22 Oct 2010
Our first stop is at Yogyakarta. Please note that "Yogya" is pronounce "Jogja". The only reason we stop here because we want to see the beautiful Prambanan and the magnificent Borobodur. When we reach Yogyakarta the volcano Merapi was already started to emit smokes. The local says that Mt Merapi is in "Siaga" stage. Which means people should start evacuating. Luckily we only stayed 1 day in Yogyakarta. We flew to Bali the next day. So, the day we arrive in Yogyakarta, my friend had a little incident with the immigration officer at the airport. She was the last to get out from the airport because the officer had held her for questioning. The reason for her detention was because she could not provide them her return ticket out from Yogyakarta. Of course she had the ticket, she could not showed it to them because i am the one who are keeping all the tickets and i have already stepped out of the immigration counter. So, they brought her to an isolated room (it's not an office room actually, it is much more like a store), giving her options either she buy an air ticket back to Malaysia on that very second or she could pay to them so they will let her out of the airport. Luckily, she is the hard headed type so she don't give in easily. We both work in a construction industry, surrounded by thousands of intimidated testosterone every day, so the blackmail card is not working on us. I guess the immigration officer had no luck that day just because he pick the wrong prey.
After all the dramas, we rent transportation to Prambanan and Borobodur. Prambanan is dedicated for hindus while Borobodur is for buddhas. There is a story behind the Prambanan Temple called Legend of the Slender Virgin. Princess Loro Jonggrang is the slender virgin. Here goes the legend according to Wikipedia.
"The legend tells the story about two ancient and neighbouring kingdoms in Java, Pengging and Boko. Pengging was ruled by its king Prabu Damar Moyo who had a son named Bandung Bondowoso. By contrast, Boko was ruled by a demon king named Prabu Boko. Despite his unpleasant nature, Prabu Boko had a beautiful daughter named Loro Jonggrang.
The story relates that Prabu Boko desired to expand his kingdom and launch an attack on Pengging. Prabu Damar Moyo sends his son Bandung Bondowoso to fight Prabu Boko. After a furious battle, Prabu Boko is killed by the prince's supernatural powers.
The princess is heartbroken when informed of her farther death, but before she can recover from her grief the Pengging army besieges and captures the palace. Prince Bandung Bondowoso is mesmerized by the beauty of the mourning princess and propose marriage, but his offer is swiftly rejected. Bandung Bondowoso insists on the union, and finally Loro Jonggrang agrees on two impossible conditions: first the prince must build a well named Jalatunda, and second, he must construct a thousand temples in only one night.
The lovestruck prince agrees, and immediately starts work on the well. Using his supernatural powers once again, the prince swiftly finishes construction and proudly displays his work for the princess. As a trick, she urges him to enter the well and when he does so, Patih Gupalo piles stones into it and buries him alive. With great effort Bandung Bondowoso escapes, but his love for the princess is so strong that he forgives her the attempt on his life.
To fulfill the second condition, the prince enters into meditation and conjures up a multitude of demon spirits from the earth. With their help he builds the first 999 temples and starts work on the final one. To thwart his efforts the princess and her maids light a fire in the east and begin pounding rice, a traditional dawn activity. Fooled into thinking the sun is about to rise, the spirits flee back into the earth leaving the last temple unfinished.
The prince is furious when he learns of this deception, and places a curse on Loro Jonggrang which turns her into a stone statue. In this way she herself becomes a feature of the final temple, completing its construction and fulfilling the conditions for their marriage."
For me, it is rather a sad story than a love story. How can the princess marry some stranger who just murdered her father and took over her kingdom? I don't think the prince had fallen in love with the princess, it's just his greed and ego that makes him determined to have her.
After lunch we headed to Borobodur. There are procedures to climb the Borobodur but we give up before we made up half of the Borobodur. Each step of the stairs is at least 2 feet high. And i assure you that climbing to the top of the Borobodur is not the painful and scariest part of all. It is the going down will be your nightmare. You wont notice how steep is the Borobodur until you are on your way down. I practically tell my friend that if i were to die falling from the Borobodur, that must be the Karma punishing me for all of my wrong doings.
23 Oct 2010
Our flight to Bali was at 8.00 am. Took a taxi to the airport and hop on a Garuda, and after 1 hour we landed on Bali. Once outside Ngurah Rai airport we ask around to see if there is a bus going to Ubud but nobody is willing to tell us. So in the end, we end up paying Rp 195k for a taxi to Ubud. We stayed at De Munut Cottages. Overall it was nice, we got the whole cottage to our self. The swimming pool was beside our cottage but didn't have time for a swim. The only problem i had with this hotel is MOSQUITOES! Yes, we also have mosquitoes in Malaysia, but our mosquitoes are not barbaric as Bali's mosquitoes.
