Friday, July 31, 2009

East Jawa Trip - Day 3

We woke up 430am to get ready to check out, and had our breakfast while waiting for Shamron to arrive. Nasi goreng again~

We decided to drop by the famous Gunung Merapi before starting our long journey. The viewing spot seems to be some old housing area but was destroyed after the 2006 eruption. There's some shops there, probably selling souviniers and photos of the eruption, but they aren't open yet when we reach there. Well, the weather was nice but we wasn't having too much luck, a big chunck of cloud blocked the view and we couldn't see the top at all, I can imagine, it must magnificent to see Mt Merapi from there.... anyway, the view from the top was nice even thou we missed the view of the volcano.

The volcano is juz behind those clouds!
nice?
The view is great!
The lava went thru here n reach the botttom in juz 7 seconds!
The dried river
After Mt Merapi it's the begining of our long long journey to Mt Bromo, taking approximately 12 hours.... luckily there's some very nice view along the way~ we stoped by tis nice paddy field not far from Merapi


can you see Merapi at the back?
We passed by some very nice mountain plantation area(?) on our way, paid IDR 5,000 at the gates, guess the view alone was already worth it :-p





We stoped by half way for lunch, acording to the waitress their famous one is the grilled chicken, but we find tat the grilled fish was actually nicer. n the fresh cabbage they serve is really fresh!! The luch cost IDR 146,000, about RM 52.
It was already around 8pm when we finally reach Mt Bromo. We stayed at Cafe Lava, IDR 250,000, about RM89 for a double room, with hot water(very important) and buffet breakfast, the environment and the rooms are quite nice.

Well, I was freezing after i got out from the car, luckily they got heater in their dinning room, I'd stay there n not go out if I could, but our rooms are not connected, so we need to go out of the reception block n walk a short distance to our rooms. No kidding, it must be less than 10 degrees! so be prepared if ur planning to come here.

our room, look warm huh?
No heater in the room, but it's juz nice after u close the door n hide inside the thick blanket. After we leave our things in the room we went bak to the dinning room to hav our dinner, already starving especialy in tis cold weather...

Before dinner I went to buy a cap and scarf (IDR 50,000 after bargain) from the seller outside the hotel, luckily i brought my gloves. But tat's really not enough, we rent the wind breaker from the counter for IDR 20,000 per peice. I din bring mine since I'm juz gonna use it once, no point carrying tat heavy jacket for such a long way (but i was proven wrong later...)

Anyway, we finally settled down for dinner~ the food was not bad for me



Tis one very nice, i like the sauce very much!
Dinner cost IDR 110,000, about RM39. After dinner YitPong and the others went outside for photo shooting, the nite sky was simply amazing! but, I was freezing even with the wind breaker on, so i gave up within 5 minutes and went bek to the room alone to take my bath, n after my bath, i'm dun feel like going out at all, it's another early morning the next day!

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

East Jawa Trip - Day 2

I woke up 4am n start preparing for the sunrise, sleepy, but excited! and I sadly found tat, I forgot to charge my handphone before I sleep!! T_T well, since I probably cant take any nicer pics than the DSLRs, I left my phone to charge in the room. At around 430am we went to collect our sunrise passes and a tourch light each at the reception, and the guide lead us to the entrance of the great temple, dark, but the temple was lighted with a few spot lights, so it was still very visible. The view at the top was simply amazing~ pictures speak loader than words, so here's some pics from YitPong n Irene~


We had a lot of fun taking pictures, hehe, and all the pictures taken here was damn nice!

Shamron was suppose to meet us at the reception at 7am, but we totally ignored the time n stayed there till around 7am, before we finally went bek to the hotel to hav our breakfast. After the buffet breakfast we went bek to our room to pack n said good-bye to the great borobudur~

buffet breakfast,juz so-so

A snap around the hotel

So we began our journey to Dieng Platuer, which was around 2 hours drive from borobudur. There's some pretty nice views along the way.


snaped tis while we stoped for toilet

seems tis is the gas tank tat the indos use, cute huh?

