I'm in Singapore this week, but wish I were in Bali. I haven't been to Sardine yet, but have heard good things. I'd say La Lucciola (any time of day) is a don't miss. Metis is very good, but pricy. KuDeTa for the experience, but not the food. Biku for tea and some of the best chocolate cake anywhere.

The question is is Bali part of the the planet Earth?

Michael...Sardines is on my list...It is suppose to be a beautiful setting as well as great food. We will be sure to check it out if Bill does not.

When you go to Borbodudur I have two ideas for you just having returned. If you want 2 days of touring not to be forgottan and would spend $100 USD for your gang to hire a really terrific guide, if he is available, he will not only take you to Borbodur (save you cost of hiring one the their English speaking guides, you really need a guide to fully appreciate this 8th Century Temple) but to some out of the way places that I hate to share because they were so special but then again I want adventurous travelers like myself to have the ultimate experience and if that is your family he can take you to little villages where you will see locals working and living as they did 50 years ago. He can also, if you are interested, to visit a few batik shops, since he is a licensed guide he does not accept commissions, we went to 2 within 1 block of each other that my wife thought had fairly good quality at reasonable prices. Because they are quality stores and not local markets that carry stuff that might fade after 3 washings they are fixed price something I was surprised to find. In any case it an idea to visit Central Java now that you we be re-scheduling your trip. By the way we fly from Solo in Central Java to Singapore and then back to the US.

A quick earthquake update for those wondering:

Apparently there was a large earthquake off Sumatra yesterday around 5 AM which set just about all our friends and relatives into a tizzy. This happens when you know a lot of people who don't travel a lot. ;) Glad to report that we neither felt it nor heard anything about it until hours later upon our arrival in Borobudur.

So the past few days have been interesting to say the least. We left Bali early Wednesday morning and I can confidently say I've never experienced anything quite as insane as Denpasar airport's domestic terminal early in the morning. There's no real system--just a lot of pushing and shoving and absolutely no personal space. The "security check" seemed to be really just a matter of 'everyone is beeping going through it, so unless you look particularly suspicious, it's all good.' Not that it bothers me at all, but the whole experience was somewhat claustrophobic.

Flight on Garuda was relatively okay (the idea of it scared me more than the actuality) and we landed in Yogyakarta on time.

This is where my loathsome relationship with our hotel (Saraswati Borobudur) begins. Our hotel driver was nowhere to be found--and only a half hour later did a very nice lady at the information desk help us call our hotel to find out what was going on. Seems that they completely forgot (even though I had confirmed a few days earlier)--so we ended up waiting for another 1 1/2 hours on our keysters in baggage claim for the driver to show up.

Luckily, all was forgotten (for awhile, at least) as we stopped at Prambanan on the way and really enjoyed the impromptu local guide we paid a mere pittance to show us around...learned a lot and was extremely awed by the architecture and history. Be forewarned: there's a lot of construction (apparently for the next 2 years) going on at Prambanan. Didn't bother us, but there is a lot of scaffolding everywhere.

Moments after leaving, we became VERY well acquainted with that impending rain MichaelBKK has been asking me about. Saw some big rain clouds flying in and hovering over Java and they mostly stayed at bay upon our arrival...but then decided to gather back up and pour buckets on us all morning and all afternoon. We talked to some locals and they explained that this was odd--they were getting a few afternoon showers here and there, but to have nonstop rain all day was unusual for this time of year.

So back to our hotel: we arrive and this place is just plain bizarre. If you can get past the extremely strange decor (unusually ostentatious)...Victorian and Colonial chairs and couches, overly done up, somewhat medieval...nothing Asian whatsoever except an odd Buddha painting here and there. The whole place has NO soul at all. Feels like it would be more suited to a quaint chalet in the Alps over Java. The rooms are large and hollow. The whole place, coupled with the rain, just depressed the crap out of us. Putting things in perspective, though, we did stop at Manohara (to buy our sunrise tickets for Borobudur) and Saraswati is a much nicer alternative to that--but this place still feels like a mirage. Everything looks okay on the outside, but there's nothing happening inside worth mentioning.

Luckily, we were able to get a break in the rain right around 4 PM and decided to head over to Amanjiwo for sunset drinks and a good dinner (food at Saraswati, BTW, was terrible.)

Amajiwo is a godsend. Now I know what Robbie was raving about! It's a shame that I'd need a small fortune (or a sugar daddy) before we could ever afford to stay here (and that was even when the manager had offered us a "special discount")--but you can see why people shell out the big bucks for that jaw-dropping view of the volcano and Borobudur! Drinks and dinner here were fantastic and not as expensive as I'd imagined they'd be, but still hard to swallow when you consider what the people serving you probably make.

Gotta run now. We're actually checking out a day early here and heading to Yogya. Will report back soon on our sunrise excursion @ Borobudur this morning and our subsequent time in Yogyakarta next.

Having a blast! ...and onwards we go to the next adventure!

