We decided to give the kids a couple new travel experiences this year for Christmas, and our first one was to the city of Yogyakarta (locals call it Joke-ja) which is a smaller, historic city in the middle of our island of Java.
We flew there on Friday morning, and as luck would have it- I ended up with a fever the day before we left, and I battled this fever the whole time we were there. It was pretty brutal, but I didn’t want to miss a thing!
Yogyakarta is rich in culture and history, and is the only city in all of Indonesia that is still ruled by a Sultan. We visited the royal complex, along with the largest Buddhist Temple in the world (Borobudur, built circa 800AD) and the largest Hindu Temple in South East Asia (Prambanan, built circa 850AD). We visited the semi-famous Christian “Chicken-Church” also! We saw beautiful rice fields, and made a 4am trek up Mt Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano where lava last flowed in 2010, in a 1942 US Army Willy Jeep, to watch the sun rise and see smoke billowing from the volcano.
We skipped the lush hotel life that we usually opt for, and instead chose to stay in an Airbnb this time for a more authentic experience. Brian found us an remote indoor-outdoor house (think amazing outdoor bathroom and open air windows, with a beautiful kitchen and koi fish pond in the living room) that felt like we were in the rainforest- it rained a lot- living amongst the lush greenery, and amongst the bugs too!
All weekend we spoke no English- Brian has some great skills, we ate only local food, and explored this historic city. Fun fact- you won’t find a skyscraper in Yogyakarta because the Sultan doesn’t like them. We were in search of a deep dive into Indonesian culture, and we found it!
And remember that fever? We flew home Sunday night, and 12 hours later I threw in the towel and went to our Embassy clinic to get checked out because I just couldn’t kick the killer fevers I had been experiencing for 4 days... I was quickly diagnosed with Dengue Fever, a mosquito borne virus that kills off the platelets in your blood and causes severe dehydration to which there is no treatment for, your immune system must just kick into overdrive and fight off the virus.
How I managed to play tourist all weekend, I’ll never know! But I am happy to report that while it was fast and furious, it’s behind me now and I managed to kick it fairly quickly and without any complications. They monitored my blood levels daily and put me on bed rest at home. Sadly, this was over New Years Eve/Day, so I want a do over- as all I did was sleep the night away, actively trying to make new platelets! But thank God it worked! I still feel wiped out, but almost ready for our next adventure....
Friday morning- off we go!
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Only an hour flight and we were there, met by our driver who Brian arranged to have all weekend. He took us to a lovely restaurant, where we sat outside- such a treat for us! |
really no idea what we were eating, but okay!
And then we went to he largest Buddhist Temple in the world (Borobudur, built circa 800AD)b where it started raining as soon as we got there-
In Switzerland, an Asia group of tourists came up to me and asked to take pictures with me and Macy. Then they grabbed Macy- only 5 months old- and started taking pictures with just her. Well, I'd heard that it would probably be the same for us in Indonesia- and sure enough, all over Yogyakarta people wanted their pictures taken with the kids.
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By the end of the weekend Macy said " this must be what it feels like to be a celebrity" and she really didn't like it one bit.
Some fun on the temple grounds-
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Before going to dinner, we stopped off at the house- which was deep in the hills and very remote-
The bathroom was attached to the house, and very nice- but outside, no roof! The bathtub-
The shower-
The dining table was amazing-
The was nothing to do at the house, so the kids played chess at the table above any downtime we had. Which wasn't much.
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check out the thatched roof-
Some of these panels on the wall had no glass, and the roof was not at all a tight fit. Hello bugs! And hello koi pond in the house-
Saturday morning we got up at 3am to head out for a 2 hour drive to see the sunrise at the largest Hindu Temple in South East Asia (Prambanan, built circa 850AD)
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Not the best sunrise, but still a wonderful experience. We had breakfast there afterwards and the setting was gorgeous-
Next up, the Chicken Church....
My friend Sarah told me about the Chicken Church when she was doing some research about Indonesia after we learned that we would be moving there. It sounded so crazy, that I just knew we needed to go see it and report back to her.
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| Yup, it was exactly as crazy as the name implies! |
The structure is constructed in the shape of a dove, but instead reminds many onlookers of a hen; hence, the locals have taken to calling it the chicken church, a name by which the building is often known across the internet.
The building was erected during the 1990s by Daniel Alamsjah, who claimed to have been inspired by God to build a prayer house through a dream he had in 1989. Alamsjah is Christian, but envisioned Gereja Ayam as a place to welcome followers of any religion for prayer or meditation
It was not easy to find and the walk up to the church was steep and somewhat treacherous.
Once you get there, you can go inside- many small prayer rooms and one large room that would be where religious services are held. And you can go outside, onto the top of the chicken's crown for a great view. The constructions frightened me, but I had to do it...
And the view was stellar-
Afterwards we headed into town to tour the Sultan's Palace. The current Sultan came into power in 1988.
We also did some shopping along Malioboro Street, which is probably when I felt the worst I felt all weekend. Oh wait, no. I felt that bad every 3.5 hours when my Advil wore off. Sigh. But off we go...
Saturday night we had a traditional dinner catered in our house-
Sunday morning we made a 4am trek up Mt Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano where lava last flowed in 2010, in a 1942 US Army Willy Jeep, to watch the sun rise and see smoke billowing from the volcano. 
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The ride to the the top was cold, windy, bumpy and dark. But boy was it worth it. The sunrise was AMAZING- |
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The bunker where people ran when it last exploded-
I always think of lava when I think of volcanos exploding- not big boulders like this coming crashing to the ground-
We drove to a nearby town that has preserved several homes and businesses as they were the day that Mt Merapi last exploded now everything is still covered the lava and ash-
On the way home, we had to turn around because farmers were trying to walk a very ornery bull down the street-
That afternoon we drove around, taking in the sights and doing some shopping. The rice fields-
As modern as the shops come-
We visited several local woodworkers-
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