Good luck with your credit card.

Hi Kathie,

Hope you and Cheryl have a wonderful trip. The only place we will be traveling in the next month is to NJ for Thanksgiving. No TR for that. lol

I'll be watching for your overseas notes and traveling vicariously with you. Safe travels.

Have a great trip Kathie & Cheryl.

Happy and safe travel, you two. Look forward to hearing about how it all plays out -- and hoping you love Yogya (and the Phoenix) as much as we did!

Have a great trip, Kathie! We are off to Hong Kong and Macaulay on Friday. I look forward to reading your reports from Java.

Not Macaulay - I meant Macau! Dumb autocorrect!

Have a safe trip!

Greetings Kathie and best wishes for joyous times in our fine home of Singapore (and Java).

Suspect you have your Singapore lodgings sorted, but if not, will give a promotion to my old SIN business travel locale, the Four Seasons. If nothing else, swing by for tea, drinks or dining; some special staff and friends at that property.

Good flights to you. (You'll be back in Asia before me; I'm in SF Bay Area this week for work, before eventually flying back home to SIN via HKG and BKK.)

Have fun and a good week to you and all,

macintosh (robert)


... Singapore Airlines, You're a Great Way to Fly ...

Thanks to all of you for your good wishes. I loved central Java last time I was there and I've looked forward to returning. And I'm looking forward to being able to explore eastern Java.

AO, We decided to stay at the IC in Singapore. I've never stayed there, but it gets recommendations from a number of Fodorites.

Happy trails, Kathie! Look forward to reading all about your travels. We leave on Thanksgiving Day for Burma and HK, back on 12/22. Many thanks for all your help in organizing it.

have a fantastic time--you will for sure..

i have no doubt that C will take fantastic pics as usual..

what did you buy for computers??

Have a great time, hope you like Gardens by the bay!
Looking forward to hearing all about it!

PS like you we are shortly about to depart for our annual winter break, however for the first time in ages we are not going east......, Be weird not to be landing in BKK this winter but looking forward to the delights of California non the less!!!

Anyway, Java is on my watch list SO be very interested in your reports ( including the weather!) safe journey.

Kathie and Cheryl - have a wonderful trip. Looking forward to hearing all about Java. Hope all of your flight connections go smoothly - business class all the way?

Kathie & Cheryl

Have a wonderful and safe trip!
Looking forward as always to your in depth analysis and Cheryl's stellar pictures.

Aloha!

Kathie; I wrote to Wiedty and made it clear that he is to give you the same guide services or more than he provided me the two times we sent touring with him. I am seeing him in Bali for 1.5 days before I go on a liveaboard on Dec.7-8 and would like your feedback. Others who have used his services have been quite pleased. But you are are a pro travelers so your point if view would be interesting.

Bon voyage - Here's to a safe, fabulous trip!

Bob, we bought apple laptops - Cheryl bought a MacBook Pro with retina display for her photo editing, I bought the smallest MacBook Air.

Smeagol, we are looking forward to the Gardens by the Bay,

Craig, Business Class all the way to Singapore and back. We decided economy was fine for the short hop on Silk Air to Solo and back from Surabaya.

Cheryl has a new camera this year and is eager to take thousands of photos (don't worry - she won't post them all).

Stan, our correspondence with Wiedy has been lovely. He did get us discounts at two of our three hotels in Java. We are very much looking forward to meeting him. I will give a full report upon our return.

Thanks to all of you for your good wishes. It's time to think about packing.

Enjoy your trip and I am looking forward to Cheryl's pictures...

Enjoy your trip Kathie! An apple laptop sounds lovely - very jealous!

Looking forward to your trip report and Cheryl's pics!

Safe travels, Kathie and Cheryl, and have a wonderful trip. Cannot wait to read about your travels. Will you be visiting Borobudur?

Kathie - tell Cheryl that's an excellent choice. The Apple Retina is my all time favourite so far, so light, on almost instantly and brilliant display! Enjoy your "Air"as well but no match for the retina imo.

Bon Voyage!

