[et_pb_section bb_built="1" admin_label="section" transparent_background="off" background_color="#ffffff" allow_player_pause="off" inner_shadow="off" parallax="off" parallax_method="off" padding_mobile="on" make_fullwidth="off" use_custom_width="off" width_unit="on" make_equal="off" use_custom_gutter="off" custom_padding="||0px|" next_background_color="#f7f7f4" custom_padding_tablet="||0px|"][et_pb_row admin_label="row" make_fullwidth="off" use_custom_width="off" width_unit="on" use_custom_gutter="off" custom_padding="||0px|" padding_mobile="on" allow_player_pause="off" parallax="off" parallax_method="off" make_equal="off" parallax_1="off" parallax_method_1="off" column_padding_mobile="on" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" background_size="initial"][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_divider color="#ffffff" show_divider="off" height="110" divider_style="solid" divider_position="top" hide_on_mobile="on" disabled_on="on|on|off" /][et_pb_text background_layout="light" text_orientation="center" text_font="PT Sans|on|||" text_text_color="#bcbcbc" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid" text_letter_spacing="2px" custom_margin="||0px|" custom_padding="||0px|" _builder_version="3.5.1"] TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE

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Top 3 Things To Do in Jogjakarta

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By Sophie Sanders

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12 March 2018

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I’ve been to Jogjakarta when I was in my teens.

I was still excited to visit the city again because I don’t remember much about the city other than playing hide and seek with my sisters behind the stupas. I know it’ll be a different experience as I’m travelling with my new-minted family and this time I’m in charge so I know where I’m going. And we are making new memories.

We had only 3 days - and our top 3 spots were:

The Borobudur temple
The Prambanan Temple
Mt Merapi

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First where is Jogjakarta?

JOGJAKARTA - also called Yogya, Jogja, and Yogyakarta (psst...we refer to it in secret as Yogikarta) - is located on the island of Java in Indonesia. From 1945 to 1949, it was the old capital, before Jakarta. It’s about 561km from Jakarta and about 723km from Bali.

I’ve not been to Jakarta in awhile but I can remember hours spent in traffic to get from the airport to the city centre. I feel Jogja is similar in terms of the traffic, but being in Jogja is like travelling through a time machine except with the added pollution of cars and mostly motorcycles coming in and out of the city for work or passing through to get to another city. There’s no high rise buildings. The only thing modern things I noticed were the tourist centres, Mcdonald and Uber and mega shopping malls. Don’t expect michelin style food or any of Bali’s hot spots. toilets are well kept, yet we wouldn’t advise drinking the tap water.

Beware though when crossing the road, there is what looks like a traffic light, but there’s no green man or red man for guidance. There’s not even even an overhead bridge!!! (at least where we were)

Many visit Jogja because it's so close to two of Indonesia's most important religious and archaeological sites, Prambanan and Borobudur.

There's the irony of a Hindu temple and a Buddhist temple within a predominantly Muslim state of Jogja.

One of my yoga students, who’s Indonesian said this - "One has to differentiate between culture and religion.”

Culture is history and is what the people before us have been practising, and religion is our beliefs of the higher being. There are practices within the religion that could be considered as culture, there’s no line drawn here in Indonesian. Islam came later, and now Indonesian has one of the biggest Muslim population in the world.

Many Indonesian muslims still practice a rather syncretistic mix of beliefs, combining Islam with other cultural and religious traditions. They manage to gel both the Hindu and Buddhist culture into their practices, like kuda kepang and wayang kulit.

Resources: https://en.qantara.de/content/syncretism-in-indonesia-where-islam-mixes-with-old-rituals

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Indonesian man in the crowd.

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Photo by Artem Bali on Unsplash

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GETTING AROUND We stayed at the Sheraton, the only Starwood hotel in the city. (My husband's an avid collection of starwood points and airmiles.) The hotel was 6 mins from the airport and surprisingly we didn’t hear a peep, and 45 mins to the town centre.

Highly recommend hiring a driver. They charge based on your destination. We used http://Jogjkartadrivers.com You can also email them at jogjakartadriver@yahoo.com

**ONE IMPORTANT : KNOW WHAT PLACES YOU WANT TO VISIT**

I emailed them - like a week before and response time was good. Danar reverted back with a 3 days itinerary, which included airport pick up and drop off. No issues with customising the itinerary, and very flexible with moving things around when we were there.

We paid IDR..1.500.000,- ($ 116 USD) for 4 pax based on the following itinerary:

Day 1 23 Feb pick up at the airport in the morning - Merapi and drive to the hotel. Day 2 24 Feb Pick up Sultan palace - Taman sari - Borobudur -Malioboro - Drop off Hotel Day 3 25 Feb Pick up at Hotel - Prambanan Temple - drop off airport for flight at 4:00 PM

INCLUDED : Comfortable private car, gasoline, parking, English speaking driver NOT INCLUDED : All Entrance ticket fee, meals, beverages, personal expanses, local guide at historical places if you want them, guide, jeep trip at merapi if you want to take it.

