Let's Go Jogjakarta with Air Asia (Part 2)

Happy New Year everybody!!

Welcome 2014 and goodbye 2013. We are leaving 2013 with 1001 sweet and bitter memories. Let us hope next year will bring us prosper and be a better year for us all. I am sorry it took me a while since I last posted an entry. I had recently moved out of my beloved island and currently lives in a state of Selangor. I will write about it after this post, probably.

As promised, here is the second part of our trip  to Jogjakarta. In the first part, I've shared our visits to Borobudur Temple and Mount Merapi. That was on our second day (19th.Dec) in Jogja.
We thought of doing some city tour and cave tubing on our third day (20th.Dec), but somehow it didn't work  out that way. It was pouring since the night before and we can see from our hotel window that the water was rising a little on the main road. We changed plan. We called a cab and asked him to take us to the nearest mall and after walking aimlessly, we decided to take our lunch at one place called Raminten Restaurant. I've read about this place prior to our visit to this restaurant. So I thought to give it a try. There's nothing to shout about, the service was brisk and cool, the place didn't have much of  anything to interest me nor the authenticity, but the price was acceptable. We ordered a few dishes and when the bill came out, it was only about RM25.00 (USD 8.00).

some of the food we ordered

After lunch we came back to hotel since it was still raining heavily. We cooped up inside the room and made plan for the next day. Pray hard it won't rain again like today. I spoke to one of the hotel staff, Wawan, and he suggested that we should go to Dieng Plateau. We went through the usual price haggling and I finally agreed to RP 700,000.00 equivalent to RM210.00.The going and returning to Dieng Plateau is taking eight hours of driving. I was quite hesitant initially as it's quite a long drive, what with Sophie not too well. But the two girls was willing me to go saying we may never had this chance again. Right, let's go then!

Next day: 21st.December:- The weather was in favour with us. The girls had their early breakfast at the coffee-house, whereas I skipped. By 06:20am, we were at the hotel  lobby waiting for our guy. Good! 06:30am, he was on time too. After introducing ourselves, we set out to our final destination as we will be heading back home tomorrow. Six thirty am in Jogja was as bright as eight am Malaysia.

It says Welcome to Central Java

Along the way, the sky didn't look promising. We were praying hard it wouldn't rain. The scenery was breath-taking. Oh by the way, in case you don't know, Malaysia speak the same language as Indonesia. Not totally the same but we can understand each other.

I especially felt impressed with their people. They were diligent people, be it men or women or children for that matter.

They didn't have all the modern amenities or facilities that we have back home (and taking it for granted) and yet they worked hard for their money and seemed grateful with what they have. They lived a far less fortunate lives than any of us do.

Look at the picture above. Along the way many of the villagers houses were situated right next by the road side. And many times we got to peek the interior of the houses and it humbled me even more. Sara was the first to notice and told me about it. There was hardly anything inside any of the houses. I wanted to get more pictures of the houses but Sophie was too weak from her rising flu and Sara said she wasn't good with camera. Me? Hopeless, my hand's shaky most of the time, wouldn't produce any good pictures.

The distance from Jogjakarta to Dieng Plateau is about 120 kilometres. If we were to drive on an expressway, it shouldn't take more than 2 hours but since we were passing sometimes uneven and treacherous roads, the trip took four hours. We had to pass Wonosobo town before finally climbing up the 2000meters mountain of Dieng Plateau.

We reached atop at 10:30am. The cold wind after the rain was making both Sara and Sophie's teeth shattering. Me? I am cool, man. This is my weather. Loved it! The driver took us first to see the plantations. The mountain was terraced with potatoes produce. Amazing view!Do you know how they carry the produce down to the foot hill? See the cable-like in the picture below? Here's how they do it. They placed kind of a trolley filled with potatoes hooked on this cable line and then transported it  down where someone else will be waiting by the road side. Smart people!

potatoes plantation

Later on, we went to the famous Dieng Plateau colored lake. The lake had a magnificent view but the smell of the sulphur was nauseating and giving everybody a terrible headache. It's good for your skin though, at least that's what I was told and it's true.
Lucky thing our driver had advised earlier to buy face masks which we did. I noticed there wasn't any single fish lived inside the clear beautiful lake.

Dieng Plateau Colored Lake

I guess the yellow sulphur mixed with the depth of the lake under the sunlight brings out the rays of color to the lake the way they do.

Sophie taking a break with a grilled cor n by the lake

We were here for just about half an hour, nothing much can be done except for taking in the eerie-like beauty of the surroundings. We went to find our driver who then drove us to Sikidang Crater. In contrast to the lake, this crater looks barren and dry. But the wonder of it is, it's cold out there with the temperature I believed at that time was around 15degree celsius.

Both Sophie and I were fooling around as model of the year

From where the car was parked to the crater, took us about 600 meters and we had to dodge a few little hot spring bubbling up from under the earth. One can feel a light heat around here. Even the rocks brings out the hissing sound, sounded like boiling water.

The crater was cordoned off with bamboo fence to steer the crowd away from getting too close. Some of the locals made their living around this area by selling product of sulphur and the likes. The temperature of the crater was said to be around 98 celsius. This crater doesn't stay in place place. We were told, after some time, it will find another place and create another crater like the one we seen ( as in the picture). It's a jumping crater, said the locals.

On our way back, I stopped to listen to the street musician or buskers who were singing great Indonesian songs. I know most of the songs they were singing. These street performers sometimes possess voice better than  renowned singers.

The street musician at Dieng Plateau

We spend about an hour there and later stopped by at the Arjuna Temple for a while. We wanted to see some kids in this area with original dreadlocks hair but they were not around on that day. Thus, we didn't spend much time here either.

Returning back to the hotel, Sophie slept all the way to ease off her headache and Sara stay awake to keep me company. I wasn't too fond of this driver, Norman. 

We reached hotel at seven thirty in the evening. We were all so completely exhausted that I asked the two girls to order room service whereas I skipped dinner.

To sum up the trip we made, I can say we all had an amazing day. It was truly what I had imagine it would be. I had never travelled to any Western countries so far, so I can't make much comparison with Asian countries. What I was trying to say is, I am proud to be Malaysian. My country, with it flaws and weaknesses is still where I wanted to be. 

Have a great day,people!

Rose

9th.January '14