Yes, tripplanner, we plan to visit Borobudor as well as many Hindu temples. We are, as you have no doubt figured out, temple fanatics.

Hanuman, no, the Air is no match for the retina, but it's perfect for my purposes (writing) and sooo light. Cheryl loves converting to being an Apple person after all of those years of running networks of pcs.

Happy travels, Kathie and Cheryl. I look forward to reading your thoughts on the trip and to seeing Cheryl's photos. No trips to Asia for me this Fall but, on the bright side, some of us Massachusetts folks not only just re-elected a President, we are sending Senator Warren to DC. (Nobody tell Bob.) Lots to celebrate here while we read the reports of all you Fodorites abroad.

Bon Voyage!

Have a terrific trip. I've been hoping to return to Java and will look forward to your report and Cheryl's photos.

I'm obsessed with my 11" Macbook Air. Greatest travel computer ever!

Kathie; Don't be hestitant to ask Wiedy to take you any where you are interested in going. If you decided to visit Solo, not my first choice to spend 4 hours with travel, do go to Katon Temple and I already mentioned I think the batik made by the wax process.
In the big mall in Yogja. if you are in to very high end eyeglass frames i.e, Prada, Tiffany, they are last years models for 50% of US price fix prices, even though many are gold. I found a great pair and yes, they are genuine as attested to here in the US. There are 4-5 of these stores on the first floor of the mall mostly on the main drag side.
Really Enjoy.

Marya, thanks to Massachusetts for electing Elizabeth Warren. My birthday was the day after the elections and I thought the election results were quite a nice birthday present

I'm glad to hear you love your Macbook Air, crosscheck. I've only had mine a week or so, so haven't fully bonded with it yet. This will be our bonding trip.

Stan, I've already corresponded with Wiedy about places I want to go. He has been most accommodating. I'm sure we will have a marvelous time. It's a long drive, but we plan to go to Candi Sukuh way out past Solo, as well as to do some batik shopping in Solo. Cheryl may look at eyeglass frames in Yogya.

Here, here!! I'm proud to say that I played a role, albeit a small one, in last Tuesday's results, including the election of Elizabeth Warren. And a happy belated birthday to you too, Kathie.

Hello everyone,

We are in Yogyakarta and settled into our suite at the Phoenix. Lovely place! Our flights were fine and we much appreciated the lay-flat seats on our Narita to Singapore flight. Someday, the Seattle to Narita flight will get those seats!

I planned to do a quick update from the RCC at Narita, but the internet connection was glacial so I gave up.

From push-back at the gate in Seattle to landing at SIngapore was 20 hours +, so we were much relieved to make it to our room at the Crowne Plaza Changi - right in terminal 3. It was pricey, but I wanted a comfortable bed (the beds in the transit hotel are pretty hard) and I wanted to take a long shower and dry off with a nice thick towel (the towels at the transit hotel are thin, thin, thin). So the Crowne Plaza furnished those things quite nicely. We both got about 5 hours of sleep before our wake-up call for our Silk Air flight to Solo City.

Silk Air normally allows one suitcase per passenger, weighing up to 20 kg. If you are a star alliance gold, they double your baggage allowance, which we much appreciate

Wiedy met us at the airport, and we had a long conversation with him on our way to the Phoenix. Traffic was heavy and slow (this is a four-day holiday). Wiedy is exceptionally knowledgeable and we enjoyed talking with him. We settled up with Wiedy (he asked us to bring US dollars). I should note that there is no ATM at the Solo airport, but there is an exchange window. Wiedy told the woman at the exchange window that we wouldn't accept anything less than 9000 IDR per US dollar, and she gave us 9300 per dollar.

We are relaxing and catching up with things this afternoon, tomorrow we have a driver to Borobudur and the Dieng Plateau picking us up at 5:00 am.

Following along...

Kathie, glad to hear that you and Cheryl had a rather smooth journey. I cannot wait to hear about Borobudur and some of the other places you'll be visiting. I've never been, but it's on my list of places.

