not to take any pictures there. After collecting the money, we then walked in, with another two person (can’t recall who d) got the tickets on behalf of us at the ticket counter.

Then the two came back to us with another price! –”

Only after the third time, we got the amount right. Haiyo. I think we spent like 15 minutes figuring out the correct entrance fee. Pengsan. The entrance to Taman Sari Water Castle is 7.000 Rupiah (RM2.55). To take photographs in the area, one needs to pay additional 1.000 Rupiah (RM0.37) only.

We got ourselves a guide with no payment. He then led us to the four towers where the Sultan and his family would pray. There he explained the background of water castle – like when it was built, by whom, for what purposes, the earthquake, etc etc.

I didn’t really listen to him as I got so impatient because of the weather, blah; but I remembered the important details; like the first Sultan of Yogyakarta built this for his family’s recreational as well as fort and was abandoned after being badly damaged in an earthquake. If not mistaken, the earthquake happened during the 4^th Sultan ruling. Then the Portuguese government renovated the whole castle.

He led us to the bathing area! There we could see two big pools on both sides. The one on the left is for the Sultan’s wives or concubines and the one on the right is for the Sultan’s children. Both pools now look inviting and fresh after renovation funded by the Portuguese government.

Made me feel like jumping in but I stopped after seeing a dead tikus (mice) floating in the kid’s pool.

At the side of the concubines’ pool, there’s a plant with small round green fruits. Our guide took one, squeezed it open, and then told us that in olden days, the ladies used this as nail polish. Then he asked for Elise’s fingers and painted on one of the fingers. Curiously, I offered my left thumb.

He painted. A shining layer appeared on top of my nail, and I happily showed off to Sat. Which made him said this, “good, no need use money to buy nail polish d. Just plant this at home.”

On the left side of the pool, there’s a watch tower. This was used for the Sultan to watch the ladies bathing in the concubines’ pool. If he interested in one or few of them, he would call for them to accompany him to bath at his private pool, which located at the other side of the watch tower.

What an interesting life the Sultan had in past!

The Sultan’s pool is smaller compared to the others, but it’s big enough for him and his chosen ladies to play around.

At the watch tower, there are also changing room and Sultan’s bedroom. The changing room is now empty (like duh!), but I can see that in the golden time, this room must be full of clothes and decorative.

As for the Sultan’s bedroom, there are holes underneath the bed. That’s for the servants to burn the aromatic leaves/woods/potpourris to warm the bed and also to scent the room.

We then walked to the back of the castle. The area is open up, with lots chicken running about freely. The chicken looked well fed too. Lol.

There the guide told us about the connecting route and on houses nearby the Kraton (Sultan’s Palace). He told us all houses here, including his, are occupied by the Sultan’s servants since the first Sultan till now, all generations are still working with the Sultan. He claimed that he and the other guides in the water castle work as guide free of charge, or in other field as way to show gratitude and loyalty to the Sultan for not claiming back the houses they stay. He added, in each generation, there must be one that must work for the Sultan; therefore it’s him who chose to work for the Sultan.

Asked if he works full-time as a guide, he said no. He said that all of them only required to work like 2 or 3 days per week. On other time, he would work other place.

He spoke that they got nothing from doing such service, and off and on tourists would give them tips for doing the job well.

When he spoke on the tips, it suddenly all made sense on why he’s telling so many things about this. Lol. But we all decided to chip in money for his tips, as he did do a good job in showing us around.

Then, he brought us to this handicraft shop located in the same area itself. Our guide told us that the people of the Sultan took handicraft skill to improve their living and hope that we could get something if we like.

Living in Malaysia with the culture almost similar to Indonesia where we can find batik so easily, we scanned through the entire shop – I had my eyes on a piece of batik but never dare to ask the price because I scare it would be expensive and I would find it to be very difficult to say No after that. Haha.

After that, our guide brought us out of the castle to another place. We walked past kampong contoh (excellent village) and could see that the villagers were quite stunned to see us. There’s one that said, “arigato” to me out of the blue and bowed! I was like – err… Do I look like Japanese? Lmao. Lmao.

We then reached a covered area with stairs descending down. Not knowing where we’re heading, I just followed the rest. The scenery changed from proper looking kampung to dilapidated brick houses. They are mostly abandoned.

Spotted an old bird cage. I guess it was used centuries ago. Unsure why it’s left there. Hmm.

Few turns to the left and right, and we reached to a nicer looking abandoned house.

If I’m not mistaken, this place is used to be the Sultan’s retreat house gua. It was quite dark, and deserted, and a bit eerie. There were no light, and the only light we had come from the sky. So I could imagine how dark it was in the past.

Looking at the watch, we realised we had spent more than an hour there. Quickly we walked back to the water castle. Along the way, we collected money of 1.000 Rupiah (RM0.37) – some gave more and then passed to our guide once we got back to the entrance of the water castle.

But before leaving, I asked him if there’s such place where there are staircases all over the place in water castle?

He gave me a puzzled look, and asked me what’s the place called?

If I know about the place, I would have named it – instead of asking staircases place. Moreover, I saw that place in the photo album taken by my juniors during his visit to Yogyakarta last year! How can I be wrong? T_T

Then he shook his head, and said, “I’ve showed you all places here in water castle.”

Lazy on arguing about it, I gave some dumb excuses like probably see the name wrongly or maybe not this water castle; bid him goodbye and left this place. Sat passed 2.000 Rupiah (RM0.75) to our van driver for the car park and drove away after paying.

Initial plan of visiting the Kraton got scraped as we have only barely 1 hour left before checking in as our flight to Jakarta is at 4.30pm and we didn’t even had our lunch yet. Feeling VERY HUNGRY, we asked the driver to recommend us a place to eat.

He then asked if we want to try seafood and went on describing about eating in middle of paddy fields, about freshness of the seafood.

Upon hearing the word seafood, we immediately said NO, and asked for cheap, local food by saying we were all students, not earning yet. Lol. Tell me la, how can we dine like Kings and Queens when it supposed to be a budgeted backpack trip? Lol. Moreover, that’s our 2^nd day in Indonesia only. We can’t afford to toss the Rupiahs around on good expensive food when we could find the equivalent ones in 1/10 the price!

