Thursday, February 26, 2009

we hibernate for a while




hi guys.

sorry for lack of up dates for few weeks. we are considering our self in the middle of a short break now. a hibernation minutes and hours for us.

some of us have to finish our undergraduate thesis as soon as possible because we try to get back to couch surfing business by april or may. it is much comfortable and easy for us to be busy with couch surfing fun when we do not have to think of our study, right?

before we hibernate, we had the chance to host and accompany several guests from Malaysia, Canada, and United States.

it was some sort of temporary good bye from us to couch surfing activity, kinda sad, because recently we kind of missing the traveling and trips we make to see tourism objects with our foreign guests.

please pray for us, so that we can get back to couch surfing activities as soon as possible!

Saturday, January 31, 2009

hectic week












this week is another hectic week for daytrippers. as usual.

we welcomed 5 different guests from 5 different countries. Maxime from France. Marco from Italy. Ilka from Finland. Morgan from US and Simone from German.

its such a big group and most of the times we always have fun together whether its the trip to the temples or visiting imogiri"s royal cemetary.

low point: weather is bad this whole week. on our last trip to parang tritis beach we had terrible rain and nowhere to hide...it was suppose to be a nice evening...

high point: everyone is having terrible fun this week!

Friday, January 23, 2009

to Imogiri Royal cemetary!








On his last day in Jogjakarta, we took Bram to Bantul. an area a bit south of jogjakarta.

we admit that we are pretty glad that while he was here in Jogja, the sun shone brightly and in certain extent got hotter than the previous 3 days when Jogja was hit with terrible big rain. we somewhat could relate his coming to jogja with our earliest guess, Gabi, from Poland. when she came the sun was always shining brightly too.

yet, the third day he was here, in jogja, when we took him to Prambanan and Borobudur temple we experienced wavy rain - that somewhat big yet sometimes pretty light rain fall - one part could rain big while the other was having moderate sunshine. weird, huh...

okay, back to the last day,
we went to Bantul. and the first destination was the royal cemetary. where three descendants of Java big kingdoms were burried. from Pakubuwono to Sultan AGung. such a unique and amazing place. remembering that it was one of the oldest royal cemetary in Java.
the striking characteristic of this place was that it is located on a hill, if we may say so.
the deseased were burried on top of the hill, inside a big chunck of land, surrounded with Java mix Balinese architecture. this was pretty obvious from the surrounding gates and walls. as you could see in the picture.

of course, to reach the top we have to walk up the stairs built there. for your information, this place has hundreds of stairs. so it's somewhat a healthy kind of tour too. you work your heart out, literally, like running on that gym's device, what was the name...?

so for the elders visiting this place is kind of challenge, even for the young - especially those who lack of excersise, it's also a big thing, walking up the stairs at 10 or 11 in the morning when the sun was hot, bright, and pretty torturing :p

the royal cemetary open for three days only, monday, wednesday, and friday in particular set of times. so you have to ask the schedule first before you decide to visit the place. we went there at the wrong day, when the gate to the inner complex was closed so all we could do was circling the cemetary complex, observing the front gate - cause it also have unique collection in front of it - and viewing Bantul area from the top of the hill - which was great!

many said that many people come and visit this place for blessings and for praying. one thing we should witness in the future.

anyway, Imogiri royal cemetary is an hour trip from Jogjakarta - that is with motorbike. along the way you could witness and pass local village with their own sight, mostly paddy field and hills. which were great too. and of course the trip would be good and fullfilling if you go there while the sun is on! very on!

okay, that was our trip in Imogiri. next? Ganjuran and a vietnam like spot in bantul with it's yellow suspension bridge!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Yesterday we took Bram from Holland to the beach!





let us start with yesterday.

day trippers visited several beaches site in Gunung Kidul, south east of Jogjakarta province. Ana had left in the morning and Bram, our guess from Holland expect to see the sea shore and any coastal areas we might have here in Jogja. so we took him there.

it was 2 hours driving with motorcycle. and there were six of us. first we went to this Baron beach. pretty nice. somewhat also a village of fishermen, fishmongers and their family. Baron is cornered inside a bay with rocky cliffs and small sized brown sand beach. when we were there yesterday we witness big waves - probably that was the reason many of the fishermen did not go to sea.

we had the chance to climb this small rocky hills that embraced the small bay. and from that view point we saw the horizon and the southern sea.

after lunch - which was big set of crabs, fish, and coconut - we went to another beach. almost 20 minutes drive from Baron. and this one was a baby!

pretty private one, with white pretty sands, small cliffs by the left and nice wave to play with!

everyone enjoyed their own time, playing with waves, taking pictures, and just being crazy under the sun!

Bram had his short nap on a jarik.

felix spent his time catching moments with Flora's pocket camera

stanley tried to sleep half naked under the sun and just being curious what will an even tan look like?

flora and hana made a very small pond for the fishes that they got from a near by sets of reefs.

Adit spent times...what was he doing?



the whole hilly billy was so much fun, we went back to Jogja with mostly sun burned skin, red eyes, and sands everywhere in our body.

There's more to see in Jogjakarta for sure, be sure to check our next trip!

see ya!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

hello everyone,

this is our first post in this new blog that totally belong to us! hurray!

this blog is made in order to record any trip that we made as couch surfer who are based in Jogjakarta, Indonesia.

we have been very great full because for almost 5 months since we first time enrolled ourself in couchsurfing.com, we have met and host various guests from around the world.

couchsurfing.com has helped us to communicate with people and let us host them while we are introducing them to the culture and hilly billies that we have in Jogjakarta.

it is such a privilege for us to be a part of this global effort to connect diversity and to start a peaceful comunication amongst the people around the world on behalf of tourism.

we are available 24/7 and ready to hit the road everytime you are in town.

our contact numbers are available for you to reach.

our trips have been fun and outrageous, and we hope one day you can be a part of it too!

see you and we will wait for you in Jogjakarta.

peace!