Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Another weekend trip that happened ages ago and I only got around now to post some pictures. We went to a city on Java Island of Indonesia that I have never heard of before. Yogyakarta is close to two UNESCO sights but still has not developed into a touristy enclave like Siem Riep. It is quite authentic - you will get plenty of sincere smiles and questions. For especially brave ones I would recommend to spend an afternoon in the bird market near the palace. Animal right activists would be very upset to see all those cute animals locked up in inhumanly tiny cages next to each other.




The highlight of the trip was the magnificent Borobudur, ancient Buddhist temple from 8th century that is built in 9 terraces with special stupas on top and Buddha in each of them. Early morning makes the vistas romantic with fogs hugging the valley and hiding the volcanic Mount Merapi in the far. Another hour and the temple is swamped with local tourists in groups, and so are we. I must be appearing on hundreds of pictures. Lesson learned- never say YES to a picture unless you are ready for hundreds of them. But seriously, school kids were super cute and shy and we were only happy to pose in not-touristy Java.








The next stop was the partly destroyed by 2006 massive earthquake Hindu temple Prambanan. I have to admit that the midday heat took away our ability to admire this beautiful temple.



The day ended with an amazing two hour massage at a local place for about $10. Not a bad weekend trip at all!

Yogyakarta set on flickr

The end of P3

Four days are left in Singapore, 2 exams, packing, good-byes.

On Saturday morning I head out to Bali for my 30-day exploration of wonderful and mysterious Indonesia. While most of INSEADers embark on the discovery of Thailand/Vietnam/Laos in monsoon season, I start again my backpacking adventure... alone. Little do they know. I plan to see beautiful temples, volcanoes, isolated beaches, best diving sites in the world, dragons on Komodo, and orangutans in the wild.

Somewhere in a quite guesthouse in the middle of nowhere, where H1N1 virus cannot reach me, I will finally go through my thousands of pictures of Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. My flickr shamefully has not been updated for ages.

Stay tuned! Soon I will have blog diarrhoea.