I guess the driver finally got that we’re the thrifty travelers that he brought us to Soto Pak Marto Taman Sari Cabang. We buta-ly (blindly) walked in, not knowing what was in store for us. Sat, Aaron, Daniel and me sat at different table as there weren’t enough for 10 of us.

There is a big menu on the wall, based on the menu, we made our order. Curious on what’s es jeruk, I ordered that… just to know that’s lime juice with assam. Lol.

Few minutes later, the food came. Halfway eating the dish, I realised it contains beef. –“ And they only serves soto; either both mixed up (soto campur) or separately (soto pisah) like mine.

Feeling full from our lunch, the other table started to pay the bills at the counter. Just when the people of our table want to make move, a ahgua (she-male) walked in the shop, went around asking money. Seeing him coming near, I buat bodoh, pretended not to see anything and ignoring him at all.

The next time I know, he uttered insults at me in don’t know what language. And the young girls in the store who understand that giggled and looked at me.

WALAO EH! If the same scenario happened in Malaysia, I would have scolded him back, in Hokkien. But since I was in foreign country and I got a plane to catch later, I just kept calm and continued acting dumb.

The ahgua left after hurling insults. I then paid my lunch which costs 9.000 Rupiah (RM3.30). We had to pay for parking too, 2.000 Rupiah (RM0.75).

From our lunch place to airport didn’t take long. Probably about 20 minutes later, we reached the Adisucipto Airport. The van service ended there, and we paid 50.000 Rupiah (RM18.50) per person which amount to 500.000 (RM185) Rupiah for the 2^nd day service. Since this country is known to tipping guides and drivers, we gave the guide a total of 20.000 Rupiah (RM7.50). That’s like 2.000 Rupiah (RM0.75) per person.

Then we walked in.

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Once opened the door, I saw Lasker and Elise all ready, walking to the ‘dining area’ for breakfast. So did David, Daniel, William and Aaron. I asked Sat to ask permission from Lasker and Elise on using their bathroom since he’s already out. They agreed and I went and had a very comfy, warm shower.

Done showering, I packed a little and then went for breakfast with Sat, Emily and Ailing. The kitchen served Indonesian breakfast of fried rice, egg cooked to our choices, fresh cut fruits and choice of coffee or tea. Definitely worth the money paid!

After having such a satiated breakfast, we made our way to Prambanan temple located about 18km way in the North-East direction of the Yogyakarta city. Could see that most of us had a good sleep that night except for David, who slept on the way there. Haha.

Remember I wrote about funny incidents at the traffic light junction? Well, we saw another one – this time it was the she-male, leaning over a truck, probably asking for business, while another one stood behind, posing provocatively. Secretly, few of us tried taking picture of them and William sitting next to the driver directly aimed his lens at them.

One of them noticed William and he called his friends and both of them posed for William! All of us laughed uncontrollably upon seeing this. Oh well, except for David. Haha.

The route to Prambanan took 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the traffic. The car park of 5.000 Rupiah (RM1.85) was borne by us again. We got used to seeing two entrances and made our way to the one for us. Paid 110.000 Rupiah (RM40) and 6.000 Rupiah (RM2.20) for a guide. Again there is special price for students – just remember to bring your student ID!

Our animated, very friendly guide, Morsono costs 60.000 Rupiah (RM22) but is worth every penny. He knows the history of Prambanan very well and did I say he likes to joke too?

After explaining about amount of temples and the background and the history, we began to walk into the temple compound. Then he brought us to the green field at the side for photo-shooting. You know, the usual ideal photo-shooting spot.

This is where we took our group photo. Haha.

Then we walked entered. I was at awed again, looking at the temple right in front of me. It’s just unbelievable, so surreal, so incredible, so breathtaking, so beyond words!

At the side of entrance, there is a small temple, dedicated to Kala, Time. The head of Kala can be seen on top of the entrance of the temple. Marsono told us one must ascend the stairs at once without any difficulty to ensure good luck. I can’t really remember whether it’s for good luck on career or life or study, but it’s important to go up directly and not stopping in the middle.

Sorry for the umbrella blunder. There are other pictures without the umbrella but somehow this is nicer.

And I stood at the middle of the stairs for phototaking! LMAO. Oh well, I’m not worried about it as I didn’t wish for anything. Keke.

Like Candi Borobudur, Candi Prambanan also got buried under after the eruption of Mount Merapi and was rediscovered by the people of Stamford Raffles too. But it takes longer time to renovate and rebuilt compared to Borobudur because of the complexity and amount of smaller temples found in the compound. There are over 230++ temples and until now only they’re still building them.

However, just as they rebuilt most of the temples, an earthquake in 2006 damaged the temples again. Even now, the Shiva temple is still closed to public and the Brahma temple was officially opened to the public just few days before our visit.

First temple we visited was the Brahma temple, which was situated on the left side.

But before we entered the temple, Marsono explained to us on the empty holes and the carvingless block. Unlike Angkor Wat where they recarved and rebuilt the bas reliefs and statues on the temples, here in Prambanan, they just substituted the ruined and fallen stones with empty stones. If not mistaken, it’s because they didn’t have a clear idea on the original designs as there are no written descriptions/records on these temples before. Or maybe they feel it’s wrong to remake the designs. Hmm. Can’t remember the real reason, but I think the former reason is one.

Inside the Brahma temple, there’s a Brahma statue in gold. I paipai-ed and touched his feet for blessing. Didn’t know why I did so, but my heart just told me to do that. Haha.

Then we went around the corridor clockwise, where Marsono told story us of Ramayana as depicted on the bas-reliefs on the wall.

I love folktales and legends, therefore kept bugging Marsono on the story behind the bas-reliefs that I didn’t understand. Thankfully, Marsono was far more than happy to tell me. Hehe.

Then we walked out of the temple and headed towards Vishnu temple. I was very disappointed to know that the Shiva temple was closed down as I was looking forward to see the statue of Durga, where the local believes that the statue is Princess Lara Jonggrang who was turned into stone for tricking a prince.

We went up the Vishnu temple, paipai-ed to Lord Vishnu and went down.