Good to hear that you are off to a great start on this years adventure. Keep us tuned in when you can and enjoy your trip. Aloha to Cheryl!

5am.....hope there aren't too many of those

Aloha!

Enjoy the sunrise at Borobudur Kathie & Cheryl.

Glad you two arrived safely and are settling in. It's so nice to finally get somewhere after all of the planning. From the e-mails, both of us were kind of on a revolving door planning schedule for a while. LOL!

As for the 11-inch, MacBook Air, I bought the same one during the summer. I need it for work occasionally and I also figured I'd better take it to S.E.Asia since I'll be gone for over a month. It'll be cheaper than only phone calls and more convenient than internet cafes although I really don't want to travel with a computer. But, at least it's small enough to toss into my handbag. It will also be useful on trips to Paris as trying to do flight confirmations by phone is a real pain there.

I'm still getting used to the Air though and haven't totally figured it out as I haven't needed to use it a lot yet. I use my regular, white, 13-inch MacBook daily which I've had since 2008. They don't make the white ones anymore. The new Air is a bit different from my 2008 MacBook and I tend to get a bit frustrated when using it.

Keep having fun!

Happy Travels!

So glad you made it without incident, I'll be following along.

Happy belated birthday greetings! I'm happy to hear you've landed safely and things are going well. You must be jet lagged ... 20+ hours is a long flight. I haven't been to Java so I'm looking forward to reading about your experiences as well as seeing Cheryl's photos when you return. The MacBook Pro is an excellent choice and she'll love the photo editing features. I have the first Mac laptop as well as the first Mac desktop model .... both kinda old now but still in working order even though they're rather slow. lol (yes ... I'm a Mackie. And no ... I don't use them anymore.) Have a wonderful trip!

I look forward to hearing that you were as impressed as we were with the beauty in the last 40 minutes before the Plateau was as impressive to you as it was to us. The Plateau itself is just o.k. it's that last 40 minutes of farming that took our breath away.
I assume Wiedy took you to the cattle market where the women handle all the business aspects and the men just do all the heavy lifting. We stopped fr lunch in a place where a complete lunch for 3 cost me $9US as a recall. All Wiedy eat was a fried rice, I think to not impose.
Was I correct about his knowledge about Bobodurur?

Good luck on your travel. Do not forget to enjoy and cherish every minute of your trip. You both enjoy

Happy birthday Kathie (belated) to another Nov 7 gal! BillT is also a Nov 7, but I believe he and Olive are busy busy busy in Bangkok right now.

When checking flights ORD-BKK, I always try to avoid the SEA routing because of the old style 777 rather than lie-flat seats. The DO make the journey so much more do-able!! Hope you get them from SEA-NRT soon.

Following along with your travels. Have a lovely time!
Carol

Guenmai, I use the Air constantly now, not just for travel. I am getting a larger one as my primary computer. On planes, iPad users are very envious.

Crosscheck: What's driving me batty is using two fingers to scroll the page up and down and then two fingers to make the page wider or narrower, I think it is. I like my 2008 MacBook where I don't have those features. And I haven't figured out the Pages program yet that I had programmed on the new Air. Pages is quite straight forward on my 2008 MacBook.

Happy Travels!

Thanks for your good wished everyone.

We had a long day yesterday. Out at 5 am back a little after 6 pm due to terrible traffic. We were exhausted by the time we got back.

Unfortunately, Wiedy was not able to guide us, as the World Bank was coming to visit his classes. It seemed to me that was much more important than guiding us. He is hoping their visit will result in a grant.

Our driver, Pre, picked us up promptly at 5 am. Cloudy morning, so no spectacular sunrise, but the soft morning light was perfect for photography. Wiedy set up the "best" guide for us at Borobudur and he was excellent, indeed. He grew up in the old village at the foot of Borobudur and played hide and seek there as a child. He was able to tell us much of the modern history (moving he village away from Borobudur, restorations, damage form quakes and Merapi's eruption and subsequent restoration, etc) as well as the ancient history. Borobudur is about 200 years older than Angkor Wat.