Timely report, no penalty. Thius is true even though you misspelled 'keisters". If you sat omn your "keysters", you would have sat on those people who made your keys.

From Dictionary.com:

tautology linking verb peccadillo umlaut keister - 3 dictionary results
Digi-Key
Rated #1 for Overall Performance 18 Years in a Row.
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Define Keister Instantly. Faster Page Loads With Fewer Ads.
Dictionary.com

keis·ter   /ˈkistər/ Show Spelled[kee-ster] Show IPA
–nounSlang.
the buttocks; rump.
Use keister in a Sentence
See images of keister
Search keister on the Web
Also, keester.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Origin:
1880–85; earlier, as underworld argot, handbag, suitcase, safe; of obscure orig., but words meaning “chest, box” are frequently adduced as sources, e.g., kist1, G Kiste, Yiddish kestl, etc.

Better luck at your next hotel.

I can't wait to hear more!

Glad to hear the earthquake was a non-event for you.

Your description of the hotel reminds me of quite a few places I've stayed in Bali - beautiful outside but utterly lifeless inside (or rather, too much life inside - mold, bugs, etc.)

Domestic travel in Indonesia is such fun! Be warned though, when you depart through international at Denpasar, the security screening you go through to get in the building have a reputation for stealing things out of bags on the x-ray belt. I have first-hand experience that this actually happens, so watch your belongings (especially mobile phones, MP3 players, etc.)

Enjoying your report and following you along with your pictures on FB.

Have a good time!

If you are a senior (62) the Hyatt offerred us a rate of $186 USD with tax/service for a deluxe king on the Regency Club Floor with full American breakfast for 2 (=$25USD) and cocktails and appetizers (just o.k. from 5-7 (about $40USD value). You can have 1 child in each room I believe under 17. The hotel is superb and the service is outstanding.The A/C in the rooms is a delight as it is in the regency Club lounge. most families brought there children in so 3 eat breakfast per room without a hassle except we sufferred from a few really unrully children that they parents chose to ignor and the staff was at their wits end not knowing what to do. We asked the G.M. to have them Monitored since we were there for 5 nights and guess what several other guests wondered why they became quiet.The Sultan's palance is interesting. It does not look like you will be there on Sunday because the ballet from 11-12 is simply terrific. do not go to the night ballet, forgot the name for about $20USD with dinner. It is sophomoric, hot and the food is medicore. In the main Mall eye glass frames by S.Dupont a very high-end french designer run $275-$300USD. In the US they are $1100-$1200. cartier are also heavily discounted at 50-55% off US prices something not allowed in the US. Both are the genuine thing with international warantee. The Us opticians tell me that the frames I buy in Bangkok and Yagya are the real deal and they pay equal or more than I do.

Thanks for the advice, Stan, but unfortunately I have a way to go before I can take advantage of that senior discount. :) That, coupled with the fact that I try to avoid large chain hotels like a hooker avoids the police, might not spell good news for the Hyatt.

We do, however, LOVE our hotel here in Yogya. We're staying at The Phoenix and boy, oh, boy was I surprised by this place. It really has made our stay in Yogya that much better. But I'll get back to this...

Let me backtrack a bit. Last time I checked in, we had been rained on for an entire day and had just returned from a great dinner @ Amanjiwo once the clouds finally broke.

Luckily, we were able to cut another weather break (the rain has once again returned to just an afternoon shower for a few minutes) so we hit up the much-lauded sunrise at Borobudur for a SPECTACULAR and magical experience that definitely ranks up there in my Top 5 travel moments (so far.) The drudgery of awakening at 3:30 for our 4 AM trek to Manohara was so worth it just to experience the utterly spiritual and indescribable experience of sitting in silence at the top of Borobudur and watching the sun peek up from behind Mount Merapi to greet the shroud of mist hanging over the valley. The best part was that you can really soak in that experience for a good, long while--it was a nice chunk of time to meditate and really take it all in. I think the benefit of being here in April (as opposed to original plan for May) is that everywhere we're going is markedly less crowded. It really has made a splash of rain here or there worth it.

I will take this moment also to extol the virtues of the guide we found at the gates of Borobudur. Post-sunrise, we went back for a well-needed power nap and headed back to the temple late morning. Here (at the international guest entrance) we found Budi, a licensed local guide, with a great grasp of the English language and a pervy sense of humor who really is going to give Tong a run for her money :) Okay, well no one can do that yet, but he sure was a rock star in training. He walked us through the highlights of the relief carvings on the various levels of the temple, explained things I never knew about the story of Buddha and best of all...I really got to dig into a great conversation with him about Islam, extremism and the politics of Indonesia. It was so refreshing to meet someone so open to talking about this stuff, given that you never know how those topics will be received by locals. I also got to tell him a bit about extremism in the West (he had know idea that we had our own extremists.)