Then we walked to the other 3 slightly smaller temples positioned in front of the 3 main temples. The guide told us that, the smaller temples situated in front of the main temples are the ride/vehicle for the gods – The Swan temple in front of Brahma temple, Nandi (bull) temple in front of Shiva temple and Garuda temple in front of Vishnu temple. We only went up to the Nandi temple as the other two temples don’t have any statue in it.

In between the Garuda temple and Vishnu temple, there a small temple but I can’t remember what it is for. But the 2006 earthquake made the top of the small temple fell as shown in the picture below.

There’s another similar temple in between the Swan temple and Brahma temple.

And that wrapped up the visit on Prambanan. Marsono bid us goodbye there and encouraged us to check out the other temples around the area. I wanted to check out the Sewu temple, the unfinished temples the Prince’s demons built in exchange for the hand of marriage of Princess Lara Jonggrang; so we hurriedly walk to the train station in hope to reach the temple faster as we didn’t have much time left.

By the time we reached there, the train was already full and began to move. Disappointedly, we walked on foot to Sewu temple. We finally reached a temple, but that temple isn’t Sewu temple.

Realisingly Sewu temple is still far ahead and time tickling by so fast, the rest decided to walk back to the entrance.

Though devastated with the decision, I followed them. While walking back, I already made up my mind to return to this place and visit all the temples in the Prambanan Temple Park.

There’s also a deer park! There’s a curious fawn came near us and we took opportunity to snap pictures of the cute animal.

We spent just 5 minutes taking pictures. Then we walked to the exit point.

Like all business tactics, they place souvenirs stalls on the both sides of the Prambanan Temple Park exit point. Still badly shaken with yesterday’s experience at Borobudur temple, we walked out without stopping.

Miraculously, nobody stopped us. They just called us to have a look at their stuffs and when we ignored them, they went back behind their stalls, talking. Haha.

Our van surprisingly waited for us somewhere near the exit. We got in there and few minutes later, most of us fell asleep. Me on the other hand, tried to stay awake and look at the surrounding as long as possible.

However, I began to get tired and decided to nap too.

Once reached our room, I quickly went to the public bathroom and showered. Then quickly repacked my stuffs and checked out. We were late in checking out by half an hour but thankfully they didn’t charge us. ^^

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At the crossroad, I spotted a man walking around the stopped vehicles; one hand playing the trumpet, the other hand held out, begging for money. He then showing off his skill in front of a bajaj (like the auto-rickshaw in India) carrying an angmoh lady and her local guide; until the lady took out money from her purse and passed it onto the trumpet man’s palm.

Interesting!

50 minutes later (the journey back took longer as there were more traffic on road), we reached our hotel. Sat requested for the van driver to drop us off Jl. Malioboro before he drove home and he agreed. He asked the driver to wait for us for half an hour.

With such limited time to shower and rest, I quickly went to the public bathroom and shower while Sat went out to look for cybercafé to resolve some matter. He assured me that he’ll be back soon.

Now back to the public bath thingy, there’s no heater and public soap whatsoever, and I forgot to bring mine to the bathroom. I only remembered taking in the given towel, my clothes and hair shampoo! Goodness! Haha. So I used the hair shampoo as the body shampoo as well, washing myself in the blardy cold water! I was thankful for the clean water, but if the water was hot, then it would be better.

By 7.20pm everyone already started gather at the poolside, but Sat was nowhere to be found! My anxiety level increased, and I asked for Ailing’s help to sms him. Afterall I didn’t want everyone to think ill-ly on Sat for not turning up punctually.

He finally showed up and quickly took a fast shower. I asked him what took him so long after we got back to the van. He said there were lots people in the internet café; have to wait for his turn to use.

Our van brought us to this T-shirt lane, somewhere near Kraton, the Old Palace. We were clueless on why he brought us there, but we were very hungry and the shirts definitely wouldn’t feed us well. So, Sat told the van driver to directly bring us to the Jl. Malioboro where we can find decent food.

There was a fiesta in the town at Jl. Alun-alun Utara, near the Kraton. We could hear music blasting out loudly, laser lights dancing in the sky, people talking over the speakers, urging more people to come in; mini-train with loud honk going round the area; vendors selling balloons, snacks, drinks – the area was lively and full of people!

Our van driver stopped at the side of Jl. Senopati. Sat then told him to be here the next day at 8.30 in the morning as we engaged his service for 1 ½ day in total. That’ll be another 500.000 Rupiah (RM185 or RM18.50 per person) to be paid to him for the next day’s excursion and airport transfer.

From there, we walked towards the Jl. Jenderai Ahmad Yani and 5 minutes later, we reached Jl. Malioboro! Oh my, there are lots food vendors, especially ladies grilling satays on a small barbeque pit on the walk pavement, while yelling “Satay! Satay!” However, the price of the satays got cheaper, and cheaper as we walked. Lol.

Tempted and hungry, we tried those satays. We paid 4.000 Rupiah (RM1.50) for 10 sticks of satays and their local lemang (if I’m not wrong, that’s the lemang). I took one stick to try. To be frank, I felt like I was biting on chicken skin or chicken fat instead of meat. I was confused if all satays in Indonesia are like that or only the one at the streets.

In front of the sate stall we bought from, is a kuih stall. Emily, Elise and Ailing were attracted to the colourful kuihs, therefore buying some from them. Can’t recall how much it costs but it’s definitely cheap.

The above kuih is almost the same as our kuih melaka, except that the filling is partially hard brown sugar whereas ours is the melted brown sugar.

Few steps ahead, I spotted a wooden stall bearing the word – RON DE. Curiously, I went to the stall and asked the old man what’s ron de. He replied in very heavy Yogya’s Indonesian language – from what I know he spoke about sup halia (ginger soup) and the ingredients (he pointed to the ingredients in the stall as he spoke) all mixed together. Knowing that that soup wouldn’t harm me, and would help me kick off the wind in my tummy (because of the ginger), I ordered one bowl, sharing it with Sat.  It costs 4.000 Rupiah (RM1.50) too and it was heavenly!

After seeing 2 thumbs up from me and Sat, Emily and Elise ordered a bowl each too, sharing with Ailing and Lasker. Memang enak!

