(a very tanned hand from the travels i must say!)
Im back from a really fantastic vacation from my accounts that is. EVeryone has been telling me that Jogjakarta had nothing much to offer, but for me, the 5 day holidays with 9 crazy lunatics was worth every single cent. The 5 days of total relaxing holiday was what i needed to get away from the hustling life in jatinangor for awhile, and it did me good. But coming back to the comforts of my room, from the hot sun of jogjakarta, yupp,its true what they say... sometimes theres no place like home!
I have been thinking of finding myself a travel log traditional type of notebook, where i can record my travels. But i havent been able to find a really nice one, something like abangs leather bound notebook. Anyway, for this travel, i used my expense record in my handphone to keep track of what i have been doing. IT helps a bit, but a travel journal would be even better.
These entries are going to be very very travelly, so sorry if you get bored about it...!This entry is an intro, so bear with it ya
ok, first things first, the essential things to bring during a 5 day travel. from left.
1. make sure you bring a bag fit to travel that can ACTUALLY fit stuff in it! I finally found the best bag to travel, which was given to me by my aunt from one of her travels to Greece, i think. It has lots of useful pockets in it, and can be turned into a side bag, handbag and back pack. very versatile.
2. always bring along toiletries to freshen oneself anywhere at anytime. sunblock, wet tissue, hand sanitizer, face spray, hair comb,hair serum..haha...very gurly, i know!but it IS essential i say!
3. Bring a camera that lasts the whole day and night (which mine only lasts for half a day, hence the lack of photographs)
4. NEver forget to bring your handphone, eventhough sometimtes you need to get away from all those gadgets
4. its not in the picture, but i bring along my hat wherever i go because it is definitely hot!
5.SUNGLASSES! --to shade oneself..and to look HOT...muahaha
6. I recently bought a mini telekung, which is a tad bigger than the palm of my hand..very,very useful..one of the most practical things i bought in my life, seriously
After finishing my osce remed on friday, i ran home, and....SLEPT!!
huhu
but i did finish packing a good hour before going to the train station.
our kijang was really late and we had to employ personal vehicles at the last minute..that was cumbersome for everyone, so sorry..
but at last, we reached the train station in time, and after crossing the railway track, in and out of coaches, we finally settled into our blue seats ..all 10 of us.
those on the trip:
ok...actually this entry has been in my draft for ages, around 2-3 days. but i have been busy wrecking my mind thinking of something to weasle my way out of the 2nd judicium. I just dont understand why we have to go and dont they understand that we are not only troubling ourselves, but troubling our parents as well...yeahh, mom said, they are just a sadistically set of people...aint nothing we can do about it, they live on other peoples sadness.
Dont want to spoil my mood on writing about my trip now, so i guess ill go back to the vacation part.
DAY 1 ( 27.06.09)
The train ride was for 8 hours, and it was extremely cold in the coach. I bundled myself with layers of warmth, woken up time to time by some passing freeze. Luckily, i survived the cold train ride unscathed and we arrived at the train station in jogjakarta at 4.30 am.
The air was cool, as we unloaded our bags into the RUMAH UMNO,which we would be staying in for the next 4 days, 3 nights. The big house was not luxurious, but good enough to accommodate us backpackers. WE rested for an hour, some took a bath, 1 person didnt (hee)...and by 7, we were of again to travel the ancient city.
The aim for today was to finish all the temples, or candis. I felt that it was very interesting to look upon such great architecture, the richness of the past, which one day could collapse at any moment. The day was extremely hot, as we climbed the first temple, CANDI BOROBUDUR. The view was astonishing, miles and miles of ancient stones merely stacked upon each other with nothing much to hold them together. Any large earthquake could easily dismantle the ancient temple as had more than once happened. I took lots of pictures, definitely, as we scuttled around the large temple. We spent around 2 hours there before proceeding to other temples. The next two temples were much smaller, Candi Pawon and Candi Mendut. Candi Mendut was nice because it had this large tree where we children swung like tarzan from timbuktu. These temples had various buddhist influence, and beside Candi Mendut was a newly built buddhist monastery which we did go in, only to take some photos. A friend of mine took a really beautiful photograph from her slr, which i would like to congratulate her on, and wish that she would enter the photo in any competitions!i do!