After a couple of hours at Borobudur, we headed for the Dieng Plateau. More details in my report, but this was a place much, much changed from my previous visit. So many more visitors there (many were Indonesian, as this was a holiday), other were Japanese. We were the only westerners we saw. Also it was sunny while we were at Dieng, which was so different than the mist-shrouded visit last time. As Stan noted, one of the best things about visiting the Dieng Plateau is driving though the agricultural land, with the incredible terracing - gorgeous drive!

We had a lovely visit at Candi Mendut.

Cheryl is, of course, getting wonderful photos. A mere 600 or so yesterday.

This afternoon we are visiting Prambanan before dinner in Solo and seeing the Ramayana Ballet at Prambanan tonight.

Yipes! more typos than usual. Let me blame the jet lag.

I didn't notice any typos. But, then again it's 2:00AM. LOL! I'm such a night owl. So, it's great that you two are having great tours and that Cheryl is getting wonderful photos.

Oh, by the way, what kind of adapter plug do you have for the MacBook Air so that you can plug it in to recharge it? I need to get one for BKK and Singapore, but only have a two-prong, rounded adapter plug for France.

Take care and keep having a ball.

Happy Travels!

great start...

we walked around in Vientiane this afternoon and quite like this place.

I am pleased youyou are having a great time with Wiedy Antara and a member of his team. He usually tries to stay with the people I have recommended to him but this may have been quite important.
When do you leave the Central Java area? If you have time I would want you to see the small villages I referred to for they are interesting also if you are not tired of Temples we missed a smaller third temple that some people say is worth visiting.
Happy Traveling!

Cannot wait to hear more and also see the pics.

Guenmai, I think your two round prong (small size) will work in BKK... my hotel has sockets that fit USA style plugs as well. In SIN I think you need the big 3-prong plug. This one is like the biggest one for sale... lots bigger, and with 'fatter' prongs, than our own USA 3-prong plug.

Kathie, your trip sounds great! Can't wait to see pics.

Thanks Carol. I'll take the European one and hope that it works. I'll also contact the owners of the apartments that I'm renting to ask what type of sockets they have.

Happy Travels!

Yes, we are using a two round prong (European-type) adapter here. We have both a small adapter as well as a large universal adapter.

Stan, we are never tired of temples. Yesterday we went to Prambanan. The sky was threatening, but it only sprinkled on us. The stormy skies meant it was not as hot, which was nice. In the evening, we went to the Ramayana Ballet. I'm glad we had been immersed in The Ramayana in Seattle in the last months, having seen Ramayana paintings at the SEattle Asian Art Museum and Ramayana, the play, at ACT Theatre in Seattle.

The Ramayana Ballet out at the Prambanan complex is simply spectacular! The live gamelan orchestra, the incredible costumes, the remarkable dancer! Cheryl look about a thousand photos (1600 total yesterday).

Even with all of the time we had, we still had to skip some temples in the area.

We had a very special dinner in a village near the temples, in a restaurant just above the river. We had fresh grilled gourami and it was wonderful.

We are soon off to our full day of touring today.

Sounds like a great time. I absolutely love gamelan music. When I was on Bali, I could hear it playing in the background daily, somewhere in my neighborhood. It's such a relaxing sound.

As for the MacBook plugs, I just came home from the Apple store and bought the international plug kit. Now, I just have to figure out how to put them together as there are no instructions and since I didn't grow up playing with Lego toys, this might take some time. LOL!

Take care

Happy Travels!

How many more days, if any in Java, and what are your plans? Maybe I could suggest one or two placesI did not mention. On two trips we spent a total of 5.5 days in Central Java. Did Wiedy take you to the small villages where the locals make flour from a type of palm tree and tofu for sale to hotels and markets. There is a famous Indonesian painter, Sony Santosa, who we visited, and I bought 2 painting from and he just painted thirdfor me coming soon but his pices are high, $500-$1500 (after negotiations, you can get 25% less than he asks) primarily because of his reputation. He sells them at the Aman resort for three times the prie. I checked one time I was there. They are large 25x30 and up and his interpretation of the reliefs at Boboburur. He polls them in a tun and puts a rope on it and I carried it on myshoulder. But as I said they are not cheap but he is a master artist. His studio is 45-50 minutes from the Phoenix.

