I was ‘escaping’ to Yogja last week. It wasn’t my first visit, but to actually explore the city, it was the very first time and I have to say, it’s marvelous.

Yogja known with the Borobudur temple, one of the seven wonders of the world, but the city offers much more than that. Yogja has loads of history starting from the Sultanate, the Mataram Kingdom to our warriors history in fighting for independence.These what makes my trip marvelous, and you might consider to do when visiting Yogja

Wijilan Street, Centre of Gudeg
Gudeg is a traditional food from Jogja. The centre of Gudeg is at Wijilan Street and the best known one is Gudeg Yu Djum. Thinking about it now, already makes me want to eat 2 portions of it – must try!

The entrance of Wijilan Street – centre of Gudeg

Nom nom

The famous Gudeg in town

Kraton Yogyakarta (The Palace)
Jogja once governed by a Sultan and Kraton still stand up to now and function as the home of the sultan and family, completed by hundreds of royal servants who hold the traditions faithfully. Kraton Yoja is a must visit place where you can see the footprint and history of Yogyakarta Sultanate. Don’t worry, you will have guide to explain each story behind each of Kraton area.While you were there, don’t forget to visit Museum Kereta (Train Museum),Taman Sari (The Water Castle) and the underground mosque.

The Palace (Kraton)

The train museum – collection of trains used by the Sultanate

Taman Sari (The Water Castle) – this is the place where Sultan wives were swimming and Sultan threw a flower  from above. The wife who could catch the flower then took a bath with Sultan inside.

The lucky wife then can spent time on this bed with Sultan

Taman Sari entrance gate

The mosque built underground

Inside the underground mosque

Beaches in Gunungkidul
Yogya has beautiful beaches in south and the closest one is Parangtritis. However, this time I explored the natural beach in the Gunungkidul region : Baron beach. One thing I regret was that we came too late and it almost sunset so we only had few minutes on the beach. Please bare in mind the travel destination to beaches on Gunungkidul from the city is far, it took me almost 3 hours from city and you need to consider not to go back once its dark considering lack of lights and very few houses on the way back home. So go early in the morning and do visit many beaches in the region (only 5-10 minutes between beaches once you arrived).

Road to Baron beach

The beach that I visited was Baron beach. It was a natural, wild beach. Dangerously pretty – if I have to describe. The waves is big and you can’t swim, however what unique about this beach is that on the side it creates a pond where people can swim. Do visit beaches around the regions (Sepanjang, Siung, Sadeng etc) people said each beach has its own uniqueness!

Baron Beach at Gunungkidul

You can swim as the beach creates pond on the side

Borobudur Temple
Nothing to say. It’s amazingly pretty. Take a look for yourself.

The face of Borobudur Temple

You can request to be accompanied by guide like I did – which I recommended to do so  you’ll know the meaning on each floor or statue

The construction is using stones with L shapes

In front of the Stupa. On one of the Stupa, it was said if you can touch the Buddha inside then your wish will come true

Enjoying the view from above

Kaliurang
Here’s another place that you can explore, it’s located at the foot of Merapi mountain. You can see the top of Merapi mountain here. Do prepare for comfortable shoes as the climbing path layered by stones and yes it is tiring! Bring mineral water and do not climb alone.

The view after climbing – the top of Merapi mountain

Another must visit place in this area is Ullen Sentalu museum. It’s a really pretty museum and you will be accompanied by a guide who will reveal you the story about woman (princess and queen) of Yogyakarta, Surakarta and Solo kingdom

Ullen Sentalu museum. Only can take pictures on the exit gate. No pictures allowed inside

Malioboro
Enjoy the ambience of Yogya city, where you can shop for nice yet cheap Batik, eat at lesehan and meet Yogyakarta people.

The price is cheap here. Do negotiate with the seller, you can get much more lower than the first price they offer

Monjali (Monumen Jogja Kembali)
Do visit Monjali to learn more about our warriors and heroes in fighting for independence. There’s no guide though so you need to read to understand the history.

