Hyatt Regency - Yogyakarta

... but I did manage to find a place that could transfer the photos I'd taken with my phone onto my USB stick, so I was happy about that.

In the evening we all had dinner. Asan was on top (i.e. twattish) form once more, with annoying comments sporadically emanating from his general direction. I mainly talked to Crystal and tried to ignore him. However, when he heard I was off to Bangkok in a few weeks, he began a ...

... to the room. Once again I hadn't realized how much I had walked and finally give up about 1 km from the room and pay 5,000R for a becak to the room. Again, once in the room, it is time for a shower to cool off, get the aircon going and relax.

On my third evening I attended a Ramayana Ballet at the Open Theatre Purawisata and it was excellent. The ticket was 140,000 and they had someone pick me up at the hotel and drive me back after the 2 hr ...

... expert so I haven’t bothered to find out what they are. I generally refer to them as “big mamas” and try to avoid them while taking pictures with the super zoom lens. Geckos are fun because they eat bugs, even bugs that are the same size as they are. We once saw a battle to the death involving a gecko without a tail (apparently it lost it in a fight) and a huuuuge cockroach. The gecko chomped down on the cockroach presumably while the cockroach climbed a wall ...

... there spoke next to no English, insisted that you stayed overnight in their house and then cried when you left! Truly a different world.

And that capped one of favourite days on the trip so far. After an inauspicious start, it turned out to be a beauty!]


Day Five:

We all got up early, had breakfast and then took an hour and a half bus journey to Borobudur (costing 3,000 Rupiah). On leaving the station we were spotted by horse drivers ...

... for longer term tours (mainly Dutch) and takes people all over the country. Today he takes us to Prambanam, the next big tour site in these parts. A mainly Hindu centre, the temple caters for all religions with small relief's depicting all the religions in these parts over the years. Sadly most was destroyed in an earthquake in the 1500's and again more recently in 2002. This is why you'll notice some scaffold on the pics. A huge amount of manpower ...

... the crowds a little you could HEAR it roaring out of the earth. it really was an amazing experience and made me feel very small and insignificant. geology tends to do that to me.....that and astrophysics. I would just like to take this time to say thanks to all the people who wrote me with their condolences concerning my mom. It has been a really difficult time obviously but more so since I am so far removed from my family at the moment. I suppose i always knew in ...

... and forward-looking thoughts. I was ecstatic to be heading to Sydney and stay with my friends Brad and Esther, see my other Australian friends met in my various travels and, of course, extremely happy knowing that I would see Mary in a couple of days. I was equally excited to see the natural beauty of Australia again and dive on the Great Barrier Reef. However, I was extremely sad to leave Asia. I absolutely loved ...

... riescano ad impressionarmi. Devo comunque ammettere che entrambi sono spettacolari, soprattutto Borobudur, anche per il paesaggio circondante. In cima al tempio, oltre ad alcuni monaci buddhisti che pregavano, sono stato fermato da i soliti studenti, stavolta un po' piu' grandi, che cercavano di imparare un po' di inglese: sempre un piacere fare due chiacchiere con la gente che abita qui. Prambanan e' uno dei primi templi induisti che vedo durante questo ...

... on the web look the same. Then I walked a circuitous route back across town via the vibrant Jalan Malioboro, marveling at the intensity of the moped traffic and the persistence of the vendors who solicited sundry goods and services. The previous night our Yogyakarta guide, Arnot (coincidentally the name of my local park at home) had steered a few of us to a nearby bar, on the Parangtritis road, which had seemed quite expensive. So on the 2nd night Steve and I ...