Java — Day 5 and 6 ...

After a 4:30am check-in, we slept immediately and stayed in bed until 8am. We were booked into an awesome place called, Rumah Mertua in Yogyakarta. (see my review on TripAdvisor here) The room was approximately Rp$400,000/night (NTD$1,000/CAN$38) which included a wonderful breakfast. The rooms were ridiculously clean, the beds extremely comfortable and the shower was hot and high pressured! Awesome!

The pool at Rumah Mertua

The hotel has a lovely pool and that is where we spent the day, drinking beer and snacking on delicious food. The weather was perfect for a day of pool shenanigans. We didn't accomplish much that day, expect for fun and relaxation. We also managed to book some tours to see some famous temples in the area.

We were in bed early to get a full night's rest as an alarm was set for 7am.  We were scheduled to visit the Prambanan temple. Entrance tickets: Rp$215,000 (NTD$520/CAN$20)

Day six started with a yummy breakfast. Every morning, this hotel gives the guests complimentary mixed fruits and fresh fruit juice along with local Indonesia snacks. Each day the juice was different. We had watermelon, guava, papaya and my favorite, Soursop. On top of this, guests can order one thing from a small menu and most days I had the banana pancake! Simply delish!

We hired a driver from the hotel for Rp$85,000/hour. He spoke English and told us quite a bit about the city and Mount Merapi. We could see the steaming volcano in the distance and the guide told us that it erupts every four years. The last eruption was in 2010 so the people of Yogyakarta are nervously awaiting the next one.

Looking back at the Prambanan temple after exiting

Prambanan itself is a very impressive Hindu temple; it's the largest in Indonesia and one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. While Prambanan is magnificent, within the complex, there is a more spectacular temple called Sewu. It is about a 1KM walk away from Prambanan and the walk may have been what deterred others from going over as Vernon and I had the whole place to ourselves! It was wonderful!

We returned to the hotel in time for lunch and to a new room. We were upgraded to a bigger room with a private outdoor patio. It suited us perfectly as it started pouring rain late afternoon and it continued into the evening. We enjoyed our first bit of rain in Indonesia from our patio with cold beers. Apparently February is the wettest month of the year yet we had fantastic weather!

Rumah Mertua offers spa services. Since it was raining, we treated ourselves to a ninety minute massage. (Rp$200,000/NTD$485/CAN$20)

After a late dinner, we retired early as an alarm was set for 3:30am. We were heading to see the sunrise at the famous Borobudur temple in the morning!