Adisucipto International Airport

We spent our last piece of IDR100,000 to buy magnets at the airport and later realised that we still have to pay IDR100,000 for airport tax before we are allowed to enter the waiting area. Luckily we still have US dollars with us so we paid USD15 per pax instead. Please remember to keep your last piece of IDR100,000 when you are visiting Yogyakarta!!

Another interesting sight that I noticed about this airport (besides that it is a very small airport and it is not airconditioned). There is only one baggage claim area and the conveyor belt is overcrowded with passengers waiting to collect their luggage. Before I can bring my luggage out of the airport, I have to show my receipt to the airport officers to prove that I am not running off with another person's baggage. So, please do not lose the receipt!

A fruit named Salak

IMG_0427, originally uploaded by Technical Tango.

Have you heard of this fruit called Salak and whose skin resembles that of a snake? I have not.

So when Chin asked the tour driver to bring us to buy Salak, I was surprised to see such a fruit. They say it tasted like jackfruit. Anyway, as I am personally not a fan of jackfruit, I gave it a miss.

Salak pondoh is an important fruit in Yogyakarta province. In the five years to 1999, the annual production in Yogyakarta doubled to 28,666 tons. Its popularity among local Indonesian consumers is mainly due to the intensity of its aroma, which can be overripe and sweaty even before full maturation.

Salak is a species of palm tree. The fruit grow in clusters at the base of the palm, and are also known as snake fruit due to the reddish-brown scaly skin. They are about the size and shape of a ripe fig, with a distinct tip. The pulp is edible. The fruit can be peeled by pinching the tip, which should cause the skin to slough off so it can be pulled away. The fruit inside consists of three lobes, each containing a large inedible seed. The lobes resemble, and have the consistency of, large peeled garlic cloves. The taste is usually sweet and acidic, but its apple-like texture can vary from very dry and crumbly (salak pondoh from Yogyakarta) to moist and crunchy (salak Bali).

Prambanan

IMG_8457, originally uploaded by Technical Tango.

Prambanan is a collection of massive Hindu temples (candi) built by the Mataram Kingdom, rulers of central Java and defeaters of the Sailendra Dynasty.

Prambanan was designated at a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 and its global profile as a tourist attraction rose markedly in the 1990s. In the wake of the May 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, some parts of Prambanan sustained significant damage.

There is a legend that Javanese people always tell about this temple. This folk legend tells about a story of a prince called Bandung Bondowoso who wanted to marry the daughter of King Boko, Roro Jonggrang . Bandung Bondowoso insisted on the union, and finally Roro Jonggrang was forced to agree but she posed one impossible condition: Bandung must build her a thousand temples in only one night. With the assistance of sprints, Bundung Bondowoso succeeded in building 999 buildings. When he almost completed the last temple, Roro Jonggrang ordered the palace maids to begin pounding rice and set a fire in the east of the temple. This is an attempt to make the Prince and the spirits believe that the sun was about to rise. As the cocks began to crow, fooled by the light and the sounds of morning time, the supernatural helpers fled back into the ground. The prince was furious about the trick and in revenge he cursed Roro Jonggrang to stone. She became the last and the most beautiful of the thousand statues. According to the traditions, the unfinished thousandth temple created by the demons become the Sewu Temple and the Princess is the image of Durga in the north cell of the Shiva temple at Prambanan, which is still known as Rara Jonggrang or Slender Virgin.

Borobudur Temple

IMG_7993, originally uploaded by Technical Tango.

Borobudur is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Central Java, Indonesia.

The word Borobudur is believed to mean monastery on a hill. It was abandoned following the 14th century decline of Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms in Java, and the Javanese conversion to Islam.

It was built in three tiers: a pyramidal base with five concentric square terraces, the trunk of a cone with three circular platforms and, at the top, a monumental stupa. The walls and balustrades are decorated with fine low reliefs, covering a total surface area of 2,500 m². Around the circular platforms are 72 openwork stupas, each containing a statue of the Buddha. The monument was restored with UNESCO's help in the 1970s and has since been preserved through several restorations. The largest restoration project was undertaken between 1975 and 1982 by the Indonesian government and UNESCO, following which the monument was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Borobudur is also Indonesia's single most visited tourist attraction.

The streets of Jalan Malioboro

IMG_7728, originally uploaded by Technical Tango.

Jalan Malioboro is a major shopping street in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The street is the centre of Yogyakarta's largest tourist district surrounded with many hotels and restaurants nearby. Sidewalks on both sides of the street are crowded with small stalls selling a variety of goods. In the evening several open-air streetside restaurants operate along the street. Less obvious to the tourist, but more for the local population are the side streets, lanes and structures that lead on to Malioboro are as important as the street itself.

My travel mates and I named this "the Orchard Road of JOG".

May 2012 @ Villa Hanis, Yogyakarta *Updated"

Photo credits : Fionna, she is also my travel buddy for this trip

This is how we locked our villa when we had to go out. At night, we locked the villa from inside. Unique!

