Yogyakarta: Road trip to Dieng Plateau and Borobudur Temple

Growing up in Jakarta, I have read about the Borobudur Temple countless times in textbooks and magazines, but do not have the opportunity to visit it. So, when my cousin announced that her wedding will be held in Yogyakarta, how can I not take this opportunity to visit the world renowned Borobudur temple?

So, the tentative itinerary is as follow:

Day 1: Singapore (SIN) - Yogyakarta (YOG) on Silk Air Flight MI151
Day 2: Attend my cousin's wedding
Day 3: Day trip to Dieng Plateau and come back down to Borobudur Temple at night to spend the night at the temple hotel.
Day 4: Wake up at 0430hrs to catch sunrise at Borobudur. Return to Yogyakarta at noon and explore Yogyakarta city in the evening,
Day 5: YOG - SIN on Silk Air flight MI152.

Our trip started on a rather interesting note when there was a last minute change of gate and aircraft. We went to the new gate and realised that we won't be using the aerobridge to board. Instead, our aircraft is parked somewhere out there on the apron and we will be taking the airport bus to reach the aircraft. I haven't done that since 10 years ago when flying from Shanghai to Singapore, and this it the first time doing it in Changi.

The "new" boarding lounge

The first thought that came to my mind is, I'm going to have a field day with my camera, shooting things which normally cannot be seen when boarding via the aerobridge.

An SQ B777 in Star Alliance livery, 9V-SYL

The Silkair A320 in the centre, that's our bird to Yogyakarta

A320 registration number 9V-SLR

After an uneventful flight, we landed at Yogyakarta Adisucipto International Airport (JOG). Built in the pre-budget airlines days, to describe the airport as "small", is an understatement. Even though JOG handles many international flights and even more domestic flights from the region, the international terminal building is barely enough to handle passengers from a single A320 landing at the airport.

To give a sense of the size of the airport, from walking down the stairs from the plane (there are obviously, no aerobridge) to the terminal building is 20m. From the door of the terminal building to the immigration counter (only 2 of them), is about 10m. From the immigration counter to the customary X-ray machine is about 5m. After which is a couple of money changer with very bad rates and a pre-paid taxi counter. The short luggage "belt" is located just beside (and parallel to) the immigration counters.

We were then met by my uncle and driven to our hotel, Sheraton Mustika Resort and Spa, just "across" the road from the airport. As we were early, our rooms were not ready yet, therefore we stored our luggage at the reception and went to the nearby Ambarukmo mall for lunch.

Our room at Sheraton Hotel

Nice little touch

The next day, was the wedding day itself, which I shall not bore you with the details.

The third day is the start of our 2D1N tour to the "nearby" Dieng Plateau. The initial plan is to hire a 14-seater mini-bus for the trip, but we ended up with more participants than expected, so it is decided to have another 7-seater MPV along, driven by yours truly. Now, I am someone who loves road trips, even more when it is through twisty mountainous road.

Dieng Plateau is the floor of ancient volcanic caldera, which has been settled by farmers for centuries. The volcano itself, is still in a semi-active state with various geysers and hot springs on the plateau. The temperature is a comfortable 18-20 deg during daytime and a chilly 10-15 deg in the night time.

We set off from the hotel at 7:00 am in the morning for the three-and-half hours drive to Wonosobo for a quick lunch, before the final 25km or so to Dieng Plateau.

Setting off from Yogyakarta, with a minibus and a 7 seater MPV

Rest stop and topping up petrol before the mountainous leg of the trip

Lunch location, a charming restaurant at Wonosobo

The group, looking at what's on offer

A lunch of rice with vegetables, and sop buntut (ox tail soup).

A collection of old photograph in the restaurant

Miniatures collection in the restaurant

Even more miniatures

On reaching Dieng Plateau at around 1pm, the first place we went to is the so called coloured lake (Telaga Warna). From there, we hire a local guide for Rp 100,000 (~ USD 10) who brought us around to explain the background and history of the various places of interest around the area.

Telaga Warna (coloured lake) from the treeline

A tip to tourists, the guide will initially quote some ridiculous price, so remember to haggle/negotiate down to a price which you're comfortable with. It will be even better if you have an friend who knows bahasa Indonesia going with you.

Next place we went to is a rock outcropping overlooking the lake, a short drive (plus a 10 minute hike) from the lake.

