Backpacking Indonesia
Indonesia is a massive collection of islands. Each island has a unique culture. The most popular tourist destination is Bali. There are beautiful beaches, great food and lovely people. I had absolutely no problem getting around and I never felt threatened while travelling solo.
I spent my time between Java, Bali and the Gili Islands. It's easy to hop around from place to place, but it's definitely more pleasant to take your time and just appreciate it.
I flew in Yogyakarta because I wanted to give myself the chance to see Java and experience Javanese culture. Yogyakarta is messy, loud and bustling. There's no metro, but there is a bus system for anyone that's good at navigation. It's also fairly small so I had an easy enough time just walking around everywhere.
Day 1: Street Art in Yogyakarta
I had big plans for my next couple of days. I stayed at Duta Guest House. There was a beautiful pool, breakfast and they were a big help with all of my travel plans. I spent the first day recovering from travelling, enjoying the pool and checking out the street art. I fell immediately in love with the city. There's something interesting to look at around every street corner and some of the work was very provocative.
Day 2: Mt. Merapi
My 2nd day technically started at 2 am with a wake-up call from my hotel and an hour long ride to the nearest volcano. Mt. Merapi is still an active volcano with its last eruption in 2013. Merapi translates closely to Mountain of Fire.
I started the hike with 2 cups of coffee, an energy, 2 water battles, 2 bags of nuts and a candy bar to enjoy at the top.
The group that I went with was split between a group of Germans and a group of Chinese people. This left me as the only English speaker which definitely made for some interesting moments. It was really interesting to chat and learn from their experiences.
It took me a little over 4 hours to get to the top of the mountain. We made it just in time for the sunrise. The walk up is grueling. Most of it is at a 45* angle and there was at least 1 hour that I hiked up with no path. For one part of it, I was literally climbing up rocks. There were a couple of moments that I kicked rocks loose and had to warn the people behind me so that they didn't get hit. I was exhausted by the time I reached the top, but I don't think I'd ever felt happier.
This was easily the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen. It's almost difficult to describe how beautiful it was. I felt like I was another planet. It didn't look like earth. The pictures don't really do it just, but it gives you a small idea.
Day 3: Borobudur & Prambanan
I had to really push myself to get up the next day for my next tour. I had another early morning and another sunrise to watch. I booked another tour with my hotel to visit Borobudur.
Borobudur was constructed in the 9th century and it is the world's largest Buddhist temples. The temple consists of nine stacked platforms, with the central dome as the centerpiece. There 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues.
After enjoying the sunrise, we continued on to Prambanan. Prambanan was also constructed in the 9th century, but it functioned as a Hindu temple dedicated to the Trimurti. The construction of the temple reminded me a lot of Angkor Wat. Both temples were incredibly beautiful.
Day 4: Kraton, Taman Sari Water Castle and Jalan Malioboro Shopping Center
I started the day by visiting a couple of local arts and crafts in the marketplace on the way to the palace. First, I visited a Batik shop. I'd first come across Batik when I visited Malaysia with my father. Batik is a dyeing technique that uses wax and wax resistant dye to decorate the cloth with designs. Next, I visited a shop selling Luwak coffee. Luwak coffee is made by having weasels eat coffee beans, digest the coffee beans, excrete the coffee beans and then go through a cleaning process before they can be eaten. It gets its fame from supposedly being the most flavorful blend of coffee, but also the most expensive. Personally, I was incredibly underwhelmed. Last, I visited a shop that created handmade puppets.
I didn't buy anything from the shops because I didn't have the energy to talk them down from ridiculous tourist prices, but I really enjoyed making small talk with the owners and listening to their stories.
Next up was the Kraton. The palace is still used as the home for the Sultan and his family. When I visited there were a lot of school groups looking for native speakers to practice their English. They were very respectful and I chatted with a couple of groups and took pictures.
The Kraton has musical and dance performances that visitors can stop and enjoy. I loved listening to the music. It helped create a very magical atmosphere.
The Water Castle is about a quick 20 minute walk away from the Kraton. The Water Castle is a former royal garden of the Sultan. There are 4 different areas to visit: an artificial lake, a bathing complex, a smaller lake and a complex of pavilions and pools.
