I had visited most of the Asean countries except Indonesia, Burma & Laos. So for this trip, I picked Yogyakarta (3.4 mil) as the first city for my visit to Indonesia. The other reason was the Borobudur Temple as I was keen to see this civilized wonder of the world !
Prior to coming to Yogya, I had contacted one of the Hospitality Club members in Yogyarkata, Mr Andrei and he was most helpful and provided me with valuable advice on hostel location and recommendation, airport bus shuttle and taxi services and rates, travel agency services, Malioboro and Dagen street areas. Thank you so much Andrei for providing the preliminary advice , although we did not meet up for a chat in Yogya ! Andrei, If you are coming to Kuala Lumpur, please drop me a line.
After an hour of delay at LCCT Kuala Lumpur, our Air Asia flight finally arrived in Yogyakarta at around 5.30pm. The Yogya airport is small and congested when all our air passengers arrived at the hall for immigration clearance. The Malaysian passport holders were asked to queue up in one single row and it took around 20 minutes by the time I had my passport stamped and cleared .
On the plane, we befriended two senior Malaysian travelers ( Lee & Lam ) and together we took an airport taxi (50,000rp=Rm15.50) to Merapi Hotel (150,000rp=Rm46.50 per room for two) located in Sosrowijayan street in the Malioboro area. If you take the Trans-Yog airport bus No 1A , it costs only 3,000rp=Rm0.90 per ticket. The taxi trip took around 30mins to downtown city.
On the plane, we befriended two senior Malaysian travelers ( Lee & Lam ) and together we took an airport taxi (50,000rp=Rm15.50) to Merapi Hotel (150,000rp=Rm46.50 per room for two) located in Sosrowijayan street in the Malioboro area. If you take the Trans-Yog airport bus No 1A , it costs only 3,000rp=Rm0.90 per ticket. The taxi trip took around 30mins to downtown city.
The weather at this time of the year was cool at 27C but rains in the afternoon were quite often. The humidity here was low so we did not sweat much while walking around the downtown area.
After the hostel check-in and a cool bath, our group of four and with the help of a local guy took us to a beef noodle shop nearby our hostel and we had our first taste of Bakso, a noodle dish cooked in a hot spicy soup with three beef balls and bean sprouts in it. Each bowl costs 10,000rp=Rm3.10. Next, our local guy took us to a road side satay stall and we had a great chicken and beef satay meal (40 sticks) with rice (48,000rp=Rm15 for 4) and ginger tea (10,000rp=Rm3.10 for 4).
After the hostel check-in and a cool bath, our group of four and with the help of a local guy took us to a beef noodle shop nearby our hostel and we had our first taste of Bakso, a noodle dish cooked in a hot spicy soup with three beef balls and bean sprouts in it. Each bowl costs 10,000rp=Rm3.10. Next, our local guy took us to a road side satay stall and we had a great chicken and beef satay meal (40 sticks) with rice (48,000rp=Rm15 for 4) and ginger tea (10,000rp=Rm3.10 for 4).
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After the meal, we wondered around the Malioboro area just to familiar with the surrounding places. Our first glipmse of Yogyarkata by night ! Malioboro is really a tourist shopping haven - make sure you bring a big luggage to stuff whatever things you have bought - a real bargain if you know how to haggle the price to the last cent ! Tourists could also take a horse carriage ride, trishaws and enjoyed the street food by the roadside. After an hour of walking, we walked into the Malioboro Mall, a modern shopping center and this time, we ordered some more local food at the Food Court. We sampled the Gudek Jogja, a spicy sweet jack fruit (nangka) stew come with rice, chicken, serunding, boiled egg & tufu.
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Our group paid 25,000rp (Rm7.60) for the Gudek. Sorry, I did not enjoy the Gudek dish at all ! . We also ate a plate of Soto Kudus, mainly chicken offals (31,000rp=Rm9.60) and fried soya bean cake (3,000rp=Rm0.90)
On our way back to our hostel, our group signed up a day tour with a local travel agency (Sosro Tour & Travel) for our day trip tomorrow. The tour package covered three places ie Borobudur Temple, Kaliurang (viewing of Mt Merapi) and Prambanan Temple. Each of us paid a discounted price of 80,000rp=Rm25 for the transport. As both the temple are UNESCO sites, overseas tourists have to pay a stiff price of 100,000rp=Rm31 for each temple as admission fee.
Our group had a canned of local Bintang beer ( 11,000rp=Rm3.40) bought from a mini market before retiring to bed. The cool beer put us to sleep well tonight.
On our way back to our hostel, our group signed up a day tour with a local travel agency (Sosro Tour & Travel) for our day trip tomorrow. The tour package covered three places ie Borobudur Temple, Kaliurang (viewing of Mt Merapi) and Prambanan Temple. Each of us paid a discounted price of 80,000rp=Rm25 for the transport. As both the temple are UNESCO sites, overseas tourists have to pay a stiff price of 100,000rp=Rm31 for each temple as admission fee.
Our group had a canned of local Bintang beer ( 11,000rp=Rm3.40) bought from a mini market before retiring to bed. The cool beer put us to sleep well tonight.
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