Yus was our designated driver. He speaks good English and is very knowledgeable. No deposit required - we paid direct to Yus when he dropped us off at the airport on Sunday.

And they are super helpful. Any questions you have about tickets, recommendations, dinner - ask them.

WEATHER Best time to visit the island of Java is from May to Sept. We went in February, which is apparently the rainy season in Java (From Nov to Mar).

And it did rain for a couple of hours a day, and our itinerary did have to change BUT we were blessed with clear sunny skies in the morning, which was the best time to visit the temples anyways. And we had bad weather only at Mt Merapi where we had Lara Croft moment. (more below)

It was warm and humid, around 28-30c even when it was raining.

YOGA

Since my blog is kinda of a yoga blog, I had to put this section in. And only to clear that I DID NOT DO ANY YOGA during this holiday.

The only yoga I did was 1 pose at the temples for instagram. Ahaha

Think that made my ex-instagram boyfriend now husband now happy (well he was a reluctant IG bf anyways)

And like you know - it’s a short holiday and I’m not those sort who yoga every damn day. So there! No guilt at all!

And if you are there for yoga - there are plenty of yoga studios around the city - you can always ask our mutual friend, Mr Google. :)

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“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” ― Marcel Proust

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BOROBUDUR

IF YOU HAVE TIME TO DO ONLY ONE THING - DO THIS!

Borobudur is a Buddhist temple and UNESCO heritage site, about 42 km northwest from the Jogja city. It was constructed in the 8th and 9th centuries during the Sailendra dynasty, and is believed to have taken 70 years to complete. It's a must-see attraction, considering that it is the largest Buddhist temple in the world, with 504 Buddha statues on nine platforms.

Sunrise tours are a must do according to a lot of the sites. The official way is from inside the Borobudur temple. And that is by paying the Manohora Hotel, which is located on the park grounds.

We didn’t do that because it meant we had to wake up at 4am. We were already sleep deprived from catching the early morning flight the day before. Our driver also said that sunrise tours are crowded and he recommended arriving at the temple by 6am instead.

It took us 45 mins to reach temple from Sheraton (and just so you know, going back took 2 hours even though we left the place at 9am.)

As “foreigners”, we entered via a special Visitors centre and paid a special foreigners price. We bought the combo 2 temple package (Prambanan - Borobudur) which costs US$40 (IDR520K) each. It is valid only for 24 hours from purchase and it's a single entry at each temple.

It was pretty quiet initially but soon hordes of tourists mostly local and school kids on their school excursion, arrived. Be prepared for a lot of climbing and walking and human traffic jams. **Please wear proper walking shoes.

We also experienced what it feel like if we were famous superstars - we were interviewed by the children (not one by MANY) for their school project (they are learning to speak English), we had wefies with them, signed autographs on their t-shirts. Their smiles lit up our day.

It took us 2-3 hours to finish and note that at the end, you’d have to walk through the souvenir market, so if you don’t plan to buy anything, WALK REALLY FAST, and AVOID EYE CONTACT.

Snapshot of the tickets rates: - Combo (Prambanan - Borobudur) - US$40 (IDR520K) - 24 hours validity - Single Borobudur or Prambanan ticket costs US$25 (IDR325K) - Sunrise Borobudur via Manohara Resort US$34K (IDR450k)

Just to compare what the local pays: - Combo (Prambanan - Borobudur) - IDR75K - 48 hours validity - Single Borobudur or Prambanan ticket costs IDR40K - Sunrise Borobudur via Manohara Resort IDR350k.

The benefit of being a foreigner (plus we had no choice) >> Air-con visitor centre >> Shorter queues >> Welcome drinks provided. >> Being of service and contributing their economy

Temple opens from 6am to 515pm. You can pay in USD or IDR. There are student rates. Prices are correct as at Feb 2018. Additional Resources: http://borobudurpark.com/ (for info on both borobudur and Prambanan ++) http://www.manoharaborobudur.com/packages1/borobudur-sunrise

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Photo by Sander Wehkamp on Unsplash

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PRAMBANAN

The Prambanan Temple Complex is a Hindu temple and also a UNESCO heritage site about 16 km northeast from Yogya. It is the largest temple complex in Java, built in the 8th and 10th centuries. Consisting of 224 individual Hindu temples, the three main and tallest temples are dedicated to Hindu gods, Brahma, Vishnu and Ciwa. An earthquake in 2006 caused damage to a number of the temples in the complex, so don't be surprised if you see heaps of blocks behind fenced off areas, as parts of the complex are under re-construction.

We had the combo ticket, and so it was easy to get in and out. We got there for 630am; it was only a 20 mins ride from our hotel (minimal traffic) so yay for more sleep. We were there for 1.5 hours. It was less crowded.

Note that difference between Borobodur and Prambanan is that you have to deal with a lot of stair climbing whereas Prambanan grounds is more of a hike. We did walk around the main complex, but we then took a “train” to view the other sites, which saved us the walking.

JOGJA IN ONE DAY!