My last stop of the day was the Jalan Malioboro Shopping Center. I wasn't in the mood for shopping, but I really enjoyed just walking around and taking in the general atmosphere.
Day 5: Kalisuci Cave & Countryside
I ended up making friends with a local who was kind enough to give me a tour of Yogykarta on the back of his motorcycle. He took me all over the beautiful countryside and to several of the nearby caves. The most notable was Kalisuci Cave. This was a relatively new tourist attraction. So new that I hadn't come across it during my research. The highlight of the day was when he treated me to lunch. Lunch was served on banana leaves without utensils. We sat on the floor and ate with our hands. It was simple, but easily my most memorable Indonesian experience.
Day 6: Seminyak, Bali
There are many different ways to travel between Java and Bali because it's an incredibly popular route. Ultimately, I chose to fly because it was relatively cheap and I didn't want to spend a lot of time traveling. By this point in my journey, I was exhausted. I'd been hitting the pavement everyday with very little time to recover. I decided to splurge on a nice hotel after all of my nights in Guesthouses and Hostels.
I spent day 6 lounging around my pool, looking at the beach and eating delicious food. Seminyak is only about a 20 minute drive from the airport. It definitely has a resort feel to it. It's very clean and easy.
Day 7: Padang Padang Beach and Uluwatu Temple
I slept in for the morning and opted to take an afternoon tour. We left around 2 in the afternoon and drove to Padang Padang Beach. This beach was made famous in the book and movie, Eat Pray Love. It's full of striking cliffs and beautiful rocks. I took a leisurely stroll and took in the scenery.
Our next stop was the Uluwatu Temple. The temple and a lot of the areas surrounding are absolutely over-run with monkeys. During my travels, I've learned to really dislike the monkeys. They're very aggressive and will bother visitors who don't protect their belongings. I'd advise anyone going not to bring food or have any loose items. I didn't have any problems with them, but I did watch them steal a toddler's flip flops.
Every night, they have a performance complete with a fire show. The performance tells the popular love story of The Indian Epic Ramayana. It's a very romantic atmosphere to watch the sunset over the cliffs. I was truly enchanted.
Day 8: Ubud
Ubud is definitely another area that's been hit hard by the tourism industry. It was made popular by the book and movie, Eat Pray Love. They definitely majorly play to the kind of crowd who enjoys that kind of thing.
I skipped the Ubud Monkey Forest because I didn't want to deal with monkeys. Part of me wishes that I had put up with them in order to see the architecture, but you can't do everything.
I decided to rent a scooter in order to get around more easily. I got unlucky with the weather, but decided to brave the storm as much as I safely could.
I started the day with the Saraswati Temple Ubud. This temple is Hindu and its highlight is probably the lotus pond surrounding it.
I next took my scooter out to the Tegallalang Rice Terraces. It only takes about 15 minutes of driving to get to the rice terraces and it definitely made my trip to Ubud. Unfortunately, it started raining really hard not long into my walk so I had to race back to shelter. I was lucky enough to find a nice coffee shop to dry off so I just admired the rice terraces from afar.
Day 9: Gili Islands
I took a mini bus and a ferry to get out to the Gili islands. I was incredibly nervous taking the ferry out in the storm, but it ended up being no problem. It took about 4 hours total between the bus and ferry to get to Gili Air.
Gili Air is very small. It only takes about 40 minutes to walk around the entire island. There are no motorized vehicles on the island.
Day 10: Snorkeling with Turtles
After a leisurely evening on the island, I woke up early to go on a snorkeling tour. On the tour, I was lucky enough to see 4 sea turtles in the wild. I didn't bring a waterproof camera so I didn't get any pictures on the boat but I also able to get a couple of snaps when we stopped by lunch next to a hatchery.
Day 11: Sanur, Bali
I needed to get back to Bali so that I could catch my flight back to China. I took the ferry back from Gili Air to Sanur. Sanur is only about 15 minutes away from the airport so it really simplified my journey. By this point in my trip, I was ready for a beach day. The beaches of Sanur are lovely and clean.
Day 12: Flight Home
After a magical trip to Indonesia, it was time to get back to China and back to work. I was incredibly grateful for all of the time I got to spend in Indonesia and hope to return one day!