A short hike through forested area

And a small climb

Through some vegetable farms

The reward, a bird's eye view of not one, but two coloured lakes.

The last place we went before heading back to Wonosobo for dinner is the Sikidang crater (Kawah Sikidang) which is an active but small crater.

The changing landscape. From lush green to barren rocks

There are small vents everywhere

Not to mention the ever present smell of sulphur

The main crater, filled with bubbling mud and water

On entering the area, you will suddenly notice the landscape has changed from green lush scenery to barren land, with hot water bubbling out from the ground and the ever-present smell of sulphur. At the middle of the area, is the crater itself, bubbling pool of water and mud.

We left Dieng plateau to head back to Wonosobo at around 5:00 pm. Dinner, is at a small eatery at the road side, serving Nasi Padang, nasi goreng and mi goreng.

Mt Sindoro in the distance as we head down from Dieng plateau

Typical nasi padang dishes. Fried fish/chicken, potatoes, eggs

Nasi padang, with my all time favourite, beef rendang and perkedel

After dinner, we started the the 2 hour drive through moutainous road for Borobudur temple complex, where we will spend the night. Even though 50km looks like a short distance, the terrain and road condition means that we can only average about 20-25km/h.

The dashboard of the Toyota Innova i'm driving. Taken whhen the car is stationary

To catch the sunrise at Borobudur, it is recommended to stay in one of the few hotels surrounding the site, otherwise you'll need to wake up at 3 am and make the 2 hour journey from Yogyakarta (and possibly missing the sunrise).

The best hotel to stay if you really want to see the sky turn from pitch dark to a gradual deep blue is the Manohara Hotel. Located inside the Borobudur park itself, it is just a 10 minutes walk to the temple main entrance. Also, as a guest staying at Manohara, the Borobudur sun rise ticket costs Rp 230,000 as compared to Rp 380,000 if you stayed elsewhere.

It's a short walk from Manohara Hotel to Borobudur Temple

We woke up at 4:30 am and gathered at the Hotel lobby to collect a customary sarong and torchlight for the 10 min walk to the Temple main entrance. The sky is still pitch dark when we climbed up to the uppermost platform of the temple.

Gathering at the hotel lobby to collect the sarong and torchlight

Walking from the hotel to Borobudur main gate

Queuing to enter Borobudur

It's an overcast sky covering the moonlight. Artificial lighting illuminate the temple at night

It's pitch black at locations where the site lighting doesn't reach

Peaceful morning as the sky slowly turn dark blue

The orange glow from the sun start showing itself

With Mt Merapi in the distance

A statue of Buddha watching Mr Merapi

Finally, the sun rises over Mt Merapi

View from the topmost platform

And the main stupa the centre of the temple

One of the many walkways on the lower rectangular levels

Immaculate carvings showing the teachings of Buddha

After breakfast at Manohara hotel, I had some more time to walk about the hotel grounds.

There's a paddy field just outside the hotel ground

The sign at the entrance of the hotel

After checking out, we drove back to Yogyakarta for our last night in before the flying back to Singapore the next morning.

That night, we had our dinner at a restaurant called Ayam Goreng Suharti, which literally translates to Suharti Fried Chicken.

The position given in Google Maps above slightly out. The exact location should be about 300m west of what's given in Google Maps. Nevertheless, there is a giant sign outside the restaurant which is VERY VERY HARD to miss.

You should get your eyes checked if you miss a sign this big

As the name suggest, they specialty is fried chicken.

(There are also many other items on the menu, but the fried chicken is the only one which is worth mentioning.)

The frying is close to perfection (simply because there is always room for improvement, no matter how good one is). The skin and the batter is crispy, but the meat underneath is still juicy and tender. You can literally separate the bone from the flesh by a light pull.

Their speciality, fried chicken, fried to near perfection

Best of all, the bill won't burn a hole in your pocket. For about 12 people, we spent less than Rp 1,000,000 (~USD100) and left the restaurant thoroughly satisfied.

Although this has been a short trip, I have fulfilled my childhood dream of visiting Borobudur. There are still a couple of attractions in and around Yogyakarta which I have yet to go, one of them is Malioboro shopping street, while another one is Prambanan Temple complex. But right now, I have set my sight to climbing Mr Merapi, once it has calmed down from it's fiery anger.