Yogyakarta 19/12/2022

Slept like a baby - despite the oppressive heat in my room. Had the fan on all night, which seems to have helped. It's warm already, so it must be time to get up.
As it turns out, it was a big day today. I went hunting for a replacement for the portable hard drive I dropped and broke :( and managed to find one at a bit below what I'd expect to pay on eBay. Not only this result, but I got my hair cut (photo of smiling barber in black mask). The cost? The equivalent of about 80 pence. (I should feel guilty, but tipping is just not a thing here.)
In the afternoon, I took in a museum about Indonesian culture & artefacts. Quite good and the staff were very (genuinely) supportive. I seem to have got to Yogyakarta the they're having some kind of promotional push: As far as I can tell, it really does seem to be the cultural hub of the nation.
Slightly strangely, a woman from India with excellent English started talking to me. She was a bit stranded - looking for a money changer and a hotel/hostel to stay in, and I felt sorry for her, knowing the hassles I had when I arrived. The last I saw of her was her walking into a hostel to check if they would accept a card for payment (it's mainly a cash kinda place).
In the evening I took in a Gamelan show in a courtyard next to the museum (well, you have to I suppose). It was actually pretty good - a relaxed affair with the musicians hardly appearing to take their job seriously at times - my kind of 'musos'.Read more