Yogyakarta Day 1 - Borobudur

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?" 

Not many of my friends know that I travelled to Yogyakarta for vacation alone. It was my first solo trip to somewhere I am not familiar with. There I was, after a 2-hour flight, arrived at the international airport of Yogyakarta. 

I got out from Terminal B, but only found out that all the bus terminals are located at Terminal A which is about 300m away. Laden with my backpack, I walked all the way, away from all the taxi drivers who were hailing for passengers, trying to pursue passengers to have a ride with them.

I searched for Damri bus, but it turned out that they do not really have a direct trip to Borobudur like how some of the previous backpackers suggested. Thought of trying my luck by asking them, and my luck turned out to be not bad at all. They asked me to take the bus to Magelang, but in the middle of the route, there was a van waiting for me to bring me to Borobudur with no extra charge. The receipt handed to me has the price written with pen on it, which looks a little fishy... But still, it's cheaper than taking a taxi. 

After a 2 and a half hour journey on the road, I've arrived at Borobudur town. Headed to my homestay which I booked before heading to Yogyakarta, and I'm blessed with a helpful owner of the homestay who really made an effort to ensure my stay is comfortable. 

After settling down and a shower, it was drizzling. But the rain came and left swiftly. Then, I headed out by riding the homestay's owner bicycle. It was a little dangerous to ride a bicycle there to be honest, especially with the large amount of ojek (motorcycle in Indonesia language) on the narrow road. Only a small stretch of road is built with pavement so that people can avoid from walking on the road. 

It was already evening, so I decided to visit the Borobudur Temple first thing in the next morning. Thus, I grabbed some street snack like fritters and satays for my dinner which I had in my room. That's when I felt the loneliness of travelling alone, and the room without TV doesn't help either. 

It was 10pm and out of boredom, I walked out and discovered that the main road was very empty at night! Not far from my homestay was the only cafe which is opening at that moment, the Go Borobudur Cafe. To be frank, I was very surprised with the price of food and drinks, imagine the banana shake and french fries below only cost me about RM6 after converting from Rupiah! Where in Malaysia can we find such pricing in a cafe??!

Had a quick chat with the cafe owner and he revealed that he just opened the cafe for like 3 months. That was the first time in my life to ask the owner to increase the price of his food! Hahaha! 

That night I started to realised the benefit of travelling alone. You tend to be more chatty and open to anything new to you. If I were to travel with a friend, I might not be chatting with the owner and find out some info which only the locals would know...