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The 4am taxi is only welcome because it makes us miss the morning call to prayer.  Check-in and security is very quick and we have time for a snack: some chocolate bread from the supermarket.

The Air Asia A320 flight is efficient and the airplane has advertising inside it.  Has Michael O’Leary missed a trick?  We’re sitting all over the cabin, Jane in the middle, kids next to each other at the back and me in the front.  I get woken up 30 mins before touchdown to take the pancakes I pre-ordered (forgot about that).

Yogya airport is very small.  When you land it seems like the pilot has decided to land in the rice fields until the familiar thud.  A few weeks back a jet did fail to toga and ended up in the rice field at the end.  The terminal building is right on the runway so the taxi is short.

We buy more money and the girls use the toilet which has a long queue.  Jane has worked out that we will take the Trans Jogja busses to get to Borobudur.  For RP 1200 (7.2p) we get to the north bus terminal (with one change).  A further RP 100.000 (£6) gets us to Borobudur bus station in an hour.

The first Trans Jogja has lively music in it to make the working day more pleasant.

From Borobudur bus station we take the motor tuk-tuks to Griya Harja Homestay, another great place with friendly staff.

After a short rest we decide to try to walk up the path to the viewpoint.  It’s a concrete path, then some worn away steps and after that it becomes muddy.  Jane is the only one with sensible shoes so we need to abort.  The views are nice though.  Emma has a mosquito bite on her eyelid.

It stops raining softly as we walk down the road to Borobudur village for dinner.

There is a really cool “Camera House” a few KM down the road:

Because everyone is hungry, it seems a lot further than it is.  We hide from the rain at various houses and shelters and finally find a restaurant.  It’s ok, even if we do spot a large rattus-rattus under the tables.  Finally we walk back to the homestay and mum reads to the kids.

 

We just have one morning at Tangkahan left and we’re late for breakfast.  We pack and see some of our cohabitant animals.

 

We forgot to buy some t-shirts at the elephant farm, so we walk back there through the little villages with chickens and cows.

 

 

Later in the morning we have some time to swim at the stream with the jumping rock and the hot spring.  We walk through the village where all the fruits and rubber trees are.

We meet our old friend the village dog again at the swimming stream.

 

Quick lunch and Eddie our driver is ready for us.  Mega Depari and his staff help us with the bags over the bridge and we’re on the road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9aKGMz0A2Y?rel=0

A sample of the Sumatra roads through the plantations.

After 4 hours or so we’re at K77 guesthouse in Medan which is very friendly and clean.  The owner arranges the hotel driver to take us to the airport in the morning.

We investigate Medan and have a “burger” at a warung which has exactly 4 chairs.  The burger is actually a thin bit of beef, egg and sauce and super spicy.  The kids are on fire.  We walk back and cross the road twice (fear of death etc) to look at a fish shop.  It starts raining and I spot the world’s largest cockroach and a remarkably thin rat.  K77 recommend you bring earplugs because the mosque is next door, but we have to get up before the muezzin calls to prayer.

 

With our guide at 10:00 we began to walk past rice fields, where Emma and Alex scared the birds away by rattling old cans and plastic bottles attached to lines.

We also passed pumpkins, tomatoes, sugarcane, cocoa, lemon trees and rubber trees where they were collecting the rubber in coconut shells with dry leaves. Soon we came to a beach where there was a hot spring and a rock to jump off. We were told the heat was caused by a volcano. within 2 minutes Alex found a small dog who was afraid of water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn-mRmrPB_o?rel=0

After about an hour swimming we walked to a bigger part of the river where we tubed down. The dog overcame its fear of water just to follow us as far as it could but soon the current took us far away from the dog. Alex was very sad when he had to say good bye to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owCe0gejNtk?rel=0

Emma gets stuck once and we soon land near a little stream.  We walk up it and lunch is waiting for us in a little pond area with a waterfall.  Lunch includes heart of the banana plant stewed in coconut milk which is delectable.

The rocks here are really soft and you can write on them or rub them together to make them stick.  You can stand under the waterfall and have a shower.  We all get our hair washed with simpur fruit (this is the local name).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNzzBRZJ4-k?rel=0

There are little fish as well and the guide makes Alex and Emma a crown.  Alex thinks he is King Julian the 1st.

 

We continue tubing through some fast bits of the river and finally park next to the plantation.  Jane and Alex got stuck somewhere up river, and turn up a few minutes later.  Gerd runs aground a few times.

The tubes are stored on a big pile and will be picked up by motorbike later.  We walk back through the palm plantation after many offers of motorbike transport.  This plantation is village owned.  We saw loads of chickens, goats and Laurie said there were some pigs as well, since the village is half christian – half muslim.  Just after we arrive in the village it starts raining and we spot a snake in the bamboo!

The restaurant is basically a tiled floor with a roof, a bar and lighting.  The lighting will turn off occasionally, especially when there is thunder and lighting or when it rains hard.  The standard cry when the power fails is “Welcome to the Jungle!”.  Sometimes repeated many times on a night.

The staff are super friendly and Alex seems to be very popular.  Alex spends quite some time stroking the cat.  The staff do card tricks and spend a lot of time playing old songs on the guitar.

 

There are families from the Netherlands, England, Spain and Germany.  Most people started in Sumatra and will continue to the Lake Toba.