Jogjakarta - Day 1 - Prambanan

Jogjakarta & Jakarta, Indonesia
December 6-13

The Long Intro

This is a trip that had been booked way before. When the date came nearer however, due to some misguided work plans, I had already spent several days/hours in researching possible booking, rebooking and entry options. The day before, those work plans didn't push through, so I had to cancel and ask for a refund for one of my rebooked flights. At this point, the plan was for me to just stay with the original flight schedules. But NOOOO! On the day itself (Friday), EDSA decided to have a hugh traffic jam, and Bok and I got left behind by the plane. Like those scenes in the Amazing Race, we tried to beg them to let us in the plane, but unfortunately, the answer was N-O.

Since Cebu Pacific didn't have daily Manila-Jakarta flights, we eventually had to:

• Book a next-day (Saturday night) Cebu Pacific flight to Kuala Lumpur, where we would need to spend the night...


• Book an Air Asia flight from KL to Jogjakarta (Sunday afternoon), where we would meet up with our Sunlife friends

The Pit Stop, Finally

Bok and I arrived at the Jogjakarta (Yogyakarta) airport, where I realized that really, Philippine domestic airports are heaven compared to the chaos here. Aside from the language barrier (no one spoke English), the luggage conveyer belt was a textbook case of "How Not to Build a Luggage Conveyer Belt". Or maybe "The Idiot's Guide to the Luggage Conveyer Belt". Really, the manual system of porters carrying the bags from the plane into the airport terminal is more efficient.

Bok and I finally joined up with the RLimpics gang on Sunday afternoon. They had already driven from Jakarta to Semarang and to Yogjakarta. Richard picked us up at the Yogya airport, and from then on, it was smooth sailing.

Looking back though, I think I did a pretty good job of appeasing Bok, shielding him from the initial hassles and making sure we only had pleasant memories of the trip. Haha.

Day 1 Highlights

• The Entrance Fee Fiasco at Prambanan (The temples are not as grand as the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia, but it is the largest Hindu temple compound in Indonesia. They do charge different entrance fees for foreigners and locals however.)
  
• Dinner at Gadjah Wong (Jl Gejayan no 79 D - Great ambience, yummy food)

For other pics, check out Dudong's site as well.