The next was Ratu Boko, which isnt actually a temple, but a place for the princesses to take a bath. ermm..may i say, it was an ancient ground for bath tubs. I absolutely loved the scenery here, but unfortunately, my battery died on me upon reaching this scenic place. but, ill ask from some other friends, probably youll see it on my facebook. The whole landscape was large, and we got lost once, (following someone la...i wonder who laa)..=P..But we managed to get back to the right area, and we spent a lot of time there, taking in the natural beauty of the past.
As we spent a lot of time there, by the time we went to Prambanan, we couldnt get in. But the sun was setting and it was magnificent! I do wish i could post the pictures here! later, i hope.
Lastly, after a tiring day visiting all the temples, we went home, took a bath and went out for dinner at Mang Engking. (im not quite sure how to spell it). But this restaurant is in a castle, very interesting i must say! The seafood was normal, but maybe we paid for the ambience.
All in all...it was a good day spent..
EXPENSES
Car petrol 20 000
Borobudur entrance ticket 16 000
Personal stuff 28 000
6 000
Candi Pawon and Candi Mendut
entrance ticket 3 500
Lunch (nasi baker) 11 500
Any travel expenses 10 000
Candi Brambanan and Ratu Boko
entrance ticket 25 000
Dinner at Mang Engking
–palace seafood… 57 500
total= 177 500
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DAY 2 (28.06.09)
I was eager to try out nasi gudeg after my lecturer told me that it tasted good. Unfortunately, never trust anyones taste buds except for yourself...true! It wasnt good at all, i barely touched mine, what more looked at my friends dish which contained an exotic bird head and rice...ahaha..
Today, we went to the train station to check out our options to Solo before proceeding to the Kraton which is the palace in Jogja. The palace grounds was large, very asian oriented monarchy. It is considered the little brother of Solo as the royalty first started there. Kraton closes at 2 pm so, we had to go there first thing.
After the palace, we visited Brambanan again, this time my camera still had batteries. But you should really see it during sun set, awesome! I bought this really nice purple had for a good price and am extremely satisfied with it.(yeayy!!)
At brambanan, we took a mini train around the compound while looking at other temples around it. By the end of our 2 day trip, i reckon we could ace any history test on the temples in jogja!
WE went back home to rest for lunch, again eating nasi bakar which is really good and cheap. Situated just at the corner of where we were staying, definitely should try. After having rested, we went to Amplaz in search of civilized shopping! (sorry ma friends, we had to check out the mall didnt we!)..fortunately for me, things were expensive and not to my liking so i didnt spend much.
VEry restful and unhurried day, enjoyed it!
EXPENSES
Car rental (2 days travel) 160 000
Breakfast-nasi gudeg, ayam suwir 12 500
Car petrol day 2 20 000
Kraton entrance ticket 3 000
Personal stuff 7 000
40 000
10 000
20 000
70 000
130 000
Mini train at brambanan 5000
Lunch –nasi bakar again 10 000
Dinner @ pastello ---
ambarrukmo plaza (amplaz) 25 500
TOTAL = 513 000
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DAY 3 (29.06.09)
Today we woke up earlier than usual because we are going to SOLo! hurrayy!
The train to Solo is called pramex, costing very cheap and the trip is only 1 hour.
WE were kind of lost at what to do, i felt guilty because i lost the list of things to visit in Solo. We took a beca from the train station and went around town, as we arrived early in the morning, nothing was opened much. So we went to mcd, where 2 friends went to find a large car to rent. We ended up getting thiS reALY really large mobile fitting all of us.
First stop, Kraton Kasunanan. This palace was unique because it had a lot of western influence as it is the big brother of the royalty in Jogja. There were many gifts from athens, greece, the british and a lot of european countries. In solo, it is known as kasunanan because it is bigger than the royalty in jogja. in jogja, it is known as kasultanan..see the difference right..
The palace grounds were unique because you had to take off any sandals or slippers to step on the special sand taken from the samudra sea. BUt if you wore closed shoes or a sandal with a back strap, then it is allowed. THe belief is that if you go bare footed on the sand, it is a sign that you were blessed and may hinder from any rheumatism.
Theres this really beautiful carriage that i liked, pure white..but as usual, my camera died on me again!!
In the middle of the palace is a well, believed to be used for health by the king.
The trip was then proceeded to the next palace known as Puro Mangkunegaran. The thing about this palace, is that he is actually one of the kings nephews, a knight in his title. He succeded to make a kingdom of his own in Solo, and thus the royal family still lives on in the palace until now.