Jl. Malioboro is packed with people even on Wednesday night! There are shops selling cheap T-shirt (damn cheap like RM3 per piece, but lazy want to bargain more because don’t want to carry extra load on our back), all sorts of colourful snacks, souvenirs, shoes, bags, and so on. There are also food carts at the corner/side of the road, with mini tables and benches for their customers.

At the middle of the popular street, we decided to go to the funfair we saw earlier. That place looked more entertaining and since we don’t feel like buying things yet, we crossed the road to the opposite side, and walked the opposite way to the funfair. Along the way, we saw few angmoh and local kids playing 3-on-3 basketball on the pavement. There was a girl playing in there too! Fuiyo, girl power!

About 15 minutes later, we reached the entrance of the funfair. At the entrance there were carts selling fried snacks. We bought some there, if not mistaken 500 or 700 Rupiah (RM0.20) per piece which amount to 3.500 Rupiah in total. But the lady didn’t have change when we gave her 4 pieces of 1.000 Rupiah, so she gave us extra one piece.

And being so clumsy, while eating, one of the pieces – fried tofu fell off the plastic! Boohoo!

Done eating, we entered the funfair. I think we were the only foreigners there! It was quite scary but since we’re in considerably big group, it should be okay. There are plenty to things to see – colourful decorated hermit crabs’ shells (which remind me greatly of Wenyan because she used to have one last time), cheap jeans and leather jackets, DIY T-shirt prints, and many more.

Also, one can find their local rides there.

One that caught our eyes is the ‘twister’. Local would sit at the bench with their arms hold tightly at the wooden plank which acts as the back rest too, while the operators would pull and push the ride, making it swings up and down.

Interesting yet dangerous!

Still feeling hungry, I begged Sat to feed me more food. He then pointed to a Bakso stall near the ‘twister’ ride. Not knowing what bakso is, I simply ordered that and I was very, very, very hungry!

The bakso costs 6.000 Rupiah (RM2.20), Sat’s fried rice costs 10.000 Rupiah (RM3.70) and a bottle of Teh Botol costs 4.000 Rupiah (RM1.50).

After coming back to Penang only I knew that the meatball in the bakso is actually made of beef. Lol. But since I didn’t know about it when I ate that, I think I’m not that entirely sinful gua…

Tired for not having enough sleep, everyone agreed that it was time to go home. We walked back to Jl. Senopati, hailed two taxis for 50.000 Rupiah (RM18.50) to our hotel, Delta Homestay at Jl. Prawirotaman.

As much as I want to shower before I slept, but the thought of the cold water I had earlier totally turned me off. I washed my face, brushed teeth and fell asleep the moment my head touched the pillow.

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I looked at the sky, there were dark clouds hovering above the area. I was praying hard for clear sky, so that our visit wouldn’t be in vain. After all, the pictures wouldn’t be nice if were to photographed in rain.

Few minutes later, we reached a small town. We then passed a small candi (temple) where the van driver pointed and said softly, “Candi Mendut” and Daniel being our translator, pointed to us and said aloud “Candi Mendut”.

A minute later, we saw the peak of Borobudur! From afar, we could only see the peak but as our van were driving towards it, it became bigger and bigger until it got out of our sight when the driver took a right turn to the entrance and ticket counter.

The moment we got down, the local armed with rock statues, shirts, souvenirs, keychains, and postcards; surrounded us and kept following us! But after telling them, “no, thank you” or “tak mau” while shaking my head, they got the drill and left me alone.

There are two entrances/ticket counters. The open air ticket counter on the left (which looks shabby) is the entrance for the locals. If not mistaken they only have to pay like 9.000 Rupiah (RM3.30). On the right, there’s this closed up building, with air-cond, and sofas and, water and coffee dispenser. That’s for the foreigners like us. How much we need to pay?

11USD or 120.000 Rupiah. And free small bottles of water – can take as many as one like.

So much of difference right? I know, but it’s bearable because after conversion it’s RM44~45. That’ll be the 5^th interesting fact I found in the trip.

And we got a guide for 75.000 Rupiah (RM27). His name is Lambang.

Lambang is a rather quiet guy, only spoke when he needs to explain about the temple. But once he got used to our presence, he joked with us nonstop.

From the ticket counter, we’ll need to walk about 10 minutes to get to the temple. The walk was a pleasant one, while the guys kept snapping and videotaking along the way and the girls talking and listening to the guide at the same time. Haha.

When the temple is considerably quite near to us (where the whole temple can be captured with our camera, all of us automatically stopped walking and snapped! Then Lambang said, “come, I show you a better place to take picture”, with his hands doing the photo shoot gesture.

Excitedly, we followed him to the open field at the side. There we could see the diagonal view of the temple. The view is not that mind-blowing like what he said; but at least there’s nobody in the view except for the temple and us when we took group picture.

Not wanting to waste time on taking many group shoots with the same pose, we called it off and began ascending the stairs towards to temple.

By the time I reached the end of the stairs, I was overwhelmed by feelings. Like how I felt when I stood in front of Angkor Wat, I can’t believe that I was looking at the Borobudur temple. For some people, going there is like impossible, but we made it! Lambang then led us to a white board on the left. Using that board, he explained more about the Borobudur temple and the history.

To keep it short, Borobudur is a Buddhist temple, was built in the 9th century on a natural hill. However, it was kept hidden in the ash for long after eruption of Mount Merapi. It was believed that the massive eruption also swept clean all villages, burying all buildings, monuments, temples as well as the Buddhist monks and laymen. Many years after the eruption, the people came in and claimed the land, the Islam religion reached the shore and people embraced it; Portuguese conquered Indonesia, followed by Dutch and British

It was Stamford Raffles who instructed his men to unearthed Borobudur temple after being tipped about a big monument in the jungle. However, it was until 90s only the major renovation of the temple started.

After explanation we entered the candi from the left, because Lambang said must walk around temple clockwise. Before going up, Lambang showed us the carvings at the side. The carvings are about karma. The good and the bad. The old and the young. The rich and the poor.

He spoke about how unstable the whole temple was because of the eruption, the ashes and the rain. He pointed on the stones that were put in to replace the ruin ones and also at the new leveled platform that was built to support and strengthen the foundation of the temple.

