Yogyakarta

We were pretty excited to finally be able to use a train rather than a bus to reach our next destination! The train station is about 60km out of town, so we booked a mini-bus/train combination to go from Pangandaran to Yogyakarta. It was not a big surprise to see the actual price on the train ticket to be 35,000 rupiahs, after we had paid 270,000 rupiahs for the bus and train combo. At this point, we chose the easiest way out as doing things by ourselves hadn’t turned out to be very successful so far. Our fellow travelers were as disappointed as us about the rip-off, but getting picked up from your hotel directly does have benefits, and getting over-quoted once is better than every single time you transfer from one bus to another.

Once we got to Yogya (pronounced Jogja), it was an easy walk to the backpacker district. We checked-in a very cheap and very basic room to make-up for the expensive transportation. At only 120,000 rupiahs per night, Dewa Homestay is surely a bargain, with breakfast included and Wi-Fi in our room!

The town is quite nice, we spent two full days walking around different districts and visiting the local markets, sultan palace, water temple and various neighbourhoods.

Local market

 Sneaky nap amongst the bananas

The highlight of our visit to Yogyakarta has definitely been our evening at the Ramanaya Ballet at the Prambanan temples. With the impressive temples illuminated in the background, the show told the ancient story of  Ayuthaya Kings Rama and Rahwana.

The magnificent Prambanan temples illuminated at night

Ramayana Ballet stage and background - unforgettable!

Traditional Javanese dancing resembles Thai style dancing, with arched hands and flexed feet. It is beautiful and graceful, although tends to be repetitive and limited in my point of view. With my dance background, I expected more technical movements. The show started a bit slowly, but got more and more exciting until they literally light up fires around the stage when Hanuman burns down Alengka palace.

The whole story could be summarized as a Romeo and Juliet which ends well, although I was shocked by the ending. After being reunited with his lover Shinta, who had been kidnapped, Rama refuses her because his believes she is no longer a virgin. Shinta proves her purity by setting herself on fire (as one would do). Luckily, the girl had connections high up and the God of Fire helps her get through the immolation scratch free. Rama decides to believe her and they live happily ever after!