Hotel Grand Orchid Solo

I stayed two nights at Sahid Kusuma Hotel and then had to move because they were full. I went to Hotel Indah Palace where I paid $42.00 US per night. After having stayed at Sahid Kusuma Hotel for 450,000 IR which works out to 45$ US per night I have to admit that value for dollar was way better at Sahid Kusuma as it was not only central but it did have a great pool area and great breakfast. Hotel Indah Palace is really far from centre and really does not ...

... and to actually have some leg room was quite a luxury. (On the local buses Jon is usually relegated to riding the bus side-saddle with one cheek on the seat and another hanging out into the aisle and with one leg in and one out. Asian buses just aren't made for large folks. It can make for a long journey, but for the average price of about $1.50 for a 70 ...

... probably a good 300 people there. It was basically a strange mix of dance, theatre, and comedy and signing. I had no idea what was going on, because there were defenitely long dialogues with little action in some parts, but it was worth it just for the costumes, and just to be part of what apparently a lot of people do on a Saturday night in Solo. It cost 3000 Rp (about 40 cents), so it was more than worth it. It was nothing ...

... personally love reading these stories on there tattered pages. It makes feel like I get a glimpse into someone else's dreams and wishes. It makes me feel like dreams and adventures are possible. People take risk and travel across the world to just experience it. Some people love this experience and others do not. It also reminds me that I am neither the first nor the last to take this crazy journey. Reading these notebooks make me ...

Actually I do enjoy staying in very simple traveller lodgings from time to time. It gets me to places which seem more genuine and lively than the globalised boredom of 4-star hotels. The authentic experience to me just seems the more interesting of travel alternatives, even if it means a shower with no hot water and no aircon and muezzins with "allah u aqbas" in quadraphonic sound early in the morning. They sing more nicely here than anywhere else I travelled before. But I can see that a ...

... world, Gunung Merapi ("Giving Fire"). The Javanese worship this 2914 metre high volcano which sits bang in the centre of rugid Java. The locals see the volcano as a life-giver due to the fertile land which surrounds it. This "life-giving" volcano also has the ability to take lives too, thousands of people over the last century have been killed by massive eruptions and lava-flows which have annihilated some of the surrounding villages. I ...

... a few things about you. Well, after a delightful lunch, which in fact my new friends treated me to...which was very sweet of them, I do a bit more shopping...then back to the hostel for me. The evening takes an unexpected direction when we join these people from the hostel to go eat snake meat. I didn't know exactly what to expect...I thought we must be going to some restaurant they wanted to check out. So we end up on this dark street with a ...

... some dinner in a local warung before heading back for a drink in the hotel bar. A bit more rain ends the evening. I have hired a driver and car for the following day to drive to the interesting sites around Bali. Inga joins me which is fortunate as both my camera batteries run out at the first port of call, a performance of a traditional Kris dance involving the classic 'Good versus Evil' tale; between good Barong and evil Raglan. Although staged for tourists, you get a good idea ...

... stand for the hour long journey. No wonder people drop like flies on the London Underground every summer... It was a good excuse for a quiet day once we'd arrived at Solo, however. We took a becak (a bicycle rickshaw, but with the passengers at the front - presumably so they get squished first by the oncoming traffic), to our guesthouse, the Istana Griya. Everyone seems to stay at the IG. Certainly there are countless becak drivers ...

On the 11th we flew from Bali to Yogyakarta Java. We had been planning to take the bus/ ferry/ train which would have taken about 18-20 hours. However, we discovered that one of Indonesia's budget airlines had a sale. For the cost of $30 and the inconvenience of flying at 6:00 a.m. we could go by plane instead. We has already flown on Lion Air once and it seemed modern enough so we were quite comfortable flying on the budget airlin once more. However, when we got to ...