We walked up the new platform. There is a carved head, where Lambang told us was used to drain the rain water from the temple out. However, it wasn’t in used now. Can’t remember what’s the reason – it was either the hole was filled up or because of dry reason. Hmm.

We then reached the stairs that connects each platform. Lambang told us the stairs symbolized heaven and hell, dubbed “staircase to heaven”. Lol. There’s a head on the arch entrance of each platform. The head is called Kala which means Time in Sanskrit, Again, don’t remember why, but Lambang jokefully told about being eaten by Kala, and the sins and the lust and greed before able to reach the top which symbolizes Nirvana.

And my, that stairs weren’t easy to walk up ah. Unlike the normal stairs we usually take, this required more energy because of the higher step. We got off at platform 6. This is where the stupas are situated. Lambang then advised us to take picture at the diagonal, so that the biggest stupa in the centre is flanked by the two smaller ones at the side.

I love my 12-24mm because of the wideness, I was able to snap with more stupas in sight! The view is lovely as it would be wasted to snap in tight frame.

As much as I wanted to JUMP there, but since nobody willing to jump with me or willing to photograph me jumping, I didn’t do so. And I’m still regretting of not jumping there. Probably I should learn some break-dance poses, and pose it with wonderful background behind in future. Kakaka!

We then went a platform higher from the stairs behind. The view from here is spectacular! Lambang revealed that the platform we were standing up to the second highest platform is called Arupadhatu, the world of formlessness. Only from this platform onwards one can see stupas with statues of monks in it. Before this level, there are 5 platforms of Rupadhatu (the world of forms) which told the story of Buddha’s life and on Buddhism; and the lowest level where the carvings of karma were is known as Kamadhatu (the world of desire).

The stupas however, not all contains the statues of monk. Some of them are empty. Some are headless. Some with broken arms. Lambang then chose one of the perfect statues and thrust him arm onto the hole of the stupa, touching the statue’s arm. This is said that if one manages to touch the monk, good luck will come to you. However, he said, one must stand from the lower platform of the stupa and stretch their arm to touch it.

So I tried, and I succeed. Woohoo! Though in Buddhism, women aren’t supposed to touch monk – but I guess touching a statue is okay gua. Hmm.

Then Lambang continued to speak about the stupa. He asked, “Do you know why the shape of the stupa is like a hand bell?” Seeing us shaking our heads, he answered, “stupa is like a upside-down bowl of rice placed on top of lotus flower with chopsticks stood vertically on top of the bowl”.

Then Lambang let us roamed there freely, to shoot pictures. Off and on, he would just give out information on the temple like “There used to be a big yellow umbrella on top of the biggest stupa, but it was taken down because of lighting and replaced with the steel. Now the umbrella is in museum.”

Also according to him, there are carvings and statues at Arupadhatu and Rupadhatu, but there’s nothing in the biggest stupa. This is said that the biggest stupa is the Nirvana. Since nobody went to Nirvana before and has no idea on how Nirvana looks like, it’s left empty in the biggest stupa.

But I read about the temple before I went there. It’s suspected that the leader of the British excavation (as commanded by Stamford Raffles) did inspection on the biggest stupa and found something, but it wasn’t recorded as he’s interested in keeping it. I wonder if it is true. Hmm.

From the back of the temple, we walked to the front. There I spotted the supposed-to-be-an-entrance-but-already-covered-up at the biggest stupa. Curious, I asked Lambang about it. He told something about sealing the door up to avoid people from going in as it’s not stable there.

Sat hold my hand as we walked. He then asked me on my feeling being on top of this temple and even joked that I attained Nirvana already. Lol. I told him that I’m not qualified yet but I definitely felt at peace standing on top of the temple. The view is too breathtaking and it gave lots calming effect to me.

We took photos, before Lambang urged us to leave because of the coming rain. Unwillingly, I went down with the rest and before going down the hill, we took one last pictures of the temple. And Emily went gaga after spotting angmohs there. Haha.

While walking out, Lambang told us about Kama Sutra’s carvings. According to him, the lowest platform consists of carvings that showed the act/poses like in the Kama Sutra. They (I can’t remember who’s the they here)  decided to ‘seal’ it up with a layer of bricks in front of the carvings as the carvings are said to be indecent and bad for children; and also to strengthen the base of the temple la.

However, he said if one is interested in looking at such carvings, one can visit a temple in Solo. Lambang did give us the name of the temple in Solo, but I’m bad at remembering names la. Haha.

Then, Lambang advised us to check out another 2 nearby temples which was built before Candi Borobudur, Candi Mendut and Candi Pawon. Looking at the time, we only could visit one temple, therefore asking him which one is the best. He said go Candi Mendut better. Candi Pawon is small, Candi Mendut is slightly bigger and it houses 3 big beautiful statues inside it.

As the sky got darker because of the dark clouds, we walked faster to the entrance. I was enjoying the walk out as it was breezy and relaxing and then came the peddlers from everywhere, blocking my way with their goods.

“Keychain! 10.000 Rupiah one!”“, a lady came to me, running her fingers against the keychains to produce ching clang sound. Another came from the left, showing off her T-shirt of Borobudur temple, Prambanan, and Buddha’s head.

Candi Borobudur”, a guy suddenly appeared and shoved the rock statue of Borobodur temple in front of my face; before saying, “100.000 Rupiah”.

I shook my head countless times and yet they won’t let me go. Annoyed, I showed stone face, walked faster, and walked along with Aaron as he wasn’t surrounded by any peddler!

By the time we reached the exit point, there were only 3 of us where the rest were busy bargaining with the peddlers. Slowly one by one came, and I was very anxious as we didn’t have much time left.

When the last person arrived, we quickly made way to the van and it began to rain. Still, the peddlers continued following us, offering more goods at cheaper price! It’s totally unbelievable when one of the guys offered, “6 statues for 100.000 Rupiah!”

Sat got attracted to the deal and asked me and Emily if we’re interested in sharing? Since I didn’t get any souvenir yet and the price is quite attractive, I agreed. So do Emily.

After sealing the deal, the peddlers finally let us off. About 10 minutes later, we reached Candi Mendut.