May 2012 @ Villa Hanis, Yogyakarta

The road leading into the villa was bumpy. Upon arrival, we were surprised that there is only one villa at Hanis, separated by a bamboo screen from the restaurant. Somehow we have missed out this information from the Net.
 

The villa is a Javanese house that gives a very rustic feel. It consists of two rooms with connecting outdoor bathrooms. In the big room, there is a double four posted bed, wardrobe, TV, minibar, sofa corner, reading desk and a big mirror. The big room is beautifully decorated with Javanese ornaments. There is also a private garden with a pool and a shady gazebo.

We had our first lunch at the restaurant and we informed the staffs that we do not take beef. The next morning, the attentive staff still remembered and reminded us that the sausage at the breakfast consisted beef and they replaced it with pork bacon for us. Since our flight on the last day was at 7.30AM, we had to leave the villa at 5.30AM, the kind staff prepared sandwiches for us to take along to the airport.

We also used the hotel airport shuttle which cost USD 9 per trip and we hired the same driver for the next two days. It is essential to have a driver in Yogyakarta. It cost IDR 550,000 for hire a driver for 12-hour/daily.
 

The villa is clean and the service is good. We enjoyed breakfast times as we could have a spectacular view of Mount Merapi. There is also WIFI in our villa and at the restaurant. Overall, it is an unique experience for the 3 of us.

 



May 2012 Yogyakarta - Highlights

Some snapshots from the 3-day trip.

(1) This cat at the villa likes to cozy up to us. He has got beautiful eyes.

(2) At Sultan Palace and Water Castle, we had to buy a "photo permit" in order to take photographs

(3) The children in the mountains piled on more clothes as the night falls

(4) Borobudur Temple is one of the World Wonder Heritage

Our itnerary for the three days

Day 1 : We arrived at Yogyakarta Airport at 11.30AM. Our villa was only 30 minutes from the airport. We were able to check in very quickly. By then we were hungry so we decided to have lunch at Villa Hanis. After that, we called for a metered-taxi to take us to Jalan Malioboro. We also found a nice massage palour called "Kakiku" along the streets.

Day 2 : Our plan for the day was to visit Borobudur Temple and Mount Merapi. Our tour driver also took us to a massage palour and an interesting restaurant at the end of the day. We paid about IDR120,000 for an one-hour body massage (approximately SGD17!).

Day 3 : We brought tripods for this trip and we were determined to take some photos of sunset. The tour driver recommended that we should visit Sultan Palace and Water Castle "Taman Sari" in the morning. We visited Prambanan after lunch and stayed there until sunset. Unfortunately it was a cloudy day and we could not get any shots of the sunset.

Day 4: Rise and shine! We woke up at 4AM and began to get ready to go to the aiport. Our return flight to Singapore was 7.30AM. Air Asia is the only airline that flies direct from Singapore to Yogyakarta and they only have one return flight (YOG/SIN) per day.

The crafts that I brought on this trip

Canon 500D

Tokina f2.8 11-17mm

Canon f4.0 28-105mm

Tripod Canon S100

Get your brain moving!

Brain Lab

First try 

Updated on 13.5.2012 - Chin's score. Whahaha!!

The wanderlust

Just the other day, I was lamenting that I have no travel plans for this year. Due to work, I will not be able to continue with my plans of visiting USA in July. My little niece will be "arriving" anytime soon. Looks like I can only see her next year in Singapore instead.


Now I have plans! *big GRIN* In 3 days time, I will be travelling to Yogyakarta with Chin and Fionna. It is a pity that Pei Yek is unable to join us at the last minute. Chin suggested the place and later we got to understand that he has wanted to visit YOG for the longest time but cannot find any friends to go with him because there is a history of earthquakes and volcano erruptions *roll eyes* What a good friend LOL.

I think I will pack my luggage on Wednesday night and probably try to get an extra battery for my DSLR at the airport *cross fingers* And yes, it is going to be a photography trip!! I hope we will return with many good photos. I am trying very hard to find time to upload my photos from Suzhou (Oct 2011) and Krabi (Dec 2011).

Then in Jun, I will be in Batam with Timothy and Emily for massages and A&W. This is followed by a family trip to Hong Kong and maybe I will bring my Mom to Bangkok on a 2D3N shopping trip. The last time I brought her oveseas was in March 2008 to Hong Kong and Macau. It had since been a long while.

How I wish I can simply take 3 weeks off work to travel. Wistful thinking.

Study shows, taking email vacations can reduce stress!

Yahoo! News

I agree!! *raise both legs and hands*

Whenever I have a challenging deadline or task to complete, I turn off my email (Microsoft outlook). The email alerts stressed me out. By turning off the email, I feel that I can work more efficiently and effectively because I can concentrate just on getting the task done. Then, I reply to all the emails at one go.

The Company provides me with a Blackberry so that I can check emails at anywhere and anytime. However, this also becomes a habit for me to read emails on weekends and off days. Sometimes when I see an important email, it lingers on my mind and I feel uneasy because there is nothing much I can do until I return to office. Nowadays I restrict reading emails on blackberry only on weekday nights.  

Weekends are my email vacations.