At the gates of Dieng we paid IDR 3,000 per person for entrance, and IDR 2,000 for the car, and shortly after the gate we reach our first destination, Telaga Warna. the entrance fee was IDR 7,000 per person, you can also hire a tour guide there if you want, but we decided to go by our own. It's actually quite cold up here, juz think cameron highlands in Malaysia :-p I was quite amazed by the view, the lake is really blue/green, cant really tell :-p




After another session of phtot shooting, we decided not to walk round the whole lake n headed to our next destination, the plateur! I was really excited to see lava~ well, I know it wasn't going to be real lava, still, I was lookign forward to it~


Wasn't really lava, but still, I was amazed. It was like water boiling all the time, u can even hear the sound. a little sulfur smell there, but not really strong.

Well, I spoted some really nice stalls with some nice accessories there, n they were selling rings n braclets made from a sort of metal (i forgot the name) which they claim doesn't turn black even when contact with sulfur (and it was proven to be true later). so Irene n I bought ourselves a couple of rings and braclet~

And while we were busy choosing the accessories, YitPong n Lim kept themselves busy too, hehe. They bought some fried tempei and fired potatos from the stalls there, n they really taste great!

Tempei goreng
Fried Potatos~
Next we went to the Arjuna temples, the entrance fee was IDR 20,000 per person (around RM7).
Before the starting trail

start walking!
The walk along the trail was quite enjoyable too, you can see a lot of flowers along the way, and the farmers working in the farm too.

bunch of potatos
nice flower
After a short walk we finally reach the Arjuna temples, which was not as great after prambanan and borobudur, but it was the serounding views tat impresses me.


After some photos we cotinued walking to the other side of the temple where Shamron will be waiting for us. and from far I spotted something tat got me all excited!

wat's tat???

SHEEP!!

cute~
And also some shotting arounds before we go bek to the city~

I like tis one~
And on our way down from Dieng, we stoped by at a watch tower we saw on our way up to snap some pics there


After we snaped the photos I was totally attracted by something really special, tis guy was selling some edelwise and vase, but wat amazes me was, the wood he used to crave the vase, was already "born" with stripes, dunno how to explain, look at the pic---->

I have never seen any wood as nice as tis! tis is realy amazing!! so I bought the vase and some coasters for IDR 20,000.
Then it was a long drive from Dieng back to yogjakarta city where we were going to spend the nite. Half way thru we stoped by a restaurant to hav lunch/high tea. The place was still ok, but as usual we were the onli customers, they serve fast food here, the food was juz ok.



tis plate and ice jeruk cost IDR 17,500
We manage to reach the Mendut temple, a short distance away from Borobudur before sunset, so we stoped by to visit it. The entrance fee was IDR 3,000 per person. There's some souvenier shops around there, so u can shop if you want, but remember to bargain.
Before we went in, a short visit to the toilet...


saw tis japanese monument, no idea wat it's for...
The mendut temple was a very large temple tat stood by it's own, there's a large bodhi tree beside it, a video crew was filming something there, but we din really mind them :-p
large bodhi tree




On our way to yogjakarta city, we saw mount Merapi from far~
It was already dark when we reach the city, we went to a quite famous spot in the city, alum-alum, to see the sultan's palace and the 2 famous trees. Acording to some old-folks tale, if u blind-fold ur eyes, stand some distance from the trees, turns 3 rounds and manages to walk thru between the trees, you'll hav good luck. well, it's not as easy as u think, we all failed....
There's some local stalls around there, so we tried the food (hungry.....)





The Hotel we were planning to stay was fully booked, so we found ourselves another hotel near the Malioboro street. Actually a lot of hotels over here if u dun mind the quality :-p we took a room for 4 tat cost IDR 290,000 (around RM 103.5) aircon room, included welcoming drink and breakfast for 4, u can online using the computer in the cafe too, not bad actually, but the room condition was not really good, n the attached bathroom was terrible >_<" but for tat price, it was already not bad.
The welcoming drink, choose from coffee or tea
The receipts for the day
After we took our bath we went for a walk around the Malioboro street. This is actually quite a famous street for tourist, u can find a lot of souviniers over here, and of coz, remember to bargain. However, the shops were already all closed when we got out... so we juz tried some local food stalls tat was still opened, walked around a bit, and went back to bed, Shamron will be there 530am the next day, so need to wake up at 430am!