Day 02 in Yogyakarta

7am: Breakfast at hotel. Took a becak to Sultan's Palace. Tipped the guide $10,000. Entrance fee $12,500 per person +$1,000 for photo-taking. They really want to 'cut' the tourists here. After the tour around the old palace which by the way has lost all its grandeur, we made our way to the Bird Market. Saw colourful chicks!!! They looked really adorable but i pity that they were dyed that way. Isn't animal cruelty here? After a quick walk around the bird market, seeing lots of animals, not just birds here...we reached Taman Sari, made during the Portuguese era. Entrance fee $7,000 per person and again $1,000for photo-taking. I would say this place is worth the visit. At least it looks pretty good in photos. And i could really imagine this as the Palace bathing area. All the intricate cravings, the sizes of the pools, plus a tower deck which uh-hem, according to history was where the sultan would watch high above while all his wifes bath naked in the pools.

1135am: we took a becak back to the city. Had yoghurt at JCO! some civilisation here!!!
JCO's having promo here where u buy 2 toppings comes with 1 topping free - so we chose kiwi, strawberries and oranges. $25,000 for the 'couple' size. After the terrific chill-down session, we took a becak back to our hotel. Check out and had our lunch at ViaVia cafe where we re-confirmed our cooking classes again. Had Tonic water, ice coffee, Vegetarian capcey and mee goreng. Total bill was: $61,000

2pm: Walked back to our hotel, and our driver was waiting to chauffer us to Manohara Resort.
3pm: Reach Manhora Resort, the only hotel in Borobudur grounds. We checked in and had our welcome drinks +snacks. Not bad! When you book a night's stay at Manohara Resort, it includes free entrance to Borobudur. You can ask for a Sunrise package: starts from the resort at 430am in the early morning where you will climb the stairs of the magnificent borobodur temple and watch the sunrise, which explains why it's called the Sunrise package. duh.

us at the marble table, enjoying our tea (it's hot btw) plus biscuits on the side.

we couldn't wait for the sunrise package to visit Borobudur! So off we went! Many touters on the way up. There's a museum and a short souvenir street there too, but we didn't think much of it. Anyway it's just another avenue for the locals to earn more cash. it's better to spread the dollars elsewhere.
5pm: we walked back to the resort, showered and watched a little tv. The weather here is really hot. So it's refreshing after the shower. Yup the resort has air-con. The room conditions, i wouldn't say it's spectacular, but you don't really have a choice since this is the only hotel here. Afterall, i wouldn't want to wake up like 2am to travel here for the sunrise. This just makes the sunrise-cum-waking easier.

*wee*

dinner was at the resort too. I had the chicken sandwich with capcey while wj had his 3rd or 4th Nasi Goreng! We shared a plate of fruits and pancake with banana. Total bill was $117,000