INDONESIA TOUR of Ben Oostdam and Paul Billeter, 1999-2000

YOGYAKARTA January 17 to 21, 2000

I booked a hotel-to-hotel minibus trip to take us from Surabaya to Yogyakarta "in 5 to 6 hours" at the rate of Rp 50,000 each (just over US$ 7.-). Although we left half an hour late ('jam karet') and had to pick up other passengers, it was a comfortable and scenic trip. The driver earns about Rp 69,000/wk - almost US$ 10.-	click on thumbnail for Sura-Yogya trip
This page deals with the Wisma Gadjah Guesthouse and its immediate surroundings. It shows the reception, the swimmingpool, breakfast area and some of the guests.
Being an early riser, I took walks every morning before 08:00. One of the most fascinating sights were the schoolchildren, their parents, teachers and vendors.
Some more early morning scenes, including perambulations after tea with an old batik-stampmaker. This was a dawn filled with serenity and courtesy.
After breakfast with two Aussie teachers, our tourbus picked us up well before 8:00 so we could pick up more tourists on our way to Borobudur. Since I had climbed Boro in 1988, I contented myself studying and photographing the bottom galleries
Through a refreshing light drizzle and lovely shades of green scenery we drove through Kaliurang and once again met Mrs Seubers and her two daughters...we also saw signs of volcanic activities of Merapi
After a simple lunch, we reached the fabulous Hindu temple complex of Prambanan. I met a gent who could still recite the Dutch National Anthem ("Wilhelmus van Nassauwe"). These chedis - more than Borobudur - reminded me of my exciting excursions in the 1950's to Angkor Wat in Cambodja.
On the morning of Jan.19, I took a memorable and lovely "Eco-Bike-Tour" led by Miss Ir Yani through rural Yogya's sawahs and desas
At the end of our Borobudur/Prambanan Tour we stopped at Ansor Silver. Here we not only watched operations, but also took photographs of the salesgirls en masse as well as of a lovely Yogya moviestar ....and we posed for our own shots with a statue.
On January 20, we becaked to the Birdmarket at the advice of Abe Oldhoff. We then continued with a visit to the Kraton and listened to a gamelan performance. This about wrapped up our Yogya visit, and around noon the next day we flew to Jakarta.