Indonesia: visiting Yogyakarta

Java is one of the most populated islands in the world with 150M inhabitants in an area that's 1000 km long and up to 200 km wide.

With so many people, Javanese had to develop a very efficient train system between the biggest cities of Java. And we wanted to see it for ourselves!

We left Banyuwangi for Yogyakarta (Jogja for the locals) on a 11-hours train ride. We were in the Eksecutif class instead of Economy as the prices were not so different (27 USD/pax) and it was a lot more comfortable - clean, chairs with armrests, height-adjustable foot rest, electrical plugs, A/C, overhead storage, free blankets and plenty of leg space. The set of 2 chairs could also be turned to face both directions, which is very smart and convenient for people who don't like to ride backwards.

But still 11h was long even with some beautiful views of the jungle and rice fields. Unfortunately, we couldn't see the volcanoes because of the heavy rain and low clouds. We still tried to catch a glimpse of Mt Semeru, the highest volcano in Java that had erupted just 3 days before, but it was completely covered in clouds.

We had to wear masks as well, but it helped not to smell the sulfur as our jackets and scarfs still reeked after climbing Mt Ijen. 🤣

We finally arrived at Yogyakarta at 11pm but the station was still full of people!

The following day, in Yogyakarta, we discovered a full fledged city with its different quarters, monuments, transport system but also pollution (couldn't even smell the sulfur from our clothes anymore 🤣)

I think it is one of the reasons why walking in Yogyakarta was unpleasant, as you were breathing gas fumes all the time.

After figuring out the bus system in Ubud, we were feeling confident and decided to also use the local bus, the Jogja. The 3.6k IDR ticket (0.23 USD/pax) could be bought with cash or a prepaid Indonesian card in a kind of booth that also gives you access to the bus. The best part was that the bus routes were very accurate on Google Maps which made our lives a lot easier!

We walked past the Palace of Yogyakarta, wandered around the Taman Sari and the Alun Alun Kidul.

The Palace and Taman Sari closed pretty early so we ended up not visiting them.

The Alun Alun Kidul was interesting to see. It is a vast empty space with only two big trees in the middle. It's said that if you could cross the area between the trees blind-folded, your wish would come true. We were watching people trying, sometimes completely going sideways or even doing a 180. It was hilarious!

In the evening, we went to Malioboro street, the city's commercial street where a lot of shops are selling food, clothes including batik (typical Indonesian clothes with many different and colorful patterns), souvenirs, among other things. A lot of the markets on the side streets also let you put your bargaining skills to use.

This street, whose name resembles a lot the brand of famous cigarettes', was full of vehicles of all kinds - buses, cars, bikes and motorcycles but also horse carriages, motorized Tuk Tuks, regular Tuk Tuks and small portable stalls that sell food.

The following day, we decided to visit a temple complex. There are several around Yogyakarta but the most famous are Borobudur and Prambanan.

A fellow tourist had told us Borobudur was not worth it because it seems that, during covid, they closed the access to the top of the temple and haven't reopened it yet, so you can only visit the grounds and you still pay the same steep price (25 USD/pax). Recent reviews on Google confirmed this information and, taking into consideration how far it was, we decided to just go to Prambanan.

Prambanan (also called Candi Roro Jonggrang) is the biggest Hindu temple complex in Indonesia, and the second largest Hindu temple complex in the world, after Angkor Wat. This temple complex, listed as UNESCO World Heritage, is part of an archeological park called Prambanan Archeological Park Complex.

To reach the park from Yogyakarta, we took the public Teman Bus K3, then walked 10min to the entrance (entrance fee is 25 USD/pax, around 380k IDR/pax).

We were then able to visit the park featuring the Candi Roro Jonggrang and three other sites, Buddhists this time, called Candi Lumbung, Candi Bubrah and Candi Sewu.

Candi Roro Jonggrang (Prambanan) is the actual Hindu complex, which used to have 240 temples built around the 9th century, but most of them were destroyed after an earthquake in the 16th century. Only the 6 main ones were restored:

- the Shiva temple measuring 47m tall and 34m wide, has 2 gates, a main chamber with a statue of Shiva the Destroyer, and also 2 additional rooms on top of the main chamber. The bas reliefs of the temple feature the Ramayana.

- the Brahma and Vishnu temples measuring only 20m dedicated to Brahma the Creator and Vishnu the Keeper

- 3 other shrines in front of those 3 temples dedicated to the mounts (vahana) of the 3 gods: the bull Nandi for Shiva, the swan Hamsa for Brahma and the bird Garuda for Vishnu.

The name Roro Jonggrang comes from a woman that tried to evade a powerful man wanting to marry her. She asked him to build a thousand statues in a single night in order to marry him. But she tricked him by asking villagers to simulate a big fire that would resemble the sunrise. The man found out that Roro tricked him, and in anger, turned her into the 1000th statue.

In addition to Candi Roro Jonggrang, 3 buddhist temples are present in the park. The first two, Candi Lumbung and Bubrah, are quite small.

But Candi Sewu seems to have been one of the biggest Buddhist temple sites in Indonesia, with one major temple surrounded by 248 structures.

The archeological park is an example of a peaceful and harmonious cohabitation of two different religions, Buddhist and Hindu, like we had seen in the Elephant temple in Ubud.

The park also offered the visitors the opportunity to practice archery (you had to pay 20k IDR - less than 2 USD - for 12 arrows). As you can see, all the arrows were bent so I could not reach the middle of the target...and I probably also needed some classes, but the main problem were definitely the arrows 🤣

And at the exit, the park had a small zoo with some dwarf deers and a flightless colorful bird from Indonesia, the cassowary.

Back at Yogyakarta, to end this very hot day, we enjoyed an ice cream at the famous Tempo Gelato, which sells an enormous cone for only 30K IDR (2 USD).

The next day, we spent some time relaxing before leaving to the capital city of Jakarta!