Trip to Yogjakarta

What follows is a very long string of pictures...but not a lot of text, so it shouldn't feel too brutal! The length and tedium of it feels somewhat like the trip...it was really cool and interesting, but a lot to take in and A LOT of travelling on the road! and very little quality sleep!

But, to get to the point, this was my long weekend trip to Central Java with Maxine, Emmanual, Martijn and Dwi. Dwi was amazing and put us up at her family home, which was a really wonderful experience as her family was very friendly, and the village was beautiful. And we ate some amazing food there!

Our trip started with a trip to Prambanan temples, 10th century Hindu temples that are among the largest in the world. I recall that it was meant to be the marriage between Hindu and Buddhist faiths...but i forget all the stats, but feel free to google it if you really want to know more! they have are currently under restoration as they have suffered over time and recently by one particularly bad earthquake in 2006. There are several separate clusters of buildings/shrines throughout a lovely park...it was very peaceful. The shrines were very beautiful! There is another famous temple nearby, Borodudur, but I will visit this one in July in my month of travel and fun.

This would have been a nice shot, if that crazy girl wasn't posing right in front of the sign...






Me and Dwi!

A nice couple took a bunch of photos for me in this spot! They just kept on clicking....:)
Being a white giant, I am something of a celebrity/attraction here, and everyone wants a picture with you....its obviously annoying, but these Indonesian Air Force chaps made me laugh, so i obliged:)

Max, Martijn and I
You can see Dwi and Emmanuelle here...I'm sorry Eman, i keep mispelling your name...and two of Dwi's cousins who joined us.
Walking from the main crowed shrines to the more obscure and interesting ones!


Apparently a 4th generation carver/shrine keeper...he showed us some of the restoration that was happening, and charged us a hefty fee afterwards...but he was friendly and i feel like i learned something, even if it was only partially true!
The devastation of the temples is clear...which is very unfortunate as the surviving ones are beautiful.

There was a giant copper/bronze/gold (i dont remember!) Buddha in here that was stolen long ago...

In Yogjakarta...which funnily enough we spent very little of our time, we took a traditional horse and cart ride...fun, but the some of the horses looked sad and tired! ours was pretty sprite though, even though the picture is not very becoming.


Baby ducks and chickens and catfish! lovely, lovely house we stayed in with the cutest animals! and! they grow coffee here too, so there was a bunch around, and we drank some which was lovely!

It was super beautiful in the village we stayed in...here are some pictures of a walk around the village

These large leaves plants are called Kimpul!! pronounced Kim-pool....love~

The following are some pictures of the trip to Mount Merapi...the drive and traffic, the countryside, the lunch stop, and beautiful flowers

everywhere i look beautiful flowers!
Kelinci is rabbit.
This is one of my favourite restaurants so far in Indonesia! It was on the hillside, made of bamboo, so lovely, and the food was amazing! Rabbits are cute AND delicious!
Below are some pictures from Mount Merapi, an active volcano in central Java that erupted and caused a lot of damage just last fall. Google it for more info/pictures of the actual eruption...very scary!

Panoramic photos take some time to master, but worth the effort at places like this!
Don't fall off the cliff...you will likely die.
Emmanual got the hat! haha, so cool.
We are standing and talking where a house once was and was totally flattened
Some of the destruction from hot gases and ash that flowed down this valley




The group and mount merapi...it looks huge and so far away! its crazy to think the destruction could reach as far away as us and further!

We stopped on our way back down the mountain to take some pictures of the beautiful countryside - rice paddies, sunsets, oh my! and once again, more fun with the panoramic function on my camera



Wearing the farmers hat...so cliche, i know!

The guys took pictures of us while we were primping ourselves to try and look half decent for a nice sunset shot after along day...apparently Maxine and I are insufferably girly when we get chatting...I think we are adorable! haha

A concert in Jogja! It was pretty cool!

Bamboo sounds and looks lovely when the wind blows through its leaves
The house of Dwi's uncle that we stayed in..more pictures were previously seen of the beautiful surroundings!
This was the group of us as we left our gracious host family near Magelang...we didnt know how long of a journey we were in for...(I cant bring myself to calculate it exactly...but somewhere between 16 and 18 hours...)
A stop in the mountains in central Java for some guava juice and a look around a strange shop
For Maxine's dream home:) A thing I am going to start...identifying things to go in my dream home! this bench is welcome in the corner of the garden!
Our ride.



It was a looooooong trip back, but we made it! Central Java and Yogjakarta is not near to Jakarta whatsoever...we wanted to embrace the opportunity of the long weekend, and the trip was worth it, but we all paid the price monday morning with our exhaustion! Would do it again though!

:)