However, I missed some of interesting places such as Ratu Boko temple (I came late and it’s already closed. It’s located on the hill and the view was great), Ijo Temple, Prambanan temple and Kota Gede. To explore all the beauty of Yoga, let’s put 4 days 3 nights as the ideal time.

It’s been great, Yogya is one of the  must visit city in Indonesia!

I went to Bangkok with the girls last year, but just got the chance to post the story now (ah yes, very very late indeed).

Anyway, Í’d like to share because it was really fun! The trip had been planned few months before because we booked on Air Asia promo flight

We were staying at Bangkok from 19 – 23 May 2009. We arrived at night and checked in at Suk 11 hostel at 1/13 Sukhumvit 11. The hostel was nice, affordable and most importantly, it was clean.  The hotel location was walking distance from the Skytrain (BTS) station, the nearest one is Nana station. Four of us staying at family room which is quite large.

Arrived at Bangkok and checked in at Suk 11. The hostel has traditional style and dominated by wood.

This is the room where we were staying (family room type) -  1 double and 3 single beds

The next day, our first destination was to explore all the temples in Bangkok. We traveled by BTS to the boat station then continue by the long-tail boat to the Grand Palace. I think this would be the easiest way if you want to see the temples, because the temples were located along the Chao Phraya River and boat/ferries can be used to cross the river at various points.

The long-tail boat or locally called as hang yao. You don’t have to buy admission ticket (like a package ticket, some local people will offer this to you) instead you can treat it like bus (you pay based on your pier destination)

It wasn’t hard to travel in Bangkok compared to Jakarta. I found it much more convenient and organized. It didn’t take long until we arrived at the pier to the Grand Palace. We need to walked only few minutes to reach the Grand Palace gate. Please bare in mind Grand Palace is a huge temples area, so you need to wear comfortable clothes and shoes. Consider bringing hat as well to protect your head from the heat. You better go early because it opens from 8:30 to 3:30, daily and do dress properly (covered shoulders, no bare legs, shoulders or feet – both men & women). They checked you at the entrance and will deny entry. There was a place near the entrance you can borrow (I think around 200 baht deposit) proper clothing (similar to some places in Bali).

View not far from the entrance gate. The temples are really beautiful. You’ll see gold everywhere. We took so much photos at Grand Palace

You can see many temples in Grand Palace, and then you can also travel by long-tail boat the the surrounding temples such as Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) or the famous Wat Pho (Temple of Reclining Buddha). This is must-visited spot in Bangkok, especially for the first time trip.

Wat Pho (Temple of Reclining Buddha)

Done with the temples, we went to Khao San Road. This Road is famous as a  backpacker area, so you can see many tourist here. There are lots of hostel and restaurants. We just had drinks and chat for a while here and then continued our journey to the Suan Lum Night Market.

Khao San Road – a small road located about a block from the Chao Phraya River. Known as famous “backpacker ghetto”. Khao San Road is Bangkok’s main backpacker guesthouse centre and you can find  plenty of shops and diverse food selections

Suan Lum Night Bazaar. We had dinner here and of course did some shopping! It sells gifts, clothing, jewelery, hand-made products like tapestries and fine arts, such as paintings and sculptures. Price are negotiable.

So that’s it for the first day! So happy and tired.

Next day, we woke up early, quickly had breakfast at hostel then off to Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall.  It was a museum and the building in Italian Renaissance and Neo Classic style. The building itself is really cool but no picture are allowed inside. Inside the museum you can see scluptures and I think some jewelry collections. It was not so interesting to me so I didn’t remember it well.

Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall. No pictures are allowed inside.

To my suprise, Ananta Samakhon Throne Hall is not the only museum in the complex. It is actually a wide area where you can see other museums. We visited Vimanmek Palace which is much more memorable for me. Visitors divided into groups and the tour guide explained the history of each area of the palace. The palace is pretty and each area has different colors such as pink, blue, green etc.  The rooms are so beautiful, with all the details inside such as cups, tables, bed, carpet and so on. Well, no picture allowed as well however.

After palace, we went to Baiyoke Sky Hotel, which was said as the tallest building in Bangkok.  You need to pay certain amount of baht (not remember) and then you can go to the upper building by direct lift (it made me shiver). We were having drinks there and taking pictures from the rooftop where we can see all the Bangkok city landscape.