Hi Stan, today is our last day in central Java. Yesterday we went to Solo and out to Candi Sukuh. It was a fine day. There is so much to do and see here, that I have quite a list of things I'm sorry we didn't have time for.

There is a famous gallery here in town that I shopped at last time I was here - bought a couple thousand dollars worth of things. Last time I had a lovely connection with the wife of the gallery owner, and I wanted to visit her this time. Wiedy told me the place was still open, though the owner died a few years ago, and it was now being run by the wife and son. We stopped by, and the wife was there, apparently a rarity, as she is mostly leaving the day to day running to her son. She remembered me and we had a nice talk. The gallery still had some old crafts, but not as many. It did have very high quality batik at reasonable prices, so I bought some as gifts for friends. We went out to dinner with Wiedy, his wife, his daughter and our driver to an excellent Indonesian place not too far from the hotel. Over dinner, I told Wiedy about our stop at Sapto, and he was stunned that I knew the Gallery owner. He said he had been a guide in town for 23 years and had never met her!

Wiedy's meeting with the World bank people went well, and he is hopeful of a grant for his work teaching English and tourism skills to people in his village.

We will have some time to walk and perhaps shop in the city today. I'm looking forward to a more leisurely day.

Kathie; What is the name of the craft shop and the address. Does the owner have any 18th or 19th C antiques. I ask because we may pass through the Jogja/Solo area in Dec.2013-Feb. 2014 to commision one last painting from Sony if this third one is first rate prior to doing another livaboard in the Raja Ampat Islands if this trip starting in 3 weeks is really thatgreat.
I am pleased you were satisfied with Wiedy as a guide. Another day would have not been for naught but maybe in a few years on your way going elsehere.

Here is the Gallery info: Saptohoedojo, Jl. Solo Km.9 Maguwo It is open daily 7 am - 10 pm.

They still had a few prime pieces, but nothing like before. There is a funerary figure made from Chinese coins that is quite unusual, for instance.

We have just returned from the Maliboro Mall, where Cheryl bought some of the local coffee to bring home. I would like to find some vanilla beans, but I think that will wait until our next stop. Sometimes I can find them, sometimes not. Also picked up another book on Borobudur, adding to our vast collection on Buddhist arts.

Kathie; Did the owner know how old the funer was really was. Did Cheryl take a photo of it and if you possibly know how much she was asking for the pice?
I ask all the question because I collect Chinrese, Thai (got then out in the 1970's before the ban), Malaysian and Indonesian antiques from 16C=19C and might ask wiedy to purchase it for me if it's not to delicate to handle. Thanks.

Wow Stan not one post without mentioning "Wiedy"!

He is that nice a person that he would drive toi Solo and even take the picture if Kathie indicates it is 17-19CC and well priced for a nominal sum. That's just the typse of person he is. If you met him I think you would agree. Ask Kathie and Cheryl. On Lonely Planet I have receivd probably 15+ thank you's for referring travelers and I do not get a dime. There are 5-6 guides around the world we have used thatare really class acts.

Hi Kathie, too late I expect, but I got a huge bag of vanilla beans at the fresh market, just off Malioboro not far from the mall. A big bag was about $15 but the quality wasn't the good. The best I've seen so far was up around Kelumutu on Flores.

Hi Kathie, I've been following along with interest. Glad that Java hasn't disappointed. Question, though, can you bring vanilla beans into the U.S.? They're so picky about produce.

Kathie, So happy that you're having a a wonderful trip! Java is now on my list. Haven't been to Indonesia since Bali in the 80s. How touristy is it?

Guenmai, I have taken my Macbook Air all over the world using an travel plug set (not the universal - that intimidates me!) plus a small power strip from Radio Shack that allows you to charge multiple devices.

