Discover Yogyakarta: Best Cultural and Historical Sites to Visit

According to local pronunciation, Yogyakarta is also called Jogja.
The itinerary in Yogyakarta was to visit only one attraction per day, and the transportation was all done by calling Gojek, which was very convenient.
At the zoo, I petted a 🐰. Most of the animals in the zoo were lazy, with many sleeping, but it was nice to walk around slowly and take a look.

I went to the Water Palace, finished the tour quickly, but found the small alleys outside quite interesting.
I visited Borobudur, which I had seen on a travel show when I was a child. For some reason, after watching it then, I always wanted to go see it, and this year I finally did. Although the later restoration was rather crude, I still felt it was worth visiting.

Following the guide, we walked up layer by layer, reaching the top of the stupa, sitting there and looking out at the distant fields and hills. People’s lives are driven by desires; how many people are truly without any wants or needs?

Daily activities included visiting coffee shops, getting my nails done 💅, and going to the supermarket to buy my favorite tropical fruits (as a jackfruit lover, I was extremely moved to eat such delicious jackfruit. In Australia, jackfruit is only available in the Vietnamese area and is very expensive, but in Yogyakarta, it’s both cheap and delicious, so I had to buy it from the supermarket every day).

In the evening, I bought fried chicken legs and quails from a favorite street stall, all salt-baked before frying, served with their homemade chili sauce 😋. Many locals eat late into the night, and the stalls stay open until the early hours. Eating, drinking, and walking around was relaxing and enjoyable.

For accommodation, I stayed in a hotel for two days, a newly opened large conference hotel. Apart from the water pressure being average, everything else was great, mainly because they offered triple rooms, which are not common. It can be troublesome to find accommodation for three people, as an extra bed is too crowded, and two rooms are not cost-effective.

After that, I stayed in a homestay for two days, which I found by walking in (pictures 3/4), and I liked it immediately. It was very clean, with shiny floors, antique and solid furniture, high ceilings, and good ventilation. It was also close to the train station, which was very convenient for us to catch an early morning train 🚄 to the airport, as we could walk there.

The staff at the homestay were warm and friendly, and their English was even better than that of the front desk at a four-star hotel 😅. What my family was most satisfied with was the strong water pressure for showers. The only downside was that the room lighting was a bit too warm, making the room seem a bit dark.

The locals I encountered during the trip seemed very content. It is said that there are many Chinese Indonesians, but I only met one, a restaurant owner who could only speak a little Chinese.