Yes!! I've just returned from my latest trip. This time, its Yogyakarta!! The long 3 days weekend allowed me to make my usual 3 days 2 nights trip.Personally for me, the difference about this trip were; 1) it was 'wrongly' booked during the fasting month and 2) this was the 1st time for me exploring the options of staying in a 'guesthouse' without making any advance booking.

Nervous? Oh yes, I did. I was even thinking of canceling the plan to travel because of the 2 reasons. But then, if I never have tried I wouldn't know what would happen!

I left LCCT on 29th Aug and the flight was on time. Coincidently one of our intern who just completed her 'internship' with us was on the same flight with me, together with her boyfriend . So, I recommended that we shared the taxi from airport to town to save cost. Must always find ways to reduce costs ;-)

Since I refused to spend money on the Lonely Planet books like some others, I used the information I got from Wikitravel and that was sufficient for me for a 3days 2 nights stay! I stayed at Losmen Nuri, one of the recommended budget guesthouse in Jalan Sosrowijayan, which is walking distance to the famous Malioboro street. Well, I got one of the rooms with attached bathroom for 70,000 rupiah. Clean, comfy and safe - that's all I needed. And it is also walking distance to the 'food place' as I had to wake up at 3am to eat something before I start fasting!

The next day, I booked a tour to the famous ancient temples, Borobodur and Prambanan. In the same van, I got to know a group of girls from the United Kingdom and one from Holland. 4 of them; Caroline, Charli, Ruth and Sophie are in the midst of traveling within Indonesia for about 4-6 weeks whereby Petra from Holland, is on an 8 months travel through out Asia. (Oh yes - they said they love AirAsia )
We ended up to be great friends in a short time period. We toured the place together,took lots of pictures, shared information of the countries and places we've been to, our experiences with the locals..etc..

The temples? They were amazing. I never thought I would fall in love with the place. Its just beautiful and looking at it, it is amazing thinking of how it was built hundreds of years ago. We took a lot of pictures there, trying to ensure we managed to capture every angle of the temples.

By 12 noon, it was really, really hot. With a high temperature and dry season, and as I was fasting as it is Ramadhan, it really tested my patience and stamina. The girls being understanding friends, just drank water as they actually felt guilty to eat in front of me! There were so sweet!

We returned to the guesthouse to rest and promised to meet again for dinner, accompanying me breaking my fast. The rest of the night was spent having good food for dinner, then adjourned to a famous local chain donut place (I persuaded them because of my cravings) and later walked along the Malioboro street to get some souvenirs.

Yogya is also known for its Batik. There are lots and lots of it and at some places we could bargain and get the best price. They also have lots of other souvenirs and its really cheap.

This has been a really great trip for me. Exploring a new place, facing new challenges, making new friends - it is definitely a memorable one!!

Before I left, I dropped by at the AirAsia office to say hi to our Yogya family members. And they are definitely a great bunch of people ! Say hi to them when you travel to Yogya!!