The Java Whoua!

If one thing is certain, is that we didn’t regret our decision to go to Java! We were blown away with how friendly people are on this island. It was a short stay but it was such a great experience.

We landed in Jogyakarta very early in the morning, still under the rain, and drove to our homestay (Rumah Yogya) were we had a warm welcome from Delia and her mum. Our room not being ready yet, they let us crash on the couch in their living room. We heard some giggles from time to time, I think they made fun of us…

In the afternoon we went for a walk around the city. Many people stopped us on the way. Coming from Bali and Lombok, we were suspicious at first thinking they wanted something from us or tried to sell us something, but quickly we realised people genuinely just wanted to talk and give us advice on what to visit. It was so refreshing!

We spent 3 days in Jogyakarta, visiting the surroundings including Borobudur and Prambanan temples, Goa Pindul caves…

Everywhere we stopped people were so nice to us and wanted to take pictures which was really fun. In the more touristic areas, we met a lot of students that wanted to practice their English (some assignment from school) and were interviewing us. Girls were more shy than boys but all so sweet!

In Borobudur, we met a local guide while we were having lunch who spoke very well French and sat down to chat with us: he was really proud to tell us that he participated in the real TV show Pekin Express!

We took a train to Bandung where we found a similar atmosphere while visiting the tea fields in the mountains. We tried for the first time Kopi Luwak, the famous and most expensive Indonesian coffee which the grains have been eaten and digested by civet cats. Quite tasty!

Bandung is a lovely city, actually known as the “Paris of Java” for all the shops, outlets and aparently “french bakeries” (which we tried but are not as french as we thought…). There is a lot to do and see in the area of Bandung. Unfortunately we had to make our way to the big and chaotic city of Jakarta quickly to take our flight to Hanoi. A good thing we only spent a day in Jakarta, our least favourite stop in the country.

But Java made a really good impression on us. We could only see a small part of the island but just enough to make us want to go back and see more!