Today is Labour Day, and so what better time than to post selected photos from my trip to Yogyakarta, Indonesia last weekend. Having had this trip postponed three times so far, I finally decided to plough ahead and book it during Chinese New Year. So you can imagine that when the time came to leave for the flight, I was fairly giddy.
The trip itself was fairly uneventful, however I was in for a shock when I landed. Being the only non-Malaysian in our group of six people, I had to take the Visa lane and pay my dues for wanting to see the country. This surprisingly allowed me to pass through immigration quicker than the others, and I soon found myself walking out from the tiny city airport to me met by a hoard of teenage Indonesian girls. Never have I encountered this sort of reception at the arrivals gate of any airport. So, naturally I squeezed pass them along the narrow walkway they had left and waiting for my friends to arrive. It became apparent that the teenagers were in fact waiting for some international Artiste (Singer/Actor/Actress) to arrive, and just before my friends came through, there was a rush as all of the girls ran to another gate where the celebrity was making a swift exit.
Once we all gathered, we sorted out transportation and found ourselves speeding towards our nice hotel rooms. It was during this drive that the Indonesian driver started to haggle for a price as our tour guide for the coming weekend adventure. By the time we had reached our hotel, we had agreed on a price and were all set to Borobudur and Prambanan in the morning.
That night we decided to stroll through the city and managed to see the local Indonesian bike culture in full swing. Kids of all ages were riding around in motorbikes and pushbikes in groups, some deciding to gather around on the pavements and hang out. Every now and then a horse carriage or a cycle rickshaw would drive past creating a chaotic yet fairly organized experience. Overall it was a lovely atmosphere, and made for a nice evening. We all slept fairly early that night, knowing that we would have to be up around dawn to get ready for a full day of sightseeing…
