Accommodations: The Phoenix Hotel, Yogyakarta

When you spend a solid three days flying from airport to airport and country to country, your first instinct when arriving is to head straight to bed. As temping at that is, the only way I’ve ever been able to get over the jet lag (a tip shared by Dr. Rebecca Morris) is to do exactly what you should be doing at that time you arrive. For instance we got in to Yogyakarta locally called (Jogja) at 6:30 on Monday morning and upon arrival at the airport, we immediately began our adventure with our first tours.

It began with a stop at Prambanan Temple which was about 30 minutes east of the city  which serves as one of the last major Buddhist temples constructed prior to the religious shift to Hinduism and Islam. The Temple itself is a gigantic complex which is made up of 174 smaller structures and built around the 9th century.


We continued our spiritual journey with short stops at Ratu Boko and Chadi Plaosan, both just a few minutes from each other. While all three were absolutely breathtaking in their own right, it was also rather sad looking at the rubble at all the locations. Jogja sits just a few miles away from one of the most active volcanoes in the world (Mt. Merapi) which recently exploded as frequently as 2010 causing these sacred sites to be covered in ash and suffer debilitating earthquakes. While the government is working on restoring them, it will never be the same as the original.

Once our spiritual early morning journey had concluded our next stop was to the Kraton, which included the Water Castle. The Kraton is centrally located in the heart of Old Town Jogja and is home to the Sultan of Jogja.

After we wondered through the Sultan’s Palace which included beautiful Golden Pavilion (picture above) we visited the Water Palace which included three private baths, one for the staff another for the Sultan’s wife and finally a third for the Sultan himself and his “prettiest wife.

We concluded the day dining at the hotels’s restaurant and finally collapsed in bed around 4 that afternoon. Unintentially sleeping for a good 13 hours to wake up bright and early for our next day of exploration.