24 Oct 2010
We rent transportation to see Goa Gajah, Tirta Empul, Pura Gunung Kawi, Coffee Plantation, Pura Ulun Danu Batur and Tegalalang. To be true, the trip we made this day is just so-so. We were not comfortable and not happy with our driver at all. Early morning before the journey started, when he told us the journey route, we told him that we want to skip the Barong dance. He was shocked, like he couldn't believed that not everybody is interested to see the 1 and a half hour cultural dance. Then, he began telling us what is this Barong dance about, how important it is, why it matters to them, why we must go and see it. In the end we told him that we were planning to see this Barong on our last day in Bali when we are actually not interested at all. Only then he kept quiet. After that, we tell him again that we do not wish to see the Pura Gunung Kawi because of the 300 steps you need to take to get there. Then he insist that climbing down and up to the pura is a good exercise. Well i did not come to Bali to exercise, i come here for a vacation. So we don't want to argue any further we just keep on walking to the temple direction but we never made it to the temple. We just simply went to see the shops selling souvenirs and take a seat on the cliff to enjoy the view of Gunung Kawi. I think the reason why we were not satisfied in this trip because the driver had planned our journey in advance. Maybe it's the most common itinerary for any other tourist, but we are not just any other tourist. We were not interested to visit all the temples and take photos. We are more into mingling and blending in. The only time that i treasured about this trip was when we were in Pura Ulun Danu Batur. It's not because the temple is located near the beautiful Mount Batur and Lake Batur. We could not even get far in because there was a ceremony being held at that time. So instead of being inside the temple we went outside at the back of the temple. We sat there, enjoy Mt Batur and lake view while chit chatting with a nice villager. That is the kind of thing that i will cherish in my vacation.
Nice view of Mount Batur and Lake Batur
Alley to the back of the temple
25 Oct 2010
We woke up late on purpose. We also had our breakfast late. Then in the middle of having our breakfast guess who showed up to our table? It's the driver from yesterday. We did tell him the day before that we will be checking out today and plan to go south to see Tanah Lot Temple and many more, but we did not and never did book his transportation for today. Then we tell him that we want to go by our self, as we want to spent time strolling around at Pasar Ubud before going south. Then he still doing it. Planning the journey for us. He said that he will let us shop at Pasar Ubud for 1 hour before going to Tanah Lot. So just like that we turned our back and left. There is not point talking if he will not listen. So we go back to our room pack and check out. We ask the hotel if there were any bus from Ubud going to Legian, it's the same answer we got at the airport. I started to wonder how the local move around here, do they take taxi every now and then?
When we reach Pasar Ubud, it only took 1 villager to answer our simple question. "Is there any bus from Ubud to Legian?" The answer is yes. We had to take a bus 3 times to reach Legian. Ubud - Batu Bulan - Tegal - Legian. It's time consuming but i got the whole day to waste. After all i am on a vacation here. Besides, public transport means blending in. The 2 hours rides cost us Rp 40k. Way cheaper than the 1 hour taxi ride which will cost us Rp 300k. I won't be mad at the hotel and taxis driver for lying to our face about the fact that no bus going to south because they were just trying to make their living. But, if you ask me if i want to come back again to Ubud in the future, then i will tell you, hell no.
26 Oct 2010
This was our last day in Bali given that we had to fly back to KL on the next morning. So we just walking around Kuta and shopping. And we went to the beach. Oh i love the beach. I really do. The waves were perfect for surfing. So if you ask me again if i ever want to come back to Bali, then i will answer you, yes, yes i will. I will come back here again soon. I want to learn to surf. I don't want to die before i learn how to surf.
27 Oct 2010
Our flight to KL at 6.00am. So we had to wake up early and leave the hotel at 4.30am. We had book a transportation to airport in advance with a nice driver in Kuta. His name is Mr. Budu. Too bad we forgot to ask him for his card. We arrived KL at 9.00 am. Since we got 8 hours to kill before our next flight to Sandakan, we decided to go to KL for last minutes shopping.
For this trip i have bring Rp 4045k for foods, transportations and souvenirs. After 5 days in Indonesia i still have balance of Rp 361k. All my expenses were sum up as follows:-
Food = Rp 1000k
Transport = Rp 800k
Admission Fee = Rp 310k
Souvenirs/ Books/ Misc = Rp 1574k
So the amount Rp 3684k spent for this 5 days trip is worth every cents of my savings. Now, i should start saving for another trip to Bali. This time for surfing only.
