Yogyakarta

Last weekend I went to Yogyakarta, or Yogya as most people call it. Getting there from Jakarta is fairly simple as one can take the bus, the train or fly. I decided in favour of the train as I was told that the train ride is supposed to be very scenic... and I wasn't disappointed. The journey took about 7.5 hours and an executive class ticket costs around 300.000-350.000 rupiah.

Most people come to Yogya to see the famous Prambanan and Borobudur temples. They are definitely worth a visit, but since I had seen them before I skipped them this time. I had a more important reason to come to Yogya as close friend of mine was getting married there :) The wedding was just beautiful! They chose a traditional Joglo as the wedding venue and a lot of people wore colourful Javanese dresses. I also enjoyed meeting some old friends and making some new ones. This made the weekend pass incredibly fast and on Monday morning I was already back on the train to Jakarta, where the last week of my internship had started.

Prambanan temple

Borobudur temple

Work kept me busy during the week and on Friday was already my last day at Bosch. However, I didn't have to say goodbye to my colleagues yet as on Saturday we had a big family event with all employees. The day was filled with lots of games, door prizes (I got a new phone... yay!!), food and spending time with friends. What a great way to end my internship!

Pulau Seribu - Thousand Islands

It's been a while since my last post and I used the time to visit some beautiful places. One of them was Pulau Pari which belongs to Pulau Seribu, a group of islands just 1-2 hours by boat from Jakarta.

I went there with a bunch of people I met on facebook and the first time I actually met them was on a Saturday morning at 6am at Muara Angke port. From there we took the ferry to Pari Island (35.000rupiah), which took about 2 hours. Luckily one of the guys had been there before and he had arranged our accommodation in advance. Our group of 11 stayed at a nice little house only 10 meters from the sea (500.000rp/night for the 2 bedroom house). Unfortunately the little beach in front of the house was quite dirty as it was on the side of the island facing Jakarta. However, on the other side and only a five minute walk away was one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen so far. White sand, chrystal clear water and mangroves awaited us there and we spend the afternoon relaxing at the beach.

The next morning we rented a boat that took us to some nice sorkeling spots. We saw some corals and lots of small and colourful fish. Unfortunately we had to return to Pulau Pari too soon because the ferry back to Jakarta left at 12pm. It was quite sad to leave the island after just two days, but since the whole trip incl. accommodation, ferry tickets, snorkeling and food cost me about 250.000rp (less than 20 Euros!) I will definitaly come back to Pulau Seribu!