A taste of Jakarta before heading to Yogya

Arose from my steel-bench bed (pretty well rested) and took the quick morning flight to Jakarta @ 7.40 am. On arrival, I got a taste of what the traffic was like when I had to transfer between terminals. They tried to cram as many people as possible on to a tiny wagon and this was the official airport transport! Made me wonder what it would be like in the city if this was how "regulated traffic" was handled...

Thankfully my Jakarta experience was cut short as I had another transfer flight to my main destination Yogyakarta.

This was the start of my cultural tour of Indonesia as Yogyakarta is regarded as the best place to get the genuine Java cultural experience and history not to mention the obligatory tours!

I bought a Taksi ticket at the airport for what might well have been a rip-off price of 80,000 INR. I had been pre-warned by my co-worker, Tommy (who had taken an identical trip to Malaysia/Indonesia only a few months earlier!), about how they try to rip you off whenever possible in Indonesia so I was caught a little unawares here as I really had no idea what price I should have paid.

As per usual, I selected a random hotel based on TripAdvisor and my elected price-range of €12 a day. For €12 you can get a full double-room with ensuite bathroom and your own front-porch, and breakfast! And this is exactly what I got in a nice hip area of Yogyakarta. They even had a full pool which was a welcome addition.

I spent this evening just getting general bearings on my location, wandering around getting a sense of the place. Traffic chaose is my first impression as motorbikes rule the road. Sure they even crowded in my poor taxi driver as we headed from the airport. "Gotta get me one of those" was my first thought.

Spent the afternoon lazing in the warm waters of the pool listening to prayer call while watching the sunset turn the sky into a striking vermillion.