This palace is somewhat like a mansion of a rich man. Full of marbles from italy, chandeliers from france and furs from the sumatran jungle. The tour guide said that there was a generation of the kings where he became very rich because he charged a lot of taxes from the local people, therefore enabling him to buy all those luxuries.
One interesting object in this palace, is when the tour guide mentioned the ancient g-string and the chastity belt for the king and queen. It is worn so that they wont you-know with other people outside the blood lineage. It closes their private parts, and is locked by a key, held by only 1 person. Unfortunately, photography is no allowed inside the palace itself.
The tour guide, even showed us some lulur and traditional herbs sold by the women of the palace, believed to be used since ancient time for beauty and health.
The whole mansion-type palace was very aspiring, because it was a new monarchy, a lot of the furniture still were from the 20th century. There are pictures of the king who is only 59 years old and his family. one of the family married a malaysian.
Oh, did i mention, that the movie PUTERI GUNUNG LEDANG was filmed at this palace, and there are pictures of tiara jacquelina as well.
From all the palaces, we did what we always do best...visit temples..the next temple on the list is called Candi Sukho. A unique thing about this temple is that it is known as the temple for pronography!! What!! believe it or not..
The story behind this temple is that the people who built it believed that sex is sacred, something like karma sutra, and filled the temple with 18 above carvings for the sole prupose of sexual education...hmm,peculiar eyy... but true.
This candi is a long way from solo town, so we had to travel more than an hour, passing the Bengawan Solo, which is the famous river in solo, drove through impossible hilly roads and finally reach the top of the cold cold mountain.
Everyone was hungry as we got of the mini bus, so we all ate pop mie and drank hot coffee...sadly, my camera aint working this time either...(and i dont think i can buy a camera this year because of **^&*&^ FK who forced us to stay for judicium 2, so i have to waste my *&^&*^ money on flight tickets!!!!argh!!! )..
the temple was shaped like a pyramid, very unique from all the temples that we saw. i believe that it had some egyptian influence or so, as the temple was like an aztec temple.
A funny thing happened there, when we were all posing to take photographs, my friend went to ask some mat salleh for help..
so she was like, ok, you have to press this button and get this view and etc etc...
suddenly the mat salleh said : photonya mau smua atau gi mana....ahaa!!never underestimate the power of a language barrier i say!
FRom the top of the mountain, we went back to the town, it was nearing 5, so Pasar klewer which was a cheap place for batik was already closed, we had to go to this place called KAMPUNG BATIK, and the stuff there is freaking expensive.. all i got from solo, was an expensive tshirt, which after much running around, i finally got the cheapest they had to offer.
We went back to Jogja on the same 1 hour train...along the way, we stopped at the WRONG STATION!..but had time to cover our shame and went back in the train before it started to move.haha...but we reached jogja around 8, just in time for dinner after a really really long taxi ride.
EXPENSES
SOLO-train pramex 7 000
Personal stuff 6 000
25 000
Beca transport 7 500
Breakfast @ McD 34 000
Kraton Kasunanan
entrance ticket 5000
Puro Mangkunegaran 10 000
Lunch—pop mie
Candi Sukhoh 5 500
Car rental 50 000
Train back 7 000
Dinner –
phuket (8.30 pm) 29 000
TOTAL = 134 700
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DAY 4 (30.06.09)
our last day in JOGJA..i would personally vote this day as one of the best days of my life! haha
I ABSOLUTELY love the beach and to the beach we went!!
This beach is called pantai krakal...its so stunningly beautiful, at par with the beaches in Bali! TO get there, is a tiring 2 hour drive up a hill! But, once you get there, it was worth it! I loved it! WE had the best times there, the water was as clear as the sky was blue...the waves crashed upon each other like neptune with his crown..The rocks beneath our feet were like stumped glass, sharp, but pleasant to our senses...
We sunk in our happiness, seeping in the sun that burn pleasurably on our already tanned skin. We even opened our own spa with sand massages! how about that!
After more than an hour of swimming, everyone lazed on the sand while playing uno..ahhh, c`est la vie....~
From the sun scorched waters of the sea, only a minute walk lead us to the public shower rooms. at first, i didnt exactly wanted to take a bath in a place like that, but we had no choice..BUT, once i took a bath in the cool natural mountain water, it was definitely a pleasantly clean experience...
EXPENSE
gas 20 000
lunch 15 000
other 10 000
train 175 000
travel
car back 160 000
house
for 3 days 45 000
TOTAL = 380 000
GRAND TOTAL = 1, 250, 000
a very budget holiday!
