The chaotic bus ride from Yogyakarta to Borobudur

It was early afternoon and here we were, loaded like mules, 20kg on our backs and a big bag like that, it wasn't easy to lug around (it was a first for us, because we had to have clothes for both the warm and the cold, not to mention the schedule we had planned which didn't leave much time for laundry...).

And whether it was the train as we experienced the day before, the taxi or the bus as we are about to do today, it is better to be in good shape.

Still in Yogyakarta, waiting for the bus.

View of the main avenue from the local bus stop, a kind of raised red box (which will take us to the central for the regional bus)

A fairly modest bus for a good hour's journey.

If in Thailand there are mainly city bus drivers who tend to drive haphazardly, here it is even on the roads, like in Vietnam. Here a person watches at the door and whistles to order the driver (whistle, in this specific case I mean because not all of them do it), his role is above all to spot potential passengers on the side of the road because there are no defined bus stops… (and this function is for all buses) the payment is made to the driver and it is better to give the exact amount (so prepare the change…)

Caught on the fly while the guy whose job I was just explaining calls out to me by pointing to the scenery outside "volcano", I immediately understand that these are the effects of the previous eruption of the local volcano, Merapi.

Before arriving at our hotel, we will be victims of a scam… While it was raining (it has nothing to do with it, but it did not help the situation) we are suddenly dropped off and told that the bus will not (or cannot, we think we understand) go to Borobudur itself, knowing that we were not very far from it. From there “by chance” motorbikes are ready to take us to our hotel, which we had not yet chosen by the way…

So, without further ado, we opened our “bible” which is LP for short and we chose. Immediately, we were each put on a motorbike. After hesitating quite a bit, because we could sense the trouble. But we felt a bit trapped and we didn’t know what else to do… The bus had already left!

From there, the journey was horribly long, because on the motorbike on the back, with my big bag which had no support on the back, I had to counterbalance as best I could without being able to lean forward due to lack of space, I never believed that I would make it without breaking my ass backwards.

And the scam was confirmed when, once there, we were asked for 50 Rupiah each! Which is just huge (more than the train the day before)! But to our great fault, maybe the rain had fogged our brains at the time, we let ourselves be carried away without even thinking to ask the price before… So I would say that it was still a bit our fault too…

Our choice of GH was, however, excellent in every way.

And the view that goes well on the rice fields.

Not to mention the staff who are part of a popular local guide association, with a kindness in every way like I had never experienced before. The place looks like a kind of shared accommodation between the managing family who live in the same house and people passing through (the customers that we are)

Recovered and in a better mood after this warm welcome (as well as the hot shower) we left from our GH with a scooter, which we rented from them, to visit the surroundings, the location being ideal because very close to the Borobudur temple. But that day we were just going on reconnaissance, because we wanted to go to the temple early in the morning.

The weather was still a bit depressing...

We headed a bit haphazardly with the map we had, I was able to rely on my good sense of direction to find the pottery village indicated on the guide. The village was a bit deserted, probably because of the rain.

The little one doesn't seem very enthusiastic.

The mother was more smiling, the owner of this mini shop.

Next to the house, at the level of these white plastics, we can see a bucket hanging, and yes it is the shower… which a person was using it by the way, otherwise I probably would not have noticed it, of course she was not naked (the person, a woman in this case) but I had the decency to take the photo when she had just bent down (not to avoid me because she had not seen me…)

More curious people, posing this time (meaning they weren't standing there like that when we arrived).

Volleyball players are all flashing smiles at us. It's becoming a habit...

Other rice fields like there are so many.

The market, quite empty at this late hour.

In the evening we try to find one of the restaurants indicated in our dear Lonely Planet, a restaurant that we will not find, although it is supposed to be very close to our hotel, we will end up in this restaurant which is also a hotel but it was desperately empty (unlike ours)

The hotel was attached to this restaurant, but no activity, no movement, only the reception staff offered a presence (and again, just one guy, who was chatting with another)

The chaotic bus ride from Yogyakarta to Borobudur

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