Still phobic from earlier taunting incident, we were on our guards; ready to fend off anyone who tries to sell us anything but surprisingly, the people there weren’t aggressive! They’re very nice. When we said no, they didn’t pursuit, unlike the ones in Borobudur.

On the way in, one of the shops was blasting an instrumental song loudly, which was quite soothing and I told Sat that I wanted to buy that track! Sat encouraged me to ask the price, but didn’t because fear of being scolded for not buying after asking the price. Haha.

At the small ticket booth, we paid 3.000 Rupiah (RM1.10) to a nice lady. Just when I was about to make move, my lens hood fell off! And then, someone’s lens did a jump too. So did Elise’s hat. If not mistaken someone fell too, but can’t recall who. I felt weird as it happened one after another.

Candi Mendut is a small temple, smaller than Siem Reap’s Prasat Kravan. But inside the temple, there are 3 big statues. I paipai-ed and then started photographing the area.

We didn’t spend much time there. I think barely half an hour later we already made our way out. Our driver started the van when he saw us coming. When we’re about to leave, our driver mentioned about the parking fee. I didn’t know that we’re supposed to pay for parking, but since it’s only 300 Rupiah which is like 30 Rupiah per person. After conversion 30 Rupiah is about RM0.01 only! Why should I complain then? Haha.

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There were 2 guys sitting at the middle road pavement playing nobat (traditional music instrument). Also seen were 2 masked guys in traditional costume did a traditional dance in front of the stopped vehicles, hoping to draw attention from them before going around asking for ‘entertainment fee’.

Then we crossed a bridge. I was surprised to see graffiti drawn along the bridge wall. The first time I saw beautiful graffiti displays (since it’s prohibited in Malaysia) was in Europe. I never expect to see one in Yogyakarta, as I thought the place would be like Cambodia – little shabby, graffiti-less, timeless city.

Traffic in Yogyakarta is much better than Cambodia, but still as chaotic! Oh well, at least they adhere to the rules of traffic light.

Cyclist are seen plenty on the road. But then, the cyclists there are like the motorcyclists in Penang where they love to hog the entire road by cycling slowly in the middle of the road. They couldn’t care less if people are honking at them; they would just cycle at their own pace.

Interesting Fact number 2!

Our van turned countless of left turns and driving further; and finally the road sign Jl. Prawirotaman is seen. Our van took left turn again into a very narrow road. As the van driver was unsure on the location of our accommodation, he asked for our help to look for the ‘Delta Homestay’ signboard. Somewhere in the middle, we found the sister’s hotel, the Duta GuestHouse.

Done scanning the buildings on the both side of the road but still, there’s no sign of Delta Homestay. The van driver then drove out to the main road, drove a little and turned right into another narrow road. He stopped at the entrance. There’s an arch, with the names of the accommodation on the right. We spotted our hotel’s name; and the van driver drove in. Few miles into driving, we saw the hotel’s signboard and the van driver parked in the hotel’s porch, which drew many frantic looks and gasps from us.

He’s one skill van driver for able to park into the small porch with verandah at the side!

We took out bags out of the van, sat in the humble lobby while waiting for Sat to sort out our registration. The lobby consists of a front desk, a small coca-cola fridge, and a long wooden bench with wooden coffee table decorated with a money plant and an antique cabinet turned into bench. Upon our heads was a fan spinning at full speed to cool us down.

A small TV on the bar top, showed the local drama, but we weren’t interested in it. Few were busy snapping pictures of the place; just to kill time as checking in was a bit longer.

Then Sat spoke. He asked us to write our details on the paper beside the hotel room number before taking the room keys when he called out the names. Like school kids, we obeyed. Two by two went up to get the keys. I was amused, and wanted to giggle; but I stopped myself knowing that the atmosphere was rather intense and quiet apart from the sound coming from the TV. Probably, everyone was too tired and hungry. The time showed 12 noon and I was already hungry.

The outer look of the hotel maybe look normal, but once you walk past the lobby and the 3 rooms facing the stone decorated wall; you’ll find a hidden paradise in it. The place is so beautiful and I seriously can’t believe my eyes that we’re paying so little for paradise!

Excitedly we checked in the room. Mine was the cheapest room ever got at 85.000 Rupiah (about RM31 per night) with no air conditional and shared bathroom. Shared bathroom means there’s no attached bathroom in our room and we need to use the bathroom at the corner like dormitory! True backpacking style yo!

The rest got rooms with air-cond and private bathroom for 150.000 Rupiah (~RM54) per night.

A quick refresh and off we went to the lobby half an hour later.

Then our journey to Borobudur started. But before that we made a pit stop to get my battery and phone prepaid cards. We walked into this blue building at Jl. Kaliurang, where the camera shop, Artha Digital is situated. We walked in, asking for the D60 battery. He asked us to wait while he went in the store to check. Nervously waiting, I hope for a battery at affordable price so I could get one instantly.

The guy returned, telling me that they only have the 3^rd party battery left. When I asked how much they’re selling, he told me 247.000 Rupiah (~RM90). Unsure if that’s expensive or not, but I know that it’s within the amount that I willing to pay (under RM100), I told him, “ok.”

Satisfied, I walked out of the shop, grinning from end to end. Then we turned left, walking to a small food warong, with a small prepaid warong at the side. There were guys talking in very strong Indonesian dialects which we can’t really understand. Then one of the guys in blue called the owner of the phone stall. An old lady came out, and negotiation began. Lol.

I didn’t participate in that because I couldn’t ‘afford’ to have one after buying camera battery. So, I just looked around, talking and camwhoring with the rest, until the blue shirt guy spoke to me. I found it very hard to understand him that I had to “huh?” at him few times. I could see the frustration in his face, and I eventually said “ya, nak pergi Borobudur”, which I wasn’t sure if the answer was relevant. But he just smiled.

We then walked back to the van opposite the road after they bought prepaid sim packs. The road was busy at noon, with motorbikes just zooming past us. Sat quickly held my hand and led me cross the road safely. I felt so pampered. Keke.

Then we continued our journey to Borobudur. Before that, Sat told Daniel to ask the van driver for recommendation on good and cheap Indonesian food. Daniel then spoke in his ‘half-plus-six-Indonesian-slang’ and then van driver nodded.

