We were more than ready to leave the crazed activity in Jakarta for the smaller, more peaceful city of Yogyakarta. The bus ride from the airport showed us the Indonesia we had imagined—green fields, rice paddies and palm trees for as far as we could see, with the mountains (volcanoes?) rising majestically in the distance.
OAT ensured that we made the most of our time in Yogyakarta by scheduling our home visit for the evening of our travel day. After checking in to another beautiful hotel, we barely were able to unpack and freshen up (sorta), before meeting our host at 6PM.
We were divided into four groups of four, so I was pleased to be sharing the experience with Micki, Jeanne and Laurie.
Okay, I’ll confess to being more than a little concerned when after driving for about a half an hour, we reached what appeared to be a rather questionable neighborhood. Fortunately, the main street was the only sketchy part. It opened up to what I can only describe as an incredibly beautiful alley, paved with intricate stone designs.
Our host, Joko’s “real” job is as a professional musician, playing in an 8 piece band. You might be able to see his instrument in the photo below, leaning against the wall, between Joko and me.
In his “spare” time, Joko is also the village chief, an unpaid position that comes with a lot of responsibilities. Maybe that’s why the sultan visited him? Or could it have been because of his heritage house, which has been in Joko’s family for many generations? The reason wasn’t clear, but we were quite impressed that WE got to dine where a sultan had eaten.
Uti, Joko’s wife, had prepared quite a feast for us. We sampled an array of traditional Indonesian dishes, while chatting with his daughter, Denise, whose English was excellent. This young Muslim woman and her enterprising friend started their own travel business.
It is hard to describe the magnificence of this visit, so I’ll let my photos speak for me.
The next morning, we visited the world’s largest Buddhist temple, Borobudur.
I was VERY grateful to have brought my hiking pole because the stairs were unevenly steep, and many flights were without handrails. It was worth checking my luggage to have this vital support, especially on the way down.
Although I didn’t NEED to purchase a photo, I bought two because I wanted to give the photographer money for his desire to earn a living by standing in the hot sun, taking a chance that tourists would want to buy the photos that he used his resources to print.
Red headed Shoshana was born in Israel, lives in Oakland, is a solo traveler, who we readily adopted as our newest buddy. But her REAL claim to fame is she is the only one on this trip who is under the age of 70!
Those of us who chose to do so gathered at 4 PM for the optional tour of Yogyakarta on the back of a motorbike. How to describe experience? It was equal parts harrowing and exhilarating. I am so bloody glad Laurie talked me into it!
The experience was a whole lot more than just cruising through the crowded streets of Yogyakarta on the back of a scooter We stopped to enjoy street musicians, visit the sultan’s palace, sample street food and enjoy an included dinner.
On our way to visit the Hindu temple now, so I’ll end this now. No proofreading, so forgive any typos.
