Indonesia, Yogyakarta, Food Tour
After resting, shopping, and repacking in Cebu we began our travels to Indonesia. Our first flight was delayed by 2 hours. This was our flight to Manila where we would then have to connect to a flight to Jakarta. Already losing two hours meant we had 1 hour 45 to collect our bags (we had to self transfer, bags did not go through), check in, have them check our Indonesia information, go through Philippines passport departures, security, and board our plane.
We made it through with 5 mins before boarding only to then be told we were delayed an hour.
The flight was very turbulent and then immigration into Jakarta was more rocky than the plane. I had done a 60 day stay visa online and when I tried to go through the e gates it wouldn’t let me. After around 20 minutes of questions and document checking I was in.
We went to our hotel and had a lovely 5 hours sleep before having to get up again to go to the train station. We left Jakarta straight away for a region called Yogyakarta. This is the old capital of Indonesia and is actually an autonomous region.
Yogyakarta has a sultan and considered itself a kingdom. The region does not hold votes for Indonesian government and the Indonesian government has no political power in the region.
We checked into our hotel and wandered around before the heavens opened and we got drenched. It is rainy season in Indonesia.
In the evening we went on a food walking tour. We thought it would be a good idea to learn and try new foods here with a guide. It was just us as we walked for over 3 hours trying dishes. We had: satay, chicken noodle soup, charcoal coffee, chicken liver skewers, spring rolls, ice cream, fried banana, herbal drinks, ginger tea, Yogyakartan special cakes.
At the end we got to try some Indonesian games. The field bordered by vendors has two trees in the middle. It is said that if you can walk blindfolded from one side to the other going through the trees then your heart is pure. Robin did not have a pure heart.
We then got to try a pedal car. During volcanic eruptions the field was also used as a refugee center. In the nighttime to make it less scary for the kids, people began to decorate their bikes with lights and colors. We got to ride one of these around. Even robin had a go at driving which ended badly when our box of cakes fell from her lap and got squished by a car.
-M
