Yogyakarta, Indonesia
We got an early morning flight (a very, very, very early morning flight) to Yogyakarta on the island of Java. This little city is known as the cultural center of the island.
We landed at the airport and wandered around to find a taxi. Almost as one, we followed our noses to a wonderful fragrance emanating from a little stall that sold these fresh baked buns that were stuffed with butter and topped with some kind of coffee flavored cream. Yummy! At a princely sum of 9,000 rupiahs each (less than a dollar) they were delicious.
We found a taxi that took us to our hotel. Ironically, this hotel happened to be the only one that didn’t have the most terrible reviews on TripAdvisor. I remember booking it with my friend one evening and picking it simply because we were dropping with exhaustion and we had to pick something. So we weren’t really expecting much. Until we got there. The hotel turned out to be the Hyatt Regency located on the outskirts of Yogyakarta on these big, sprawling grounds.
We were greeted with sweet smelling jasmine garlands! We sat on some comfy couches while they checked us in – apparently you don’t even need to stand around at the reception desk in places like this – and were invited to join in on a cooking class at 10:00 AM that would be totally complimentary to us. (We accepted.) As we were led up to our rooms, we all silently thought that this was the most spectacular hotel we had stayed at. Ever. (And it cost the same as a Motel 6 back in the US.) Unbelievable!
Our room overlooked lush green trees and landscaping. We couldn’t believe we had lucked out so much!
The cooking class was fun. We made some local fish in a friendly competition between groups. We also got to eat what we cooked, of course! So there was lunch taken care of. The best part was the warm and friendly hotel staff though. I will never again dismiss Hyatt for being a generic hotel chain again.
We spent the rest of the day lounging in the room or getting food on the grounds. It started raining with a vengeance in the afternoon so it felt like it was okay to take it easy that day.
The next day we would go to see Borobudur, a Buddhist temple and UNESCO Heritage site.