Yogyakarta | Indonesia

This semester has not provided as many opportunities for travel so, to keep our sanity, Adrienne, Lindsey and I traveled to Jogja for the weekend. If you find yourself in Jogja, this handy travel agency can drop a motorbike wherever you are and I would definitely recommend them!

It's always strange returning as a tourist to one of the areas that I used to visit every other weekend. I love being in Central Java because unlike in Jakarta, Javanese culture is very prevalent. People are very much rooted in their traditions and the food is also incredible. This is ronde, a ginger based drink/ soup with various squishy garnishes. Ronde is one of the things I miss most about living in Central Java.

I finally got to see a wayang (Javanese shadow puppet) show, complete with gamelan to set the mood. It is impressive that one guy is responsible for all of the narration (a full show can be several hours) and mastering all of the puppets. We also got to see a man intricately chiseling the wayang by hand.

The water palace was another thing on the list of places I never made it to and it is worth a visit if you are in the area. A bit off the beaten path, it offered rare open space to simply walk around. Though the murky green bathing had seen better days, it was still beautiful and well preserved/ restored.