Best thing is if you have only ONE day in Jogja - It's possible to squeeze both Borubudur and Prambanan, if you are up for an 18hour day. :)

Where Borobodur is famed for the sunrise, Prambanan is famed for the sunset and the Ramayana ballet, which is a separate cost to the temple tickets.

The Ramayana ballet is one of the cultural highlights of Jogja. It is set against the backdrop of Prambananan, with 200 dancers acting out the centuries old love story of Rama and Shinta.

The itinerary could a start at 4am for Sunrise at Borodudur - Lunch - then Prambanan plus option to visit other tourist destination on the way (to kill time) like RATU BOKO TEMPLE and PLAOSAN TEMPLE (separate cost) so you get your temples, sunrise and sunset fix. After that you watch the Ramayana Ballet, which starts at 730pm and finishes at 930pm.

2 ways to watch it - Prambanan Temple The single ballet ticket costs between IDR125K - IDR400K. (as at Feb 2018). Dinner not included, To book, you can try this website http://discoveryourindonesia.com/ramayana-ballet-tickets/#book\ or Email : teater@borobudurpark.co.id Purawasita which includes dinner. Price ranges from USD15 to USD4 http://www.amazingramayanaballet.com/price/ Ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ramayana-ballet-performance-tickets-18820180667

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MOUNT MERAPI

This was kinda like “what was the closest tourist destination to us, not man-made, and comfortable for the parentals”. The closest yet longest car journey for us (2 hours to and fro) was Mount Merapi.

Our only option was the jeep ride. You could do a cycle tour or trekking but we can’t be arsed. I did ask Thom if he was sure that the parentals can handle the Jeep ride - he said yes no problem if we do the easy route. Initially it wasn't too bad but none of us expected the heavy downpour half way through our tour.

Not sure if the driver was driving fast because he wanted to get back faster, or it was part of the tour. In any case, the rain just made everything feel extra fast and dangerous over bumpy lava rocks, going downhill most times, speeding past huge trucks carrying sand and rocks, manoeuvring around sharp bends and getting absolutely wet!

Sad to say, we didn’t see the acclaimed view of Mt Merapi, but it was a memorable experience.

Tickets per Jeep (for up to 4) as at Feb 2018 are as follows: Short route: IDR350K (60 mins) Medium route: IDR450K (120mins) Long route: IDR550K (160mins) Sunrise Trip: IDR550K (180mins( *includes a jeep driver, free face mask, mineral water and entrance free per site.

Read this for what to expect https://amellie.net/visiting-mt-merapi-lava-tour-java-indonesia/

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Photo Credit: lokatours.com

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WHAT ELSE DID WE DO

Our afternoons were free and easy, which we spent mostly stoning in our Presidential suite (wheee - UPGRADES are AWESOME!) but we made time to see the the Sultan Palace, Taman Sari Water Palace and Marlioboro Street.

Kraton Yogayakarta is the sultan palace, home of the Sultan and his family and includes a museum which contains the sultanate's artifacts. Kraton holds live performances of arts and culture nightly; and I think that the music was the interesting part of it. (but perhaps we were tired out from the morning escapades, plus it was hot!)

The Taman Sari Water Castle was alright. There were too many people. It features pools and an underground mosque for the royal family and that’s about it.

And if you are into Batik and tourist teeshirts and knick-knacks - you’ll love Marlioboro Street. I’m a shopaholic but I felt there’s nothing much to buy plus every shop sold almost the same items.

We nearly bought teeshirts but they didn't come in xxxl sizes; asian XL is too small for the men in our family. The exciting and Dad says dangerous part of our trip was being caboodled into following a friendly local, off the main street, to a dark alley, to an “art gallery”.

The next morning’s headline could have been “A British family Kidnappped on Marlioboro” Ahah.

I wasn’t really afraid because my husband is bigger than these indonesians, and I know the indonesians are just being friendly but still be careful and take care of your personal belongings.

Moral of the story is NOT to make conversations or eye contact . ( I did say that earlier right) Who me? Wasn’t me?? 😛 I wonder who?

FOOD We ate mostly hotel food, so we can’t comment. We were not that for the food anyways. All we want is the cultural experience. And so that’s what we got.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE! There are other places to go or to do like tubing at Pindul Cave or abseiling down Jomblang Cave, beach hopping and also the instagrammable KaliBiru etc. Unless you have a lot of time (to queue) and to travel (some of the places takes more 2 hours) then you basically just need to do Borobudur and Prambanan. That is enough.

You can have a look at this comprehensive guide to Jogja for ideas, compiled by TripCanvas.

https://indonesia.tripcanvas.co/jogja/things-to-do-in-yogyakarta/?utm_source=Bali+Social+Campaigns&utm_campaign=988154161f-Newsletter_Dec2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9097c09e53-988154161f-260925425

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I know this post does not write much about what to see or do in the temples nor the history.. But wouldn’t you rather be surprised?

We were more interested in just being there, present, grateful to have the opportunity to see the wonders of mankind.

I’m also not a history buff; my eyes willl glaze over the information, and I don’t want to bore you.

Hope this does help you in knowing a little bit of this Indonesian cultural spot and in planning your next holiday to Jogja with ease!

With love

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