Java, Indonesia (Yogyakarta)

Well we flew from Kathmandu to Kuala Lumpur (31.5.17) arriving at 7.30pm local time and after negotiating the huge airport, we were picked up by a hotel so we could stay the night and be ready for our next flight to Yogyakarta, Java early the next morning (01.06.17).  All went well - in  bed by 11.30/45pm and up at 3am for our lift to the airportt!!  It's tough travelling sometimes.
After only a short flight from K/L to Java, we landed bleary eyed and thankful that the hotel had arranged a pick up for us.  When we got to the hotel (Puri Pangeran) we were delighted with a decent sized room with private bathroom, secluded balcony and, wait for it, best of all a swimming pool!!
We unpacked, stripped off (ooh err!) and went for a cool, refreshing dip.
We enjoyed our stay so much that we spent a total of 7 nights - there's not that much to do there but the hotel was good and we were feeling lazy!!
Whilst there we did check out the 2 large temple sites.  The first one Prambanan is a 9th century Hindu temple and just out of town so we hired a moped, jumped on the highway and tried to dodge the bad driving of the locals determined to squash us like flies.  We made it there ok, I got stung for 12p for the loo (as by the car park but it's free inside the site!) and we paid the expensive entry fee (about 20 dollars each).  After a short walk we were rewarded with the following sights......

Prambanan 05.06.17

Prambanan Temples

It was extremely hot so we took advantage of the shade of the odd tree and inside the temples to avoid overheating! The temples stones were carved with all sorts of dragon/dog creatures, elephants, people and animals - such amazing work in each one.
The next day we went on to do another temple site - Borobudur which  is a 9th century Buddhist temple a bit further out of town so we hired a car/driver to take us there. Again, we were really impressed with a huge site - it's the largest Buddhist temple in the world! It is built in tiers - 3 levels (over 9 actual platforms)  representing a symbol of Buddhist cosmology! It also has 72 Buddhas at the top dome level (Nirvana) each housed in a perforated stupa.  We wondered around, pleased that we went later in the day as not very busy plus a much kinder temperature on our delicate English bodies!

Borobudur 06.06.17

Nirvana/Top Level Borobudur At Sunset

Apart from the 2 temple sites we didn't really do much else apart from visit the Sultan's Palace in town (The Kraton) which was ok but pretty boring being honest and we had to dodge the tour groups (we tried to annoy them by getting in the way of their photos!). The most daring thing we did was to venture along the river one evening for a shortcut into town. It was a strange sight for the locals judging on the stares we got! They were busy cooking inside their little dwellings with birds in cages hung outside. They were surprised by us but friendly with many shouting 'hello' to us as we passed.

The whole stay here was good - the hotel comfortable and with a decent breakfast laid on every morning (we made sure to stuff our pockets with free coffee, tea & creamer sachets!). A beautiful swimming pool with lots of flowering trees in the gardens.  Booze was pretty difficult to find (pretty much non existent in the shops) so we bought bottles of beer (Bintang) from the hotel to unwind with in the evening. We also decided to try out the different chocolate available - the favourite being Beng Beng (choccy, wafer & marshmallow in a layered bar).