Stan, Sorry, I id not ask the age of the funerary figure. The shop is on the Yogya-Solo highway, but is in Yogya. I'm sure it would be easy for Wiedy to take photo for you. The price is in the $2000-$3000 range.

Michael, thanks for that info on vanilla beans. I plan to look at the market here in Malang.

marmot, I've brought vanilla beans into the US many, many times without a problem. The beans do need to be cured, of course, but customs agents have always allowed them.

Crosscheck, I would not call Java touristy at all. We saw a couple of westerners at Borobudor, a small group at Prambanan, none at the DIeng Plateau, only a couple at the Ramayana. As it was a long holiday, we saw lots of Indonesian visitors everywhere.

Yesterday was our lost day. The train ride turned out to be a mistake- a cyclone in Jakarta delayed the train, then something was not right with the train, as it was very slow - took ana hour and a half longer than usual, and the AC was barely working. It was a long, uncomfortable day, but at last we arrived at the Tugu in Malang and it is just heaven.

Kathie; Before I ask Wiedy to drive 90 minutes RT to take a couple of pictures of the funerary figarery figury what did you think of the pice? Was is a quality piece. About how large was it and did you bargain with the shop owner on the items you bought and on average how much did you get off her asking price. All of the above would really help me before I pay him to go to Solo to take 3-4 photos.
Thanks.

Stan, it is a very nice piece. I purchased a similar piece from her many years ago. We got a discount (not large, maybe 10%) on the overall purchase as we bought several thousand dollars worth of things. You could email the shop and ask if they can email a photo to you and tell you the dimensions. Again, the shop is not in Solo, it is in Yogya, so it would not be a long drive for Wiedy.

We are enjoying our time in Malang. The food here at the Tugu is excellent. We have the Tracinf the Kingdom package, which includes a lot of sightseeing as well as a special dinner (tonight) and three huors of spa each. We had a lovely breakfast by the pool, then started off our on tour of the temples around Malang. The guide they gave us was Anwar, and he was very good.

The hotel sent along water and some food for us. It was probably the best box lunch I've gotten from a hotel - lovely little fruit plates and nice, savory rolls from the Tugu bakery. I was thinking that the worst box lunches I ever had were all from Glenburn, the $600 a night place outside of Darjeeling.

I'm only giving you the barest outline of our trip... full details to come in my trip report and Cheryl's photos.

reading with interest..

stan--jack says hello

Hi Kathie, Finally catching up with you. Am busy traveling but have a slow day with wifi today.

Sounds like you two are having a great time, am looking forward to the TR.

Hi Bob, I haven't had time to catch up with where you and Karen are now. Not much time for the internet in our packed days.

Good to hear from you, Thursdays. Once I have some time, I want to read about what you are doing in South America. BTW, I brought along all of the ITNs I hadn't read for airplane reading and came across your letter about the trans-Siberian railway.

Today is our excursion to Blitar to see Panataran, the largest intact group of Majahapit temples. Anwar will guide us again today.

Despite my best efforts to build in relaxation time, it has been hard to come by.

Hi Kathie - I've had several letters in ITN lately. The Nov issue has a long letter on buying train tickets. That took several go-rounds with the editor!

Kathie; What I did not know was Wiedy is arranging all of your travels or most in Java. He emailed mailed me and asked if you were satisfied and I said from your comments yes but he did tell me about the train delay into Melang that he could not control but was upset about.How many more days in Java?

thursdays, I've been so busy I haven't gotten to the Nov issue yet.

Stan, Once we started working with Wiedy on our central Java arrangements, we turned over the rest of our hotel reservations to him. We have a package here at the Tugu in Malang that takes care of our sightseeing and other goodies. Yes, we were very happy with Wiedy's arrangements. Everyone from the man at the information desk at the train station to Wiedy apologized for our train delay. Obviously, none of them could do anything about it, it's just one of the hazards of travel. We have two more nights here in Malang then one night in Surabaya. By the way, Cheryl remembers that the Chinese funeray figure was $3000.