I can also say that I now know, thanks to Budi, that ancient Javan Buddhists were big fans of "special" massages--or as Budi calls it (in my new favorite term) 'massage plus plus.' Granted, I'm sure our hallowed poster AskOksena is well-acquainted with this term, but this was the first time I'd heard it ;) I explained to him that we call them happy endings and he couldn't stop laughing--he told me that he's going to tell everyone he knows about in his village about this now. So it's one of those give/give situations, I guess. :) Look at me: spreading wisdom and enlightenment around Indonesia.

All kidding aside, when I get back to the States, I'll post his email on here. I cannot recommend him more. The 7,000 IDR we paid for his services (roughly about $8.25 USD) was so blatantly inadequate for someone so great that we had to tip him much more when we had to say our goodbyes a few hours later.

A few hours later, we got a lift to our hotel in Yoyga (The Phoenix, as mentioned earlier) and we were so happy to step into this place. The hotel is completely reminiscent of a mini-Metropole (Hanoi)...it drips in French Colonial glory and, for the cost, you really can't more bang for your buck (well maybe AskOksena can in some of his old haunts, but I digress...)

Got to explore a bit of the city last night and crashed a bit early, due to our early morning temple jaunt. Spent today exploring Marlioboro and the Kraton. We did go in to a few batik places, but honestly, I don't get all the hub-bub. I love ornate fabrics (and we've bought plenty in our travels) but everything we saw was nothing to write home about and most of the shops felt like the equivalent of Times Square souvenir shops (but with batik instead of Statue of Liberty keychains.) The Kraton I also didn't get. We kept wondering if we were in the right place. We just saw a bunch of empty pavilions (sort of in disrepair and not well-kept) and some bird cages with chickens in them. And, of course, more batik! :) We got there too late for the traditional dance performance, so maybe that would've added to the experience?

Anyway, all was remedied by a visit to Beringharjo Market...we like to make a tradition of visiting a large local market in most cities we go to so we can get a sense of how locals shop, eat, socialize, etc. This was no disappointment. If you can stand the smell of dried fish and other scant delights, it really was an awesome time. Could've spent another couple hours exploring the nooks and crannies, but the puppies were aching and our daily afternoon rain clouds starting rolling in so we headed back to our lovely little paradise of a hotel.

Here I now sit with a gin sling in hand (smeags, I FINALLY got that gin!) and, have to admit, I am a very happy camper. This has been a great week and now the best part starts tomorrow. We head to Ubud for a week and my head is just spinning over all the things I want to do and see. We'll be touring with Putu for a few days, but I really am most excited about the yoga, massages, local crafts, the rice field walks and more crazy monkeys.

I love Indonesia and I'm definitely a convert now. So happy to be sharing this with you guys and I hope you're enjoying reading about it as much as I'm enjoying being here.

More to come from Bali...

Rock and Roll, FW. Keep it coming! Beth and I also pop into local markets every chance we get.

Now the bad part. I suspect you paid your guide 70,000 IDR, not 7,000 IDR. Is that right?

filmwill, I'm so glad that Indonesia hasn't disappointed. You certainly seem to have connected with the intensity.

Yes, Panda, in my haste to get this out, it seems I missed a 0.

Such a stickler for details, you are. :)

FW - Thanks goodness, gin at last.......
Loving the updates, keep them coming.

Sounds like you're really having a good time. I trust David is too?

But, now I think it's a real shame you didn't have time to get up into the hills around Solo, or visit Solo itself. I though the palace at Solo was more interesting than the one in Yogya, but maybe that was just down to our guide Fifi (a rather matronly woman despite the name).

Definitely don't forget to post Budi's contact info. I'm hoping to get back to Yogya next year.

SUnrise at Borobudor is quite an experience, isn't it?

I'm glad you are enjoying it all. Yes, the dance performance (or they used to have puppet shows too) would have made the kraton more interesting. Did you have a guide to tell you the history?

As for batik, you need to go to one of the places that makes the tulis batik. We went to a place in Solo that makes the batik for the kraton - just amazing. I agree, Michael, I think Bill and David would enjoy the fertility temple in the hills outside Solo.

I'm loving your report!

Just back from New York and had to get online and see how your trip is going. You clearly are making wonderful memories. So glad you got a full experience of Borobudur. I too was underwhelmed by the Kraton and the fabrics and textiles (for these you'll want to go to Laos and Bhutan).
The one thing you missed by not landing in Jakarta on an international flight is an Indonesian misting. After customs I submit a form stating I had none of the listed communicable diseases and am directed to step on a platform (like a door frame) where I was sprayed ("misted") with some strongly unpleasant disinfectant. Don't recall any posts on this special welcome to Indonesia.
Looking forward to your Ubud adventure. Say hi to Putu from Fred and Robbie.

Sorry that there's been radio silence over here. We've been going nonstop touring with Putu for the past 3 days--and I've been pooped!

Promise to update everyone on our Ubud adventures very soon.

Stay tuned... ;)

FW - you keep on having a great time,we can wait!

Forget having a good time. Your adoring public is awaiting every word. Sure, Putu is running your backside ragged, but we don't care. More! More! More!

The Yankees stink!