Jogjakarta Chapter 1 (The Magnificent Prambanan & Beaches of Jogja)

Free seats promo for AirAsia is back! and we got the RM120+ return tix to jogja, yippie! so the flights was on May 2013.

As usual, we did the budget and we find our Supir (travel agent who drive you around) first before going. We got the Supir number from our friend who traveled to Jogjakarta, Indonesia before. The name of our Supir is Pak Supy (supir supy, hihi same name IKR!), i really recommend him if u plan to travel there. The supir is very experienced, didnt cheat, no scam which is very important and they can speak Indonesia and english. Also,  they know Jogjakarta and west Jawa very well, obviously since he is a travel agent, haha. If you are interested you may email him at

johnnylingo27@yahoo.com .

So we reached AdiSucipto airport that afternoon and Pak Supy invited us from the airport, he thought we were Russian based on my e-mail address, that was very funny. He looked a lil disappointed that we werent russian i guess, no extra tips for him maybe..hehe. But he was very warm & friendly with us. TIPS: A good supir will give u a good travel experience, so choose wisely!

 On the first day Pak Supy picked us up at the airport and drove us directly to our hotel which is Pop Hotel located in Jalan Sangaji. the Pop hotel accommodation is about Rp2,712,000, means per person is about RM141.00 which is Rp452,000. It's cheap yes, but not within walking distance to Jalan Malioboro, the center of Jogja city, but not too far, This is the Pop hotel Lobby,

U  can ride the trishaw there or horse cart, but i pity the horse though cos theyre so small and mistreated in so many ways. TIPS: Avoid the horse cart! u can take other means of transportation like cab etc, its not that expensive. 

After checked in and stuff, we rest and check out the hotel surrounding. It is quite nice, striking colors, the staff were very friendly and the room is comfortable. So, that night we went to Rumah Makan in front of the hotel and enjoy ourselves some nasi padang. It was okay, not my favorite though. most important thing is that its clean. TIPS:  please be careful when u eat around here cos the preparation of food might not be that hygiene. U dont wanna end up having diarrhea on your vacation now you. 

So, after we had our dinner (and the price is affordable ,yes) .we took the trishaw to Jalan Maliboro, picture below,  the heart of Jogjakarta.

What can u find here? well street malls and food obviously. They have a signboard 'Jalan Malioboro' which people always take a selfie with..it somehow a famous place in the middle of the traffic. There's lots of souvernirs shops and based from what i see, its cheaper along the road here compared to everywhere else. But of course we didnt buy it yet cos we wanna explore the place first..as always. 

We went into the mall there. like typical mall they have shoplots and stuff, like the pic below. So we just walk around cluelessly..lol. but it is more interesting outside, so we continued to walk outside along the road. Now, the reason why i said i pity the horse is because few of the 'horsecart driver' keep on approaching us, so we decided to just ride one to hotel. Unknowingly, he ask all of to ride 1 cart. like 6 ppl in a cart, including him, that is already 7 ppl. Haish, i feel so guilty all the way to the hotel, the horse even poop in the middle of the road, maybe cos the cart was so heavy..omg i feel so pity for the horse. So, if you really must take it, just ride 1-2 ppl, that is enough. trust me...or dont ride it at alll, avoid it! 

We reached hotel and rest that night. 

Good morning Jogja! That morning sharp at 7am, Pak Supy already come with his Van in front of the hotel. guess where are we going? The Prambanan temple!..:D  . 45 minutes drive to Prambanan and we arrived there. We had breakfast first at NY.Muharti restaurant, quite good the food but the toilet is so small, haha. 

We already gave the entrance fee at Pak Supy and he went to the counter and paid it. It was Rp170,000 for foreigners which is us..hihihi. Prambanan for me is the most exotic ancient temple ive ever been too. They have about 5 towers of different size. The carving around it just breathtaking. there are few rooms inside it with statues of Hindu god. Prambanan is an ancient Hindu temple btw. 

the statues inside one of the room, i think it's Rama, i think.

and this is me and the carvings around it, amazing isnt it, and me also amazing :P kikiki

From the top of the Prambanan, u can see the Ramayana Ballet building opposite of it. We didnt have the chance to go, from what i know they have live shows like theater, telling stories about Rama and Hanuman. the fee is about 50RM if im not mistaken.

So, as we walk around it, climb to floor 1, floor 2 etc there was this group of kids that came at me and started to bring their camera phone..they were doing some sort of school assignments which need them to speak English with the foreigners. And yes, with the looks that i have which they have no clue that i am Malaysian, they interviewed me. So, i play along, said i am from Malaysia and started speaking in English, lol. I mean its for a good cause. So i answered all their simple question while some of em recorded it and taking pics of me (kenot pica lobs okayy).

