IgoUgo

Yogyakarta

  • Back to
    • Best of IgoUgo

    Overcharged But loved It!

    Becaks lined up along a Yogja streetMore Photos
    When planning our trip to Bali, we realized that we would be very close to the ancient temples of Borobodur and Prambanan on Java, so we arranged for a 2-day visit. We toured the temples, and enjoyed a quick look at the crowded city of Yogyakarta (Yogya for short). Borobodur is one of the most magnificent, awe-inspiring temple complexes in the world. Prambanan, just 100 years or so younger, is a wonderful Hindu temple complex nearby. All this and more is on the Indonesian island of Java, just a very short flight away from the tourist mecca of Bali.

    US agencies wanted a very high price for a prearranged excursion to Java from Bali, so we decided we'd take our chances and make our arrangements in Bali. In retrospect, this was a mistake, as we probably wound up paying more, and way more than we should have. We did try to arrange a flight ourselves using travel agents in Kuta, Bali (2 different ones), but they told us the flights were sold-out for about every day. This was in August, the peak tourist season, but the number of tourists was down because of the bombings 2-years earlier.

    We really wanted to go, so we went through one of the tour agencies with a desk in a hotel. They were able to find space, and arranged a flight-hotel-tour package at a price which we still feel was a total rip-off. But we really wanted to go, so we paid it.

    The temples were fantastic, everything we expected. Yogya was an interesting place. Our package included a city tour, which included the sultan's palace, and a very nice batik workshop where our children had fun trying their hand at the batik process.

    Yogya was a very interesting city. Traffic included everything from becaks (pedal-powered rickshaw kind of things) to donkey carts, and of course, millions of mopeds everywhere.

    On our own, I attended a Wayang Kulit (Shadow puppets) show in the evening, and on a the second day we went hiking near the volcanoes through some interesting terrain, although we weren't really that close to the volcano. (We had a great view of smoke coming out of Mt. Bromo on the flight over from Bali.)${QuickSuggestions} If you want a souvenir book of Borobodur, buy it at the airport. The airport book shop had the best prices we saw anywhere. (And a decent selection.)

    Bring a hat, it is hot!

    We had to ask repeatedly to find out about the Wayang Kulit show, which was at the city cultural center. Someone at our hotel (the Novotel) was finally able to confirm there was a show that night, so I went, leaving the wife and kids in the hotel to rest.

    Our hotel was next to a multi-story modern shopping mall, which proved to be a good place to shop in a low-key environment, get some food for reasonable prices, and talk to a couple Javanese.${BestWay} We had a prearranged driver and English-speaking guide. However, after being in the airport, we could tell that it would be very easy to arrange a driver and guide with no problems, either through someone at the airport or through your hotel.

    Taxis in the city are amazingly cheap. When I went to the shadow puppet show at night, I think it cost a total of about $1 round-trip to get across downtown.
    From journal Overcharged But loved It!