While entering Yogya, the most obvious tourist attractions are hard to miss: The great number of hinduist and buddhist temples. Some of those temples have been built in the 8th century and have been declared UNESCO world heritage. We arrived at the worst time of the year which is the national holidays celebrating the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and it is like Christmas for us. The roads were crowded with Indonesian tourists and during our stay at our host Radit's place, we decided not to visit the very big and famous temples. A combo ticket for both the buddhist Borobudur and hinduist Prambanan would have cost about USD 40 per person just for admission. At a normal time we might have been willing to pay that price but with so many tourists everywhere, we chose to skip the hustle and visited some smaller, cheaper and less busy temples instead. Those were still really nice and with less people around we could enjoy the time we spent there. We rented a scooter to explore the city and the surrounding area and after the temples we left town to get to some waterfalls that were also really cool.
After three nights in Yogya we cycled along the South coast because the weather forecast in the mountains in the center of the island were 20mm of rain or more per day and then it would not be worth taking on the additional elevation. On WarmShowers we found some more great hosts with Aviv in Kebumen and Alfian in Cilacap. With Alfian and his family we stayed for two nights and he showed us a cool island close to town and the old Portugese ruins and the light house were really special. We had a great time with him and even found time to make some Spätzle for him and his family. They loved it and we enjoyed sharing some German culture with them as well.
The next destination was the coastal city of Pangandaran that was recommended to us by another German traveler. This town is famous for the nice beaches and the really nice rivers that shape the countryside. We booked a tour that would take us to both Green Valley and Green Canyon. On the way to Green Valley we stopped at a local puppet maker that crafts these amazing puppets that are used for traditional cultural shows. He also gave us a little taste of his craft which was impressive. In Green Valley we were swimming through this beautiful river and had a lot of fun jumping of cliffs and exploring a cave along the way. Green Canyon is narrower and a stronger current is pushing the water through the small space. We first took a boat to get into the canyon and from there we fought our way further upstream to get deeper into this amazing place. In some places we just had to swim against the current and in others our guides put up a rope for us to pull ourselves along against the rushing waters. It was a really cool day and more than worth taking the tour.
We wish you all the best from Indonesia,
Keep cycling,
Vroni, Droni and Joni
