Sheraton Mustika Yogyakarta

... It’s funny out here, we always find ourselves haggling over small amounts when buying fruit or souvenirs, or clothes; sometimes as little as 20 pence. But other times when we aren’t on the ball, we just accept the price and loose out loads. We ended up spending 500,000 on the room for two nights (£35) but I’m sure I could have got it for way less if I’d gone for it. It’s silly, kind of makes all the other haggling over small amounts pointless. But ...

... lit up, yet still we couldn’t see the sun. We busied ourselves shoving through the crowd to the front, and took some photos of Mount Bromo smoking away. Soon, however, the sun began to rise above the horizon. I don’t think I’ve ever see such the sun so bright so early in the morning. The deep orange orb rose above the horizon and bathed everything in its warm glow. It as spectacular. After taking plenty of photos the three of us scampered off to the ...

... was next door to the kitchen, so at 6am we were awoken yet again by the banging of pots and pans. It was the worst night's sleep we had experienced during nearly 8 months of travelling throughout Asia and that really is quite some achievement. <br><br>Needless to say, we checked out the following morning. We spent the entire morning traipsing around the guesthouses and hotels of the Sosrowijayan area. Again, this being August and the high season in Java ...

... of Aussie rednecks. They are big, beefy folk with terrible sunburns (like, years of sunburning non-stop, leathery-looking) and large tattoos that often incorporate either the Aussie flag or an outline of the Australian continent somewhere in the design. For the most part, we&#8217;ve had no trouble with Aussies since they are a friendly bunch, but it is strange to walk down a street and hear nothing but Australian accents and see nothing but sunburned white people in Indonesia. <br ...

... lads wondered around the local area finding things to do? <br><br>[Tom: The rest of us had quite a chilled day - catching up on some internet after the time spent in Malioboro mall (man, the female shop staff in Indonesia wear a hell of a lot of make-up!). After dinner, we went for a walk across the railway line up to the nearby Tugu monument (I found out later that it is apparently tradition to hug and kiss the monument after finishing uni - opportunity missed!) then ...

Hi all! As many of you are aware, I am back home now is sunny Colorado. I got home last Thursday and have been trying frantically to organize myself since then. I wanted to take some time though to share about my travels in Indonesia. This will be a two-part series. Maybe I should give a little background before I start. Indonesia is made up of lots and lots of islands - very small ones and very big ones ...

... is again like elsewhere in Asia, where you aren't allowed to look peacefully or leave without buying anything otherwise the get angry, hound you to buy something and start to drop their price if you show any slight interest in anything. I puts Amelia and myself right off buying when this happens. Dam our stubborn principles! Tomorrow we endure another epic 48 hours of traveling as we head to Bali via the Bromo volcano on a organised trip.

... because of the damage done, access is severely limited, so I was only allowed to entire the Siwa shrine. After visiting the main complex, I checked out the surrounding ruined Buddhist and Hindu temples and enjoyed a filling noodle soup and coke lunch in the neighboring market for a grand total of 10,000 rupiah (USD1). It had been three days since I left Mary and I missed her terribly. Virtually everything I did ...

... in Nusa Dua für das Hyatt Hotel und spricht ziemlich gut Deutsch *G*. Jedenfalls hab ich mir die W**kstatt angesehen und es war ziemlich int**essant - kein** spricht einen auch nur darauf an, daß man was kaufen soll, od** daß sie Geld haben wollen dafür, daß sie dir 30min lang **klären wie diese Puppen gef**tigt w**den und was die v**schiedenen Farben alles bedeuten. Bin da also ohne irgendwelche Rupien zu v**teilen wied** raus und wir sind weit** zum Wat** Castle ...

... store. Kate says they do that at Walmart in NA too - I've just never been there early enough to see it! Not too much fabulous at the mall so we set out on a mission to find Kate some meds - we must have gone to eight pharmacies (all on opposite sides of the road of course!) before she was able to find (kinda) what she needed - unreal. It was cool watching her communicate with the pharmacists in Bahasa though!! We took a cab to a boutiquey area of town to look ...