Trip to Pantai Nglambor

 Having more time today, I decided to head to Nglambor beach for some snorkeling.

Not content with the fast route, I decided to take the scenic route. Many people go to Vietnam and Laos for motorbike trips but Indonesia has some amazing roads and scenery and is probably better than Laos for a motorbike trip.

After some detours on the scenic route, it got a bit late by the time I finally made it to Nglambor beach but there was enough time for some quick swimming and snorkeling.

The Olympus TG-4 is great to have along to take both photos from my motorbike journeys but also for the occasions when it's either pouring or when I am at a beach.

My underwater photos are not that amazing yet but I need more practice since it's not the same as doing street or landscape photography.

Trip to Ketep Pass

NO trip to Indonesia would be complete without seeing a volcano and given how many there are you never have to go to far to see one.

Mount Merapi is the closest volcano to Jogja and a short drive will get you either to the mountain itself where you can hike to the top or you can go to Ketep Pass, where you get a great view of Mont Merapi.

Since I didn't fancy hiking, I decided to drive to the Ketep Pass instead. The views along the way were great but unfortunately rain spoiled a bit the view once I got to the pass.

Lucky the rain stopped and the clouds cleared a bit to give me still a nice and atmospheric view of the surrounding landscape.

I can definitely recommend a drive to Ketep Pass, especially on a nice day you'll get some amazing views from there and the drive itself is not too bad either.

Around Jogja

Jogja is a cool place, in a lot of ways it is very similar to Hue. It is a nice place and I always enjoyed coming here.

The city itself is nice and has enough entertainment but also lots of good places to eat.

What is even better though is to get out of the city and enjoy the countryside with lots of great roads to drive.

In the city, there are some nice places to see, too. Malioboro Road is nice but driving around Kraton with it's narrow roads and around the squares is also a good way to spend the evening.

Warung in the Evening

TG-4, f4.9, 1/60, ISO 3200, RAW, 100mm

Jogja Drive

After having problems with my back and not doing much the past days, I did go on a drive around today.

It was great fun and the weather was also much nicer, without any rain although quite hot.

Driving on a motorbike around the countryside is always great and I really enjoy doing this in Asia.

I only took the Olympus with me and it did a great job, not GR quality but easy to use and I never have to worry about it.

New Home?

TG-4, f5.0, 1/400, ISO 200, RAW

Emergency Assembly Point

TG-4, f5.0, 1/250, ISO 200, RAW

Day 310 - Vehicles in Jogja

At first I planned on leaving Jogja and heading to Jakarta today. Since I took longer in the morning, I managed to miss the trains so decided to just stay one extra day here.

Day 309 - Dusk at the Beach

The day was a rather quiet one and I was mostly chilling in the morning and early afternoon. I even made use of the pool in my hotel, a first in years.

Day 308 - The Train back to Jogja

After Mt. Bromo I felt that I have seen enough of Indonesia and it was time to head on but not before seeing a bit of Jakarta. Since the train journey from Malang to Jakarta was too long, I decided to go back to Jogja for a few days to break up the journey and chill out a bit.

Day 298 - Keraton

The initial plan was to go and visit the Keraton Palace in Jogja in the morning and take the 20h train and ferry to Bali in the afternoon. While I prefer this route a quick look at flights made this not practical or economical so I booked a flight to Bali for tomorrow morning instead.

Day 297 - By The Beach

After exploring volcanoes, markets and the busy traffic of Indonesia it was time to go where I don't usually venture, to the beach.

Day 296 - More People in Jogja

Today, I spent my day mostly at the police station. No, they did not arrest me for speeding or taking photos.

Rather I was helping them and a friend tracking down the guys who had his phone that got 'lost' at the train station.

Day 293 - More from the Jogja Night Market

Today, I helped a friend with looking for a new phone after his got 'lost' at the station. In the evening I figured it would be great to go to the Prambanan Temple for the sunset.

Day 292 - Train to Jogja

An early start to catch the 7:00 train to Yogyakarta or Jogja as the locals call it. The train was quite comfortable with AC and power plugs for each seat so this was a great start. Oh, it also left on time so this again made a good impression of my first rain journey in Indonesia.