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1994
Indonesia South East Asia
Bec2004-09-20 18:18:26
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Bali
From Melaka, I went back to Singapore to catch a flight bound for Denpasar, Bali's international airport. Here is the very touristic but nevertheless beautiful Kuta Beach.
The tourists are as colourful as the locals in Kuta's Jalan Legian (Legian Street) and there are more of them so the best thing to do is to think you came here to see the tourists and enjoy it. There are lots of charming villages around the island where you can go to see and meet the Balinese.
No wonder so many tourists come here, the island is beautiful, the people are friendly, the beaches are great and it's not expensive. I had a corner room with balcony in this odd building for only 16 dollars at the Arena Bungalows.
There are are also several expensive first-class hotels like the Kartika Plaza where I enjoyed a show of Balinese dancing presented during dinner.
Yogyokarta
On my way to Jakarta (and work), I just had to stop in Yogyokarta to see its huge Kraton (Royal Palace), built in 1755 and the two much older sites of Borobudur and Prambanan. Yogyokarta's main Avenue, Jalan Malioboro, changes its name to Jalan Yani near the Kraton in the south and to Jalan Mangkubuni and Jalan Sangali in the north.
An air conditioned room with pool cost me only 12 dollars a night at the Asia-Afrika Hotel near the train station.
I got to the Kraton too early and had to wait a while before they opened the gate. That's how I met this bunch of high school students who were also waiting. Naturally we had a lot questions to ask each other and they even tried to teach me some Bahasa Indonesia which I found rather simple and easy to learn. It would be worthwhile to learn it someday for there is so much to see in this huge and varied archipelago.
The open sided architecture of the Kraton's public halls was well-suited to the hot and humid
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See photographs from:
Indonesia Gallery
