Hotel Mendut Yogyakarta

... and fly out to our third City in 7 days; Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.<br><br>The next blog will coming in the next few days and will be about our time in KL, the Batu Caves, the Petronas Towers, the KL Tower, and some other stuff.<br><br><br><br>Real Time Update: We are on an overnight sleeper train (with beds) on our way to Hat Yai in Thailand where we will transfer by bus to the coastal town Krabi, and on to the island of Kho Phi Phi (where the film &#8216;The Beach&#8216; was filmed), Kho Lanta, and Rai ley.

... work is in progress. I met a group of Indonesian students who were nice and friendly. I chatted with them whilst we looked around the temples and they offered me a lift back to Malioborough street, not far from my hostel, which was kind of them. In the evening I needed to use the internet for my blog and to skype mum and happened to meet Stu, a guy I briefly met in Jakarta, he too had plans for leaving ...

... as a guy wearing eyeliner and foundation, or other times it will be as in-your-face as a *******-offering prostitute with a full C cup shaking his/her goods out on the streets. Now that we&#8217;ve made it to Malaysia and Indonesia, we&#8217;ve seen far fewer Ladyboys than in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. I have to say, I kind of miss the ladyboys. Their ability to squeeze into tight jeans without showing any creases or bulges and their meticulous application of makeup provided a ...

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... you'd obviously expect, but most of them seemed to lack spacial awareness and walk in front of your photographs. The sheer number of people also made it very difficult to takes pictures without anyone in them (something which really irritates me). <br><br> As we have found in Indonesia, Indonesian tourists love to take photos with westerners. For our group this is increased tenfold because Andy is 6"5, and Tom looks like Harry Potter. They couldn't go more than a few ...

... gallery that has the SAME PAINTINGS as everywhere else. I once asked why that is, and I got a nice little ********ty answer. It's fine that they are all the same, they are still cool paintings and are of a uniquely Indonesian stype, but the whole "I am an artist, come see my work" scheme got on my nerves. So I'm not taking any batik paintings home. One day I visited the bird market, which has not just birds, but bats and monkeys and owls and everything you can imagine, and it is a ...

... back of my mind that this was going to happen one day.....that someone would pass away while i was out here but I never really stopped and considered it and i never even remotely thought it would be my mom. when i talk to people about my crazy little lifestyle they always say how amazing it is and how lucky i am and sometimes how they wish they could also live such a life but i always tell them that there is a trade off....that its not always rosy. I have no roots ...

... and no provincial income taxes, all provincial funding comes from intra-governmental loans and excise taxes) for all Indonesians, regardless of wealth. My cab driver was blown away when I told him of America's escalated income tax system and the 45% (all-in) tax bracket I was in back in NYC. He said "why would anyone work if they have to pay half their money in taxes!" Indonesia is a beautiful country with tremendous ...

... in steamy jungle until (re)discovered by Sir Stamford Raffles, it was certainly worth seeing although we were all melting out there on the exposed masonry. The district is supposed to be menaced by some big volcanoes like Gunung Merapi which is always threatening to erupt - but the heat haze and humidity blotted out any such views for us. Our guide at the Buddhist temple was a young man who trilled his script in heavily accented american english so fast that ...

... There was air conditioning and tons of food. The moment you sat down you were served tea. Every couple hours they came by with more food and drinks. It was amazing! We got off the train and were met by the driver that we rented for the weekend. Indonesia has crazy drivers and roads here. So, driving is the only thing that I am sure to avoid. We stayed at ...