In This pic, they were behind me with the blue color jacket. (i dunno why they wear jacket tho, it's freakin hot!) . Oh yea, if u noticed, i wear some sort of Sarong with Batik printed around my waist, it is a must, as a sign of respect for their temple (but then again they sell it, so maybe its more to promotions of their fabrics). It was quite pretty. 

There's another group of students come, but this time i rejected them gracefully, lol..cmon im kinda busy here touring this ancient rock, hello..haha . Some just wanna take a photo. I do feel like a superstar at that time, hihihi. (Verangan!!!) 

We walked around the souvernirs place a lil after enjoying the majestic view of Prambanan. There was one lady selling hand fan, u know the one with pictures of prambanan..she went to my friend, and my friend was like 'aaw, so kesian' and she ended buying one bulk of it consisting of 12 fans..haha, its quite funny, how easy she fell. but then again, i guess sometimes its okay to help their economy u know, as Indonesian have a hard life and most of em live below poverty line, which is a heartbreak to see. Below is the souvenirs shop with the sellers keep saying 'mari mari belanja belanja'.

So after we had our lunch, we continued our journey to Sewu temple. we actually took a train there..not the 'train' train. Its the train that u usually take in a zoo. hahaha. The Prambanan temple area have quite a few numbers of other ancient temple, so we took the train and stop here at Sewu temple. mostly ruined but still fascinating. I wonder how they carry the big blocks that time. This is the view from the train, as u can see from far that is Prambanan. 

and this is the ruined Sewu temple, its quite similar to Prambanan but a lil smaller. btw, i am listening to Bagaikan Sakti by Siti and M.Nasir while writng this, somehow it relates to the history, Lol!

After Prambanan & Sewu, Pak Supy took us to Ijo Temple, bout 15 minutes drive from there. We saw this billboard ad from our Van, looks like Indonesia starting to spread awareness to end the usage of plastics to its citizens which i was happy to see!

We reached Ijo Temple after quite a hilly ride. I understand why they call it Ijo, because it is located on top of a hill, surrounded by greenery or kehijauan, Ijo is green in Javanese. This is the temple and my 'short pants-ed' friends, hahahahaha!

The temple is quite small, also a Hindu temple with beautiful carvings. But they close the entrance to the rooms inside, maybe to avoid vandalism. However, we managed to climb up and take a pic from its window, i know we were bad ass tourist :P. here's the window of the temple, (i know i have chicken legs, wateverrrr).

So after our 'climbing' session in Ijo temple, we supposed to drive to Ratu Boko temple but because we wanna save time (maybe cos we took lots of time in Prambanan :D ) , Pak Supy advise us to drive directly to Baron beach and have lunch there. and we were starving, my godd. So, we agreed. and Pak Supy continue driving there for about 1 hour or so. We  arrived there and had lunch first, it was on the package provided by Pak Supy. Owh yes, we paid about Rp670.000  per person which is about RM215 for all included and this lunch (only this one as a substitute for Ratu Boko visit, see i told u he is honest).  this was our lunch! Kakap fish, from the sea.

After we had a satisfied lunch (oh yea it was good), we went to the beach to see it. It was more to fishermen's village. It was nice, with all the boats, u feel the vibe of being a resident of Baron beach village :) and my friend was willing to be a boat model :D .

Next destination! ..we went to Indrayanti beach, which is about 15 minutes from there. This place is actually quite a high-end beach for indonesian i guess,  as u will see lots of local visitors there. U know the kinda looks u saw in Sinetrons?, yeah u can find it here..haha. The beach was nice though, very clean as they have imposed penalty for littering, like in pic  i posted below. Very windy and the gold sands was just what we needed to relax. we had a coconut juice while relaxing and enjoying the beach.

So, after we had our coconut drinks, we went to Kukup Beach (yup 3 beaches in one day, how bout that? ) , about another 15minutes drive from Indrayanti. This ain't typical beach u know, Kukup. It is located in Gunung Kidul area, high peak. It is a cliff! facing Australia (mmhmm) or Austroli as pronounced by Pak Supy. The wind, my dear was sooo strong, im too skinny and i felt like i was gonna be blown away, hihihi, I have few pics for you guys, cos this place is a must!!! lets starts with my face as Kukup supermodel, ekekeke

The strong waves shows how windy it was that day at Indrayanti beach.

I just friggin' love it!

The waves, see that!

Yup, corals ..cant swim tho, cos the wave is always strong here, quite dangerous.

So, with that, Pak Supy drove us back to the Hotel. that night we went to malioboro street again for dinner. well obviously that is the only place that have everything. We walk a lil and then went back to the hotel, time to sleep, tired due to a long day. Tomorrow morning our plan was Borobudur and the Dieng Plateau, stay tuned! <3

For Day 3 & 4 click here!