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Two activities today.  First go visit the puppet makers and then off to Prambanan temple.  We didn’t take a camera to the puppet maker, but we saw them work the dried buffalo skin and the buffalo bones.  We bought two puppets to frame at home: Rama and Vishnu.

We’re getting quite used to taking the bus and it’s unpredictable but reliable schedule.

It’s a bit of a walk from the bus station to the entrance, but at least our pre-paid tickets work.

Inside the main temple we find an elephant.  If you touch it’s trunk you will have wisdom for ever.

We have some very expensive drinks at the cafe/souvenir shop and see some deer.

Back by bus which is packed.  A girl in the bus asks for a selfie with Emma.  Dinner in a restaurant in our alley way.  It has the same cool wall paintings our hotel rooms have.

Up early to buy hats and make some photos around the homestay.

The guys from Griya Harja take us to the bus station “Indonesia style” with 3 scooters.  It’s quite fun.  This time we’re in the front of the bus so we can see more of the street life.  The shops don’t really stop on this 1 hour drive to Jogja.  From the Jogja station we take the “1A” bus and Jane has an argument about the price (which we later find out has genuinely gone up – or not – who knows).

Our “Hotel Seribu Satu Malam” is in a an alleyway of a side street of Jalan Malioboro.  It’s nice with an open courtyard with palms and fish – but it’s got mosquitos (Emma and I find this out).  The older guy on the desk tells us to buy our train tickets in the supermarket which we do, although we have to game the machine a bit by lying about mobile numbers.

Evening entertainment is a wayang puppet show.  You can watch both sides, the shadow play or the back where you can see the colouring of the puppets and the large band with traditional Javanese instruments.  Although wayang is heralded as a Javanese invention, it bears similarity to the Chinese puppet plays.  To follow the stories you need a better grasp of Javanese mythology.

On the way back the tuc tucs get lost and try to charge us double.  Jane’s not having any of it.

Wake up early to go to Borobudur.  Although we said we might go “Indonesian style” with the scooters we decide to walk.  The weather looks rainy.

At 6:47.54 we walked to the Buddhist temple in Borobudur where tourists pay double the entry price.  You had to go round the temple clock wise to bring good fortune.  There were many Buddha carvings which all meant different things.

Drinks and ice cream was needed before we left the temple through all the people trying to sell things.  After finally leaving the temple we walked through the market where every 5 shops sold the same thing, bought bananas and ate some pancakes.  At the bus station we took a becak (tuctuc) to the hotel.

A few hours later after Alex had taken many chicken photos we woke up the people working at the hotel and borrowed bicycles to cycle around the quiet tofu village.