Methinks Angkor Instead

Mmm... avocado juice(with chocolate sauce, of course!)
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Our bus took about 10.5 hours bit it went surprisingly fast.  The bus driver was insane and managed to get Adrienne feeling a bit queasy at the start because his overtaking technique was quite violent.

Indonesia gets tiring after a while because everyone is trying to rip you off.  At the Yogyakarta (pronounced Jogjakarta) bus terminal, ojeks wanted Rp50,000 to take us to Sosrowijayen St.  After much arguing and being shown the wrong exit, we got a taxi to give us a metered ride.  We tracked where he was going on the Rough Guide map and he took us straight there.  It ended up costing Rp25,5000 (Rp5,000 flagfall then Rp2,500 per km).  We were happy to have proven the touts wrong!

Fancy looking sugar
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The place we wanted to stay in was full (we'd rung earlier that day) but a guy pointed us in the direction of 105 Losman.  It's Rp50,000 at the front but walk 30m to the back and it's Rp35,000 with no breakfast (a common theme in Yogya).  The place is clean and tidy but simple.  Ahhh... bedtime!  Sleep is awesome after being deprived of it for a couple of days, even when Adrienne experienced her first, and definately not her last, call to prayer at around 4 the following morning.

Batik being made
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To our chargrin, Borobodur (a Hindu temple complex on par with Angkor Wat) costs Rp100,000 pp since it has UNESCO status, and we were low on dough after being ripped off and paying for flights.  We flagged going but found out that it's free if you're a journalist and Rp5,000 for locals.  We're going to get a fake Press Pass next time.

Yogya seemed like a nice place and except at the bus terminal, everyone had a scrap of morality.  We tracked down the economy train station to check out how to get to Jakarta on the cheap (Rp28,000 pp) before wandering the streets for a few hours.  We looked at the Dutch fort but our best find was the Government Art Centre.  Here we were shown how real batik is made (layers or ink and pararffin wax on fabric) and were actually able to afford a piece.  The prices range from Rp10,000 to Rp700,000 (we did see a couple that were Rp 1,000,000+), depending on if the artist is a student, teacher or master.  We were stoked that we hadn't bought the pashmina from Ubud!

The time had come for us to grab our bags and board the train.  We took a leg powered ojek to the station (the old driver carried both of us and all of our luggage, even up a small slope) for Rp10,000, but the train was late as often happens with economy class.  During the time it took for the train to arrive, we met a couple of Indonesians and were taken under the wing of a young guy wanting to practice his English for a job interview (we wish him luck).  He was a champion - helped us onboard then got us into the army carriage (back carriage on a Friday night) because it's safer.  We were still told to keep an eye on our bags but our Indonesian friend stayed awake until his stop to safeguard our bags.  We do wish that we'd invested in a metal mesh cover and bike lock for our bags because we're sure that we'll be on other dodgy trains.

The economy train is effectively a cess-pit on wheels.  Adrienne had to hold her nose and cover her mouth walking between carriages because of the smell from the toilets (a hole in the floor) and was sure we should have paid for Business Class after sitting down.  Using the toilet was interesting because there was no light and no lock on the door.  Rubbish all over the floor, people farted, burped and snored all night.  The train stopped in the middle of nowhere to wait for an on-time Business or Executive train to pass.

At about 6am people started to wander the train hawking food (coffee and tea was hawked all through the night) but what took the cake were the singers.  These people walked up and down with a speaker at full volume and distortion, screeching so-called "songs" and expecting money.  Not likely from tightwads like us!!

Jakarta was close and although the train hadn't been anywhere near NZ standards, it was a dodgy but worthwhile 12-hour experience.