Mutiara Hotel Malioboro Yogyak Yogyakarta

<br><br>The trip to Yogyakarta (or Jog-Ja as it is called by the locals) was the first proper train ride Kate and I had taken. The train left Gambir train station in Central Jakarta at 8:15 and was due to arrive at 3:15, so it was to be a healthy 7 hour journey. Not to worry, I was armed with the new laptop and had plenty of blog writing to catch up with while Kate did some intermittent sleeping. The train was quite spacious, and the seats positioned in a 45 degree recline so it was ...

... at this point. Rather inebriated by now, we accosted a little old becak driver man and commanded him to drive us back to the hostel. This was rather amusing fun - at one point, given the rather lame pedal system, our geriatric driver could not get us up the hill so asked us to walk fifty metres before getting back on. We then, at Devon's request, put our sunglasses on, despite it being pitch black, and took loads of silly photos of ...

... good luck Buddha&#8221; that had survived previous bomb attacks. We sat at the top level close to enlightenment where the stupas have square holes to signify stability and the last domed top contains nothing to signify &#8220;perfection that needs no explanation&#8221;.<br><br>The temple is really big and impressive (it&#8217;s made from two million blocks of stone) but that&#8217;s not all, as you sit on the top and watch ...

... in a row, particularly along the circuit from Laos to Vietnam and Cambodia, that I personally would rather not see again. One group in particular is a large pack of 18 year old English kids who decided that they were going to be the talk of the town in Nha Trang, Vietnam. In a country where it&#8217;s taboo to wear skimpy clothes like tank tops and short shorts, one of these stupid English girls decided to prance around the beach topless in front of little Vietnamese kids, who I ...

... up and we had dinner outside the ballet on a lawn<br>overlooking them and they looked superb. We were in a bit of a rush<br>to catch the ballet (usual story for us and ballet) so said we'd get<br>a good snap after the show. The show was a pretty extravagant affair<br>with really good costumes and music being played in traditional<br>javanese style from behind the stage. The amphitheater it was played<br>in too was really good ...

... ask for help. A whole 90mins later, one security guard (the police just shunned us off like shmucks) gives us directions and we finally find our little hut for dinner, very flustered and quite ****** off. Thankfully we're not the only ones and the other Brits drag in later on making us look pleasantly pleased. All in all a pretty **** tour with Great Tours, Yogyakarta (got that in ;-)) The police were pants but officials rule above all else here. It ...

... everywhere in Indonesia but you hardly ever see it in Thailand or other places....odd. fast forward and we are back at the travel agent and I book my mini bus to the next town which leaves in 3 hours. I have just enough time to get some food and check my email and this is when I find out about my mom being sick. I have a 12 hour mini bus ride to digest the whole thing. 12 hours to go 200 kilometers.....traveling in java requires a great deal of patience.

... and the female sinden (choral singers), it was a visually stunning performance. Main of the orchestra members were these sweet old Javanese men who have been banging their bells and wooden pegs for many decades. It was reminiscent of the Naxi Orchestra I saw in Lijiang. The costumes worn by the performers were colorful and truly creative. Having read the Ramayana since childhood in comic books that are akin to biblical ...

... auch wenn mein Zimm** kein Fenst** hat und ich hoffe, daß ich hi** nicht ausg**aubt w**de. Ab** jetzt **stmal eins nach dem and**en. Bin heute morgen zeitig aufgestanden, um mir das Hotel aus dem LonelyPlanet zu suchen und dann mit meinem Sightseeing anzufangen. Taxi kam reichlich spät und so hatte ich noch Zeit mit d** Volontärin bissl zu schnacken. Dann hat mein Fahr** das Hotel gesucht und weil man da mit dem Auto nicht hinfahren kann, bin ich so einem Manschg**l ...

... afford a coffee, smokes, and cell phone so maybe all is okay? We checked into our hotel in Bandung at around 5 and i headed downstairs to meet Kate at about 6. It was amazing to see her again after what - eight months or so. She looks great - spiffy new haircut - although a bit skinnier than I remember due to her good friend 'parry'. She was totally shocked (maybe just good dramatic skills) when she saw Trev - truly an awesome moment!! We headed out for ...