We are back from an absolutely fabulous trip to Blitar to see Panataran today. The temple group was exquisite. It's not as large a site as Prambanan, but the carvings are very fine. Also, the temples have not been toppled by earthquakes, so have less damage in many ways.

I have been very impressed with the temple restoration done by the Indonesian government. They have restored to UNESCO standards, marking any stone that is not original, and restoring only when the temple is at least 70% intact.

I will give full details in my report, but for those of you interested in off the tourist track temples, Panataran gets my highest recommendation.

Yesterday was our last full day in Malang. We finally had some time to rest and relax and have half a day of spa. Cheryl worked on her photos - wait until you see the Ramayana Ballet photos! I worked on my report a bit.

We have really enjoyed our time here at the Tugo - beautiful place, wonderful service.

After breakfast today we will have a driver take us to Surabaya.

I don't know if anyone is still following along or if you are all awaiting the unabridged version yet to come...

We were sad to leave the Tugu at Malang today. We had arranged a transfer to the Majapahit Hotel in Surabaya, and I was surprised to learn it was a part of our package - no extra charge for the 2 hour drive in a nice Toyota Innova.

The Majapahit is an old Sarkie Brothers hotel. I love old hotels and I think of myself as a collector of Sarkie Brothers hotels, having stayed at the E&O in Penang and the Strand in Rangoon. The Majapahit his long been on my list. It has not been a disappointment. The hotel is quite large, with rooms and suites arranged around courtyards. Everything looks to be original, restored to its original beauty and function - lovely old light fixtures, beautiful woodwork, black and white marble tile bathroom floor, big deep bathtub. We have a suite for which we are paying $152 a night including tax, service and breakfast.

We had a nice lunch at Indigo and have now settled into our suite.

Am just catching up, as I was in Australia and did not have the best connections.
Am looking forward to your trip report, Java sounds wonerful.

I am still following along Kathie. Look forward to your full report + Cheryl's photos!

Thanks, glad to hear someone is still reading.

We have had a delightful afternoon/evening at the Majapahit. We had a swim in the huge pool - Eks, note that it is probably Olympic-size, all 1.6 m deep, perfect for the lap-swimmer. We had a lovely dinner in Sarkies which specializes in Chinese-style seafood dishes.

The hotel is providing the transfer tomorrow to the airport in a hotel car for 210,000 rupiah, about $22. Everything - except wine - is so reasonably priced in Indonesia.

Hey Kathie, I'm still following you and enjoying your posts as well.

Hi Kathie, I'm still reading and enjoying your comments.

sounding great

I'm enjoying following your trip.

Still reading, and having loved the Tugu in Bali, hope to hear more about your stay at the Tugu in Malang...

Kathie; The shopkeeper qouted me $2600 for the funerary partially I think so Wiedy would bring folks like yhourselves there in the future. I countered with $2300USD and she accepted but I told her I did not want to pay more than $400-$500 DHL including insurance and delivery to my door. It is 8.1kg=17.6 lbs. Three years ago I had commissioned a 34lb. lava statue shipped and it cost about $800 for shipping 24kg. She thought she could get it for $400-450. If not Wiedy got a quote of $550 so it looks like one way or the other I will acquire it for about $2700+/-. Based on the 4 pictures it looks very attractive. The shopkeeper had evidence by the coins that it was 16th Century. I called Sotherby's who was hesistant to make a judgement from 2 clear pictures but said if it is 16thC it would be worth $15,000-$20,000 at auctiion. But if I get it I do not plan to sell it, for sure.

I forgot to thank you for the lead. Many..many thanks.

Kathie; Just for future reference how would you compary Wiedy and his tem to the guide from the hotel organized one in Melang. It gives me a different point of view from a world traveler.

Glad to hear that you are all still following along.

Stan, I'm glad I was able to give you the lead on this interesting piece of sculpture. Both Wiedy and the Tugu gave us absolutely seamless service in terms of our touring. I would give both high recommendations. One thing for future travelers to remember, Wiedy can get hotel discounts not only in the Yogya area but also elsewhere in Java. In my full report, I'll try to give the prices we originally reserved at and Wiedy's prices for comparison.