The van then drove out of the city, towards the outskirt along Jl. Magelang. The simple, smaller size of houses signifies that we were no longer in the city. Soon we were no longer in Yogyakarta, but in Jawa Tengah.

Somewhere in the middle, which I don’t know where since I already fall asleep by then, the van went off the main road, into some small road with paddy fields on both sides and kampong houses which are situated quite a distance from each other.

Further into the road, the van took a left turn and pulled a stop at a big white building. Shocked, I woke up and looked around. I saw the local grinning back at me – which was quite scary as I thought we would have been sold like the saying, “mai chu chai”. I only felt relief after spotting few angmohs walking around. Sat then said, ok guys, we’ll have lunch here.

I thought, hopefully this place is cheap. But once crossing the Balinese gate, I was astonished to find a beautiful restaurant hiding behind the white building. The restaurant has so much of Balinese essence in it that I thought for a moment, I was in Bali already. Haha.

Interesting list number 3 : Beautiful restaurant well-hidden behind a factory-looking building!

The very friendly, ever-smiling, beautiful ladies ushered us in, to a long table. There was wayang kulit show going on when we reached, but surprising it ended by the time we sat down. Then the ladies with big smiles came back with menu.

I knew the moment I stepped over the Balinese gate, eating at this restaurant wouldn’t be cheap. I don’t mind spending, but not on the first day of the trip gua. Moreover I just spent more than 200.000 on battery! *Sob sob*

So, I chose the affordable and fulfilling dish in the meal. After conversion, we realised the price stated on the menu is equivalent to the price in Chilis! But the atmosphere in the restaurant is definitely better than Chilis! Haha.

The smiling lady repeated our orders one by one in clear English after jotting down. Then few ladies came with jugs of water and started pouring water onto our glasses. I was quite potongstim as if I knew that they would give free flow of water, I wouldn’t have order drink! Very good tactics! Hmph!

While waiting for the food to come, I took opportunity to take pictures of the place using Sat’s DSLR. The battery I’ve just got has only 1 bar – need to save it for greater thing like Borobudur temple. Moreover, Sat wasn’t in the mood for photography, so I kidnapped his! Muahaha!

Little did I know the 1 bar of the battery’s actually lasted quite long! *Gasp! – Interesting fact 3!

The food came while we were busy snapping the area. And I got poisoned by Aaron’s D700! The pictures taken with his camera are simply amazing! Furthermore, his 3-inch LCD shows pictures better than my D60. Ahh… Why D700 so expensive!

Nevermind, I shall be contented with my D60. Bleks.

Did I mention that beside free-flowing water, there’s also big bowls of free-flowing crackers with sweet, spicy sauce? Yums!

If you’re wondering what restaurant we ate at – it’s called Sekar Kedhaton which means Flower Village in Java, as explained by the friendly lady waitress. The one we went to is not the one in the town of Yogyakarta (Kotagede), but the branch in Mungkid, Magelang, Jawa Tengah.

After the fulfilling and satiated meal, we asked for bill. That’s the nail-biting moment. One by one the bill came as we asked to settle it separately. When mine came, it was 76.000 Rupiah (RM27.50). Sat’s came up to 80.000 Rupiah (~RM29) after adding the service tax of 17%!

No wonder all the smiles and the good and fast service and the “how’s the food, sir/madam?”. The service tax charged at 17% is very high as we were normally charged at 10% only back in Malaysia.

The 4^th fact of interestingness would be being charged 17% service tax in a small town of Mungkid.

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Together with me were Sat, Ailing, Emily, Elise and Lasker.

Our flight for KUL scheduled to fly off at 10.45pm was delayed an hour. But we weren’t bothered with the delay, for we have the whole night to kill. Everyone was pretty excited, tho some of us were dead tired due to rushing to airport from work. We sat at the tables of closed cafe, chatting about the baby being stuffed into the toilet bowl and Facebooking while waiting for the announcement for embarkation to be made.

At 11.50pm, we were allowed to board and most of them directly dozed off once the plane took off. Despite being so tired, I can’t catch a wink! So did Sat. Both of us were just chatting, giggling and taking pictures (of those who slept). Kaka!

Out of the blue, I felt hungry!

The plane reached LCCT at 12 something. We went around the terminal, finding place to sit and nap, but all seats were occupied! Mardeh betui. So, we cured our hunger by having supper at Old Town LCCT first – hoping there would be seats available after that.

Aaron came not long after that, followed by William. Together we spent almost 2 hours, eating, talking, Facebooking, taking pictures, staring at people. ==” I had the urge of taking my DSLR out to play, but then I didn’t.

We would love to sit there longer, but there’s a time quota. Left Old Town and wandered around the terminal looking for seats again! We scouted high and low, still all seats were either occupied by human or bags. In the end, we sat on the floor at the corner like homeless people. Haha!

Looking at Aaron and William playing around with their DSLRs, making feel like taking out mine too for the purpose of blogging. However, when I switched on my DSLR, it wouldn’t start!

And I realised that there’s NO BATTERY in the battery slot!

Panicked, I looked for the battery in my backpacks. I searched every corner of the bag, still none! Sadly, I had to accept the fact that I didn’t bring along the battery.

Immediately Sat asked me to call up Daniel as his previous D40 battery can be used on mine! Hopeful, I called Daniel up just to know that he has already left home for airport.

I sulked, while Sat quickly checked out photography shop in Yogyakarta through his iPhone. He found one. But he told me should the price be very expensive and I not willing pay for me, then the next best thing I can do is to message Jess to buy the battery and bring it to Bali.

Hearing that I told him, “no matter how expensive it is, I must and will get it!”

In my mind, pictures are more important than money. I must be insane for thinking like that but I knew that I won’t be going back there again so I need to take enough pictures for memories.

I prayed hard, hoping that particular shop does sell cheap battery. I regretted not taking out my DSLR when I was in airport (I had the hunch of taking the camera out to shoot but I didn’t) and at the Old Town LCCT. If I know about that earlier, I would have been saved by Daniel’s battery.

Sigh. No point crying over spilled soup. So, I pushed that matter aside and tried feeling excited about the upcoming trip!

The worrying caused me feeling hungry again. I quickly pulled Sat to accompany me for early breakfast at MCD. Yums!

