Kraton , Museum Indonesian Culture , TRAINS !
Trip Start
Oct 07, 2010
1
9
34
Trip End
Nov 12, 2010
Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Well you know your on holiday when you forget what day it is today im having one of those days lucky i have my trusty itinery to refer to as today is train day arghh.
Before any train action though its off for a morning sightseeing in the centre of Yogyakarta , me and Ted catch an early cab into town well early for me about 10am im skipping breakfast today watching my figure :)
1st stop is the Kraton now according to the LP theres two Kratons in Yogya ones a rip off place and one isnt i still cant work out what one we actually saw but the entrance ticket says Kraton Ngayogyakarta not much to see here but the `free` english guide who showed us round seemed keen bascially a bunch of dummies in cabnits & no its not me & Ted before you ask just members of the Sultans family if i can find an interesting picture ill add it later but i left the Kraton feeling a bit underwhelmed.
Now onto the Museum thats just round the corner i think its called the museum of Indonesian Culture (cant double check because ive lost the entance ticket now :| ) this time we had a Yogya student practicing his english showing us around cant recommend this place enough even its just to look at the vast collection of puppets , lots of stone relics , Batiks , carvings as well to keep that culture side of you amused well worth the 5,000 RP entrance fee.
The times almost 1 pm now so its back to the hotel to grab our things check out and make our way to the station , we are booked on the 14:08 train to Surabaya all the trains out here have names which is kinda cute i guess ours is the Argos Willis Executive express hmmm the name conjures up thoughts of luxorious carrieges free beer etc etc let me tell you Executive it isnt.
14:08 has been and gone no sign of the Argo Willis Indonisian train travel is great you have no clue where the train is, how long it takes as what they print on the ticket is just a wild guess and half the stations it stops at arnt on the map.
14:30 and the Argo Willis arrives unfortunatly i didnt get a chance to snap a picture of this fine specimin of a train as they wanted to leave ASAP , im still aprehensive about trains in Indonesia following the train crash a few weeks ago which killed a number of people that was on the neighbouring line from Jakarta to Surabaya a bit too close for comfort.
The Argo Willis pulls out of Yogya Staion at 14:32 and immediatly the track goes from 5 lines into a single track basically the whole line to Surabaya is single track it only widens in stations for other trains to pass so its a slow and laborious journey next time im definatly flying.
Ohh and if anyone wonders what Executive means to this journey it means the train has airconditioning which incidently is freezing.
We were booked to arrive in Surabaya at 1830 it was more like 1945 when we got there we are booked in the Mecure hotel in Surabaya and im not going anywhere else tonight im knackered , we booked our onward train ticket to Banywangi for the morning now its off to bed Bali is that little bit closer...
