28/11/14 Yogyakarta

Started out at 5.00am for Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site built around 900 AD. Very spectacular to say the least. It is a temple with no rooms, built covering a hill, all the inscriptions are on nine tiers on the outside which are read in a clockwise direction, it tells the story of the life of Buddha. The top has no inscriptions but 72 stupors each containing a Buddha, the central one originally contained a gold Buddha.
Next stop was the Palace. Yogyakarta is one of 5 special Provinces in Indonesia. It is granted this status as it is an special region governed by a Sultan. The palace was interesting, the illustrated family tree has many branches and leaves. The current Sultan has one wife and five daughters, no heir. He could take three more wives but declined to as any sane man knows, one is enough.
We walked back to the region of the hotel for lunch and a quick nap.
At 2.30pm we headed to Prambanan, it is also 9th century and is Hindu. It consist of the three main temples, three auxiliary temples, two flanking temples and 240 family temples. The main temple is dedicated to Shiva the destroyer (of evil) has 4 chambers, with shrines to Durga, Ghanish, Rishi Agastya and the main chamber for Shiva. It was destroyed in a 2006 earthquake and has been rebuilt, only opening again as recently as last month. Once again listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and rightly so.
It was 6.00pm when we returned so most of us enjoyed a meal and beer at one of the western restaurants 'Easy Goin' but we all had Indonesian dishes, I had the Rendang (spiced and caramelized meat served with fresh veges), Lynette had Gudeg (Jackfruit and coconut milk served with boiled rice. It was delicious.

27/11/14 Pangandaran to Yogyakarta

Had a lazy morning, dining on the oats, honey and cinnamon Lynette had bought with her, if we wanted to, we could have walked back to Che Mama for a big plate of fruit salad for about $2.50. Met in the lobby at 9:15am for the one and a half hour minivan trip to Sidareja train station. We had some rally drivers who got us there with an hour to wait for the 11:15ish train. So off across the road to wander the streets to kill some time. Once on the train I went to sleep, The view was of rice paddies and banana trees before I went to sleep and of rice fields and bananas when I awoke an hour later, I don't think I missed much. We arrived at Yogyakarta Station around 3.30, a short drive later we arrived at the Indah Palace hotel. No activities were planned so Lynette and I went for a long walk, she stopped at the end of it for a foot massage, one hour cost 70,000 Rupiah (around $7.00)  she said it was great - it sent shivers up her spine.

There are a bunch of western style restaurants and coffee houses here, a bit of a change from Nasi Goreng (rice fried) and Ayam (chicken) which I have been enjoying a lot of lately. The coffee is very strong. 

26/11/14 Pangandaran and surrounds

Pangandaran is a small holiday town in the south of Java with an oversized peninsular. Where the hotels are both East and West beaches are easily accessible. Today we started by visiting the local markets, as usual it is the hub of the town, a very busy place. Next stop the prawn cracker factory, which in actuality is the bucket of fish cracker factory. Next was a local villiage where we saw the cutting down of the old coconut trees and making into lumber, the boiling of the coconut palm flower sap to make brown sugar, in this case to sell to the b-b-q sauce factory. A local puppet maker showed us his craft, a very skilled carver, then put on a one man puppet performance for us, a talented man, playing drums and clashing symbols with his feet while speaking in many different  character voices.

Next stop was meant to be a boat ride on the Green Canyon, but it was cancelled as there was too much water flowing and it was now the brown canyon. Next on the agenda was to cross a bamboo bridge, a main throughfare for  bike and human traffic. Then another beach for a very late lunch before a long drive back to Pangandaran.

We rested a little before heading out to a little restaurant called Che Mama for a very nice meal. It was expensive though, just over 10 dollars for two meals and drinks, I shouldn't have had the second drink.

25/11/14 Bandung to Pangandaran

Travelled from 8.00am, in the 15 seater Isuzu bus. Had one rest stop about 2 hours in,  lunch around 11.00. A ten minute stretch of the legs at 1.30pm to drop off dunking donuts to Maman's family, then complete the journey to arrive at the Eastern side of the Pangandaran Peninsular at 3.20pm. A local guide me us and took us for a nature walk, we started by feeding deer at the edge of town. A short walk up a hill near an old Japanese war bunker and he chasing monitor lizards, we went into the bunker where there was two lizards, bats and rock spiders. We saw a sleeping gliding squirrel, next we walked through a cave leading from the jungle to the beach, where we fed hedgehogs papaya. On the beach we saw black monkeys. We walked over to the west beach to finish the walk. Then headed up the road for a seafood buffet at one of the Intrepid leaders houses. It rained heavily for our return walk. The joys of the wet season.

24/11/14 Jakarta to Bandung by train

Woke at 5.30 when the first sunlight streamed into the room, had breakfast from 6.00. Manan, our guide for the next two weeks, hailed the first taxi at 7.00 am, our group of 10 customers, one guide and one trainee guide needed four, they came in quick succession. A short short time later we were showing our passports to enter the main terminal of the Gambir terminal/station. The terminal is clean, ATM's, lots of shops, including western chains Starbucks, KFC etc. Announcements are in Javanese and English.
We bought water for the trip, we had first class tickets so headed up to the first carriage. Most of the luggage storage is via overhead rack, another win for the light packers, we had one big suitcase which slotted behind the first seat.
Once in Bandung we were greeted by our local guide, a short mini-bus ride later we were out to walk the streets of the old Dutch colonial town, the street that was called the Paris of Java, past the workers cottages and to the Savoy to check out the Art Decor.
After this we loaded into the minibus and went to the 3:30pm bamboo performance of Saung Angklung Udjo performed by school children, it was great and interactive. We had a go at playing, singing and dancing.
After the performance we ate then headed back to the hotel for an early night.

15 Oct - The Split

The group went different ways today - half of the group travelled with the bus back to Calais and on to London. Others including Lynette chose the Eurostar (2.5 hrs instead of all day), some stayed in Paris for a few extra days. We woke at 7.30, the main group was meant to leave at 7.15. Trafalgar had left breakfast on at the hotel until 9.00 we had breakfast the the remainder, Mike, Robin, Linda, John, Leslie, Paul, Chris, Karen, Leanne and Nigel. Once again said goodbyes, I walk down the road 20 minutes to catch the airport shuttle.

This trip was very fast paced - it was a great way to see a lot of Europe in a hurry and meet new friends along the way. I really enjoyed it but started to run out of energy around Rome. If you are thinking of coming be prepared for this. Howard Hazekamp our tour director had great management skills, this was evident in the way we met each deadline to give us the priority entry we needed when we have limited time for sightseeing. Everybody had a place (or more than one) where they could have spent more time. I know I'll be back for more..

I hope you enjoyed the read. This is where this blog ends..