Jostling Yogyakarta

We return to the lovely Hotel Phoenix by minivan and do a bit more lolling by the pool before girding our loins to fight our way past becak drivers, batik salespeople and furious motorbikes and check out Yogyakarta. Despite our best efforts, we are nevertheless kidnapped by a helpful man and dutifully admire some rather nice Batik pictures and return to the hotel a few hours later, exhausted and in need of a soothing cocktail.

The next day we decide to visit the nearby temple complex of Prambanan, a curious mixture of Hindu and Buddhist temples which is quite spectacular despite being damaged in the 2006 earthquake. Hugh is happy and finds some birds at last although he gets a nasty wasp bite on his lip and starts to resemble elephant man. Somewhat alarmed and in need of anti-histamines we try to get back to the hotel but there are no taxis so we have to literally jump onto a moving bus which is quite exciting. We finally get back to the hotel after jumping off the still moving bus and Hugh recovers.

Alex and I decide to continue our self-appointed mission to try all of Indonesia’s transport options and hire a becak to see some more of Yogyakarta. We visit the imposing kraton, as the sultan’s palace is known, where we are again kidnapped by a nice man who shows us around the complex and takes us along alleys to a nearby puppet maker’s shop. It is fascinating to watch how the shadow puppets are made and coloured and we fall in love with Rama and a sea-monster that we have to buy. Then we visit another batik gallery and buy a nice bird batik for Hugh as we don’t want him to feel left out. After roaming the streets we meet up with Hugh and find an excellent restaurant and some cheapish wine.

Today we get an early flight and make our way to Bali. Our resort at Sanur is full of pavilions and pools and fountains and our rooms are gorgeous. We decide that this lifestyle will probably suit us all except Hugh who is fretting about internet access for his obsessive computer game addiction. But Alex and I are pleased to see that there are many lounges to lay on at the beach and a sweet pavilion you can swim out to and we enjoy a late lunch watching the sea. It’s a hard life!