3 hours prior to our flight, we checked in at the check-in kiosk. It was fun and easy to play with. Just key in the booking number, tick the names showed, swipe the passport and print!

Daniel and David came soon, and the Yogyakarta gang was completed. We checked both of them in using the same method but David’s was rejected. We tried so many times, but still it wouldn’t work.

It was only dawn to us that the machine rejected him because of his name! One minor different of a ‘hyphen’ and he has to check-in using the old way. We dumped our bags at the luggage drop centre while he joined the long queue at the counter.

Before that, we went and ‘turkeyfied’ our backpacks. We heard plenty news about bags being opened up and scavenged by God-knows-who in Indonesia. Not taking any risks, few of us spent RM9 for wrapping service.

My turkey weighted 8.7kg!

With another 2 hours to go, the gang decided to have breakfast at MCD’s. I ate earlier so I wasn’t feeling hungry. Nevertheless, I took this opportunity to have a quick nap. Hoho!

Then we made our way towards the International terminal! Adrenaline rushed in, and I became so hyper there! We checked out the duty free stores, and soon it was time to board. Ahhh! I can still remember the excitement tho it has been exactly 2 months ago!

We were actually being rushed to board the flight. Soon after we seated on the plane, the plane took off and I found myself to be in Dreamland.

I can’t recall how long I slept nor how many times had I fallen asleep as I kept waking up and dozing off.

But I knew I was fully awake when I saw the land of Indonesia. The lush greenery, the fascinating shape of the hills and mountains, the awkwardness colour of the forest – really got me staring at them for long. I tried waking Sat up, but he didn’t even open his eyes! He was just “mm.. mm” while nodding his head. Abit frustrated with his response, I let him sleep – for it’s his loss for not able to witness the wonderful scenery. Bleks!

That moment, I wished my DSLR could miraculously work to capture this exquisite landscape.

The journey from Kuala Lumpur to Yogyakarta takes 2 hours and 40 minutes. About 30 minutes after I woke up, the announcement of landing was made. I’m guessing that I slept about two and an half hour?

We landed smoothly on the humble land of Yogyakarta. The airport is smaller than Penang’s, there are only 2 Immigration counters and one luggage conveyer belt; BUT there is FREE WIFI! I never expect free WIFI there because airports like Penang and Tokyo don’t even provide free WIFI.

I guess I have underestimated this city.

We took our turkeys from the conveyer belt, unwrapped them, passed the ‘Declaration form’ to the Custom polices and walked out. Right in front of the Arriving hall, there was this lady behind a tall desk. We did research beforehand that there will be plenty of transportation available at the airport. But since this lady was so nice and friendly and the price quoted was reasonable (we even checked on the price, hoho!), we decided to get her company’s service.

Halfway dealing at the desk, we were asked to leave the place as the officers wanted to close the Arriving hall for that hour or maybe day. So we followed the lady to the company’s booth at the side.

On the way there, I was dumbstruck with the amount of tour/transportation booths on the left. But I knew the price that the lady offered was lower than the one I found on the Internet, so I was fine with the price as it was within the budget I allocated the transportation in Yogyakarta.

At the booth were another 2 very friendly ladies in Indonesian kebaya, rich in smile and manners, addressed Sat as Bapa (which means Mister/Sir) and advised him on the best routes we can take in order to see the main tourist attractions in such a short visit.

Transportation of Kia Pregio with a driver for a day service inclusive of petrol costs us 700.000 Rupiah to wherever we want . Since there were 10 of us, so it’s 70.000 Rupiah (RM25.50) per person.

After collecting all the money, (again Emily’s the appointed treasurer!), we wandered around the airport for we were told that the van would be there in half an hour time. I went to their ‘karma kecil’ which is their toilet and is very fascinated with it! The toilet bowl is so small! And there’s no flush. Just clear your ‘businesses by pouring water onto the bowl. One gush and it’s gone!

That was the time also I was introduced to their local drink, a markisah flavoured tea. We went to an old looking grocery store at the corner to buy mineral water. Feeling hot, Sat decided to grab something cold from the fridge. He saw this drink, asking me if I want to try that. As I love trying things, I agreed and we paid 7.000 Rupiah (RM2.55) for the 1.5l mineral water and the packet drink.

Then van came and we walked towards the van together with the Indonesian lady. She spoke to the driver, introduced him to us, and then bid us goodbye.

What a charming lady. I read about the people in Yogyakarta on them being hospitable and friendly, and seems like that is true.

From there, the exploration of Yogyakarta began…

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I’ve been Indonificated in just 6 days!

Since I’m still feeling Indonised, I shall quickly summarize the whole trip before I went into details. Ah~ I can still ‘hear’ the Javanese music playing in my head.

In just 6 days, I’ve…

1. took 6 flights. Fly cheap and further with AirAsia!

2. been to 3 cities. Yogyakarta, Jakarta and Bali! ♥

3. spent 5 nights at 5 different places

4. attained ‘Nirvana’ at Borobudur temple

5. paid 17.5% of service charge for food!

6. conquered Mount Batur

7. drank the most expensive coke 1.5km above sea

8. bathed black, salty water

9. had Alphard as taxi!

10. got denied access to 2 holy temples because of menstrual.

11. addicted to teh botol

12. spoke and bargained in Bahasa Indon

13. fascinated by chickens! They look so prosperous!

14. ate the overrated babi guling

15. awed at the great statue of Wisnu!!!

16. sipped one of the most expensive coffee in the world – coffee luwak

17. turned backpack bag into turkey

18. went gaga over ronde

19. sarong-ed ourselves before entering temple

20. fall in love with the blue sea, again

21. Bought camera battery for IDR275.000 because forgotten to bring. Dang!

22.  Left my mark at Kuta beach

23. …and used more than 1.5 million rupiah! And yet I didn’t buy enough souvenirs!!!!

And thank god I decided to go broke and get the wide angle lens. I brought my kit lens there and I didn’t use it at all! All pictures in Indon were taken with wide angle! Damn umph!!!

Now, I’ve to go back to mundane life and slowly get rid of the post-vacation-syndrome.

♥ Can’t wait for July!!! ♥