Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Leaving Bali was sad because these stops now are for less time, but it was still great fun and is exciting nonetheless. We made it to Yogyakarta around 9. We got a grab, which is the Southeast Asia equivalent to Uber, but it’s way cheaper and you can pay cash. This is what we’ve mostly been using throughout the trip away from our van driver in the Philippines.

As always, we dropped our bags off because we couldn’t check in until 2 pm. We went to grab breakfast before exploring, and stumbled upon a place our hostel recommended. Luckily, is was divine. We loved that place so much we ended up going back to buy fresh bread and also for dinner the next day. Anywho, we had a mix between an omelette and tortilla (Spain not Tex mex) and a side baguette and arugula salad. Then we walked to the city to explore.

The city was pretty casual, and it was very hot. What wasn’t casual was the temple we went to. Prambanan temple is breathtakingly beautiful. It is the largest Hindu compound in SEAsia. It is comprised of three main temples, Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma, and surrounded by 224 Perwara (shrines). Built in 900 AD, and joined the list of World Heritage Sites in 1991. In May of 2006 a 5.9 earthquake hit Yogyakarta and damaged a lot of the compounds, and repairs are still being done. After we walked around here, we took a bus back to our hostel, walked around and found a place to eat dinner and yep, you guessed it, watch the World Cup haha.

The next day was no less amazing. We woke up bright and early and had a driver take us to Borobudur. This is the world’s largest Buddhist temple, consisting of 9 stacked platforms topped by a dome and there’s also little domes, 2,672 relief panels, and 504 Buddha statues. It was built in the 9th century during the Sailendra Dynasty. It also became a world heritage site in 1991 (facts from google). At this temple, there was a funny bit of time when everyone wanted a picture with me. I may have liked this temple slightly more because there was also a beautiful view surrounding it on all sides, and it was slightly less crowded. After this magnificent morning, our driver took us to the Chicken Church. It’s just a big building that is a pigeon. It does not make much sense, but you can climb to the top and there’s a great view. We went to get breakfast after, yep we were up mighty early, and it was such a cute place. Then we went back, and found a pool close by to swim and relax. We went to dinner at the place from before and it was delicious! I had duck leg and potatoes gratin! We had a coloring contest, I got second but it was timed so I’m okay with my place haha. Guy was not lying when he said he’s bad at coloring. We went to bed early to leave for Singapore tomorrow.