Baiyoke Sky Hotel. See Bangkok landscape from the tallest building in town.

After Baiyoke, we decided to go back to the hotel because we planned to watch Cabaret show at night. Looking for Cabaret ticket is easy,  just go the travel, they usually sell it or alternatively you can buy directly on the venue. There are few Cabaret shows you can pick, the one that I saw, which is great is Calypso Cabaret. The performers are pretty (yes they are all male) and the show was great!

With one of the Cabaret performers at Calypso Cabaret Show

We ended the day by having dinner at Banyan Tree Rooftop. This is a place for roof-top fine dining.  The view was magnificent. There’s also a bar where you can spend the whole night long.  Very very recommended!

The Banyan Tree Roof-top bar. The view was magnificent from up here. Perfect to spend the whole night long

Us at The Banyan Tree Roof-Top

So that’s all for the second day!

The next day was the whole day of a shopping day. Platinum is a must-visit shopping place for every woman. The price is cheap and the clothes are nice. We also went to Siam Paragon, having waffle there after shopping. Done with all the shopping we went back to the hotel and went out for dinner. Curious of Pat Pong area, we went there – walk once into the street, buying Thai Ice Tea on the mini market in the neighbourhood then left because we afraid of some guys inviting us to the show.

On the last day, we went to Chatu Chak until noon because we need to be in the airport around 5pm. You can find almost everything in here, I bought foods, old bands T-shirts, leather shoes,  gift for people at home. The market is so big but divided into sections (food, clothes, gift etc).  It’s nice eventhough the weather was so hot that I got dizzy.

Some antiques at Chatu Chak market. Wear your most comfortable clothes and shoes.

So I think that’s all for our trip to Bangkok!
It was fun and great. I saw new things and beautiful places.

Can’t wait for my next trip exploring new areas!

Dreamland – Bali Indonesia. 05 December 2009.

I was staying at Bali Ayu Hotel at Seminyak. Very recommended! It has Bali architecture and style, clean at a very affordable rate. Beside beaches, I also went to Monkey Forest at Ubud, visiting Indonesia Cartoon Museum at Kuta and Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA)

At the entrance of Agung Rai Museum of Art. Not allowed to take photos inside.

Having fun while working. It’s what everybody should do, so no one become too stressed and got into hospital. During job assignment in Bali, here are my top list of having fun :

1. Sea Walker
If you haven’t try this, try it! It’s pretty cool. As stated in the name, Sea Walker means we are walking at the bottom of the sea, wearing this big oxygen helmet which is quite heavy. But that’s fine because you are going  to see the beauty of the sea. Yes, you’ll see those fishes and few corals .You can give food so the fish will come to you. The Sea Walker last for less than 30 minutes. And if you want to be photographed like mine below, you’ll need to pay around IDR 115,000. Walking at the bottom of the sea makes your steps slower, like a snail. You need to stick within your group, which usually consists of 6 people.

hello starfishes!

2. Kecak Dance
I always love Bali culture, especially the dances. I love seeing kecak dance at Ubud with the sunset background. It’s amazingly pretty. This time, we hired a complete team of Kecak dancers to entertain the winners during the dinner at the hotel. The dance was great,  though I still prefer seeing their performance at Ubud.

3. Taking Pictures
This is my first trial using Canon D50. At the last day, we went to Dreamland to see the sunset. It was pretty. I saw this cute little girl and her dad playing on the beach. By the sunset, both were standing still and staring at the orange sky.

4. Delicious Seafood
I am a seafood addict.  It was the dinner on the second day and I ate crabs like crazy at Jimbaran. The food from the winner’s cooking class below were also yummy!

5. Yoga by the beach
I’m not really into Yoga, but to replace one of the media person, I joined the female team for Yoga class in the morning. My plus points will be the Yoga teacher and the sea view. Imagine doing Yoga with the sound of the wave and the wind slowly blowing through your skin. Perfect!

Nusa Dua, Ubud, Dreamland  – Bali Indonesia. Oktober 2009