Arrived in Yogyakarta (aka Jogja)

An on-time flight via cheap & cheerful no service LionAir to YIA. As we flew into the airport we could see both the ocean and the mountains of Java. Another lovely new airport. All these airports built in the last two years (Siem Reap, Hue, Bali, and Yogyakarta) have a lot of capacity for tourism that is still at 70% of pre pandemic numbers.

Doug had tried to buy advance train tickets into the city as reports were it often sold out, but only local credit cards were accepted on the website. Sure enough, the next two trains were full, so we took a taxi (300 Rupiah $25 instead of 40 Rupiah and 90 minutes instead of 40). Picturesque agricultural areas quickly gave way to this city of 4 million which and the first time we saw a lot of graffiti. Our accommodation is located in a local “neighborhood” looking onto the walls of the “Kraton Palace”, home of the Sultan (King) as Java still has an active monarchy who lives there. Touristy Malioboro Road connects the train station to the Kraton and we were to find that it was 30 minutes to walk from one to the other. We noted people lining up buffet style at local open air food stalls. We picked one with better air circulation and picnic tables rather than eating on mats; this local dining style unique to Yogyakarta is called lesehan. You line up and select from the array of dishes and pay at he end by the number of spoonfuls on your plate. Under $5 CAD for two.Read more