Craig, I will give lots more details about the Tugu in my trip report. The place is just wonderful - love all of the antiques - the suites are lovely, and the service was great. Suffice it to say that I recommend it highly. It's the kind of place I expect you and Jeane would love.

We are now in SIngapore, rather sad to leave the Majapahit (we had wonderful hotels in Java!) and we are now settled in at the Intercontinental. This hotel seems so huge after 10 days in Java. Also, the prices seem so high after Java.

A preview of things to come for those of you following this thread: Cheryl did something really interesting with her Ramayana Ballet photos:

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Av0s4ojDeE

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn8lfI6lWTo

Turn up your sound!

Glad to hear the Majaphit is still up to standard. I stayed there back when it was still part of the Oriental group and wondered if it had gone downhill since they left. I loved the art deco lobby with the much older style rooms.

Still following your thread. I really enjoyed Cheryl's videos .... great work! Thanks for posting the links. It must have been wonderful to watch and photograph the Ramayana ballet from such a vantage point. Looking forward to reading your trip report when you return.

Out and about today in Singapore. We each purchased a 2 day tourist pass, for S$26 each, S$10 of which is refundable.We went off on a wild goose chase looking for something out at Pasir Ris, only to find that it apparently exists only in cyberspace. We had lunch at Banana Leaf Apollo, as we were craving Indian food. The food was vey good. Then we seared for my favorite tea shop, located on Collier Quay. It was gone, but the shop keeper next door told us it was at City Hall interchange, B1. Eventually, we found it on B1 at Raffles Place.

Kathie, are the passes you're speaking about transportation passes or are they passes for sights?

Oh, my...Panataran, theTugu in Malang, the Majapahit in Surabaya...this sounds heavenly, Kathie. Thank you for the links to the Ramayana ballet performed at Prambanan. What a glorious treat on a dreary Monday morning in the chilly northeastern US. The exquisite costumes and incantatory gamelan music have given my morning a lift. Now to learn more about the story line...

Sorry, rtipplanner, I wasn't very clear. The passes are for the MRT - Singapore's very efficient, very clean air-conditioned subway system. We use the MRT as our primary mode of transport in SIngapore.

Marya, The Java trip was heavenly. Glad to hear that you enjoyed Cheryl's photos of the Ramayana. It is truly a spectacular production.

Our plan for today is to relax, have lunch at Les Amis Au Jardin and pack for our early morning flight home to rainy Seattle.

Kathie, thanks for the clarification. Singapore will also be a part of our trip to Asia in March, and it'll be our first time there, so I'm paying closer attention and jotting down notes.

Love the videos - content and technique! Safe flight home.

Very cool Youtube!

Wow, going home already....great photos/video of the ballet! Thanks again for sharing.

Glad you all enjoyed the Ramayana Ballet.

We are off to the airport in a few minutes.

Have a safe flight back, Kathie. I cannot wait to hear more about your trip.

Thanks.

Checking in from Narita. On our way in, the RCC was so crowded, it was hard to find a seat. And the internet connection was so slow we couldn't do anything online. A flight attendant on our SIN-NRT flight told us there are two other lounges we can use - an ANA lounge downstairs from Gate 42 and another lounge out in the 50s. We are in the ANA lounge now. BTW, the ANA restrooms have the high-end Toto toilets for connoisseurs of such.

Looking forward to getting home. We have both done a lot on our respective reports, so we hope to have everything posted within a few days.

Safe trip back to Seattle, Kathie. Your report has been great--and I look forward to seeing all Cheryl's photos!

Glad you made your way to the ANA lounge--which is far superior to the UA Club, IMHO. Do partake of the noodles and the sake bar!

We also prefer the ANA lounge at Narita...

Good to know about the ANA Lounge since we have only used that RCC.

Safe, comfortable remaining travels. Here's a reentry topic for you: Texas secession talk.

We are now home - exhausted, jet-lagged and happy.

Filmwill, we found the noodles, but missed the sake bar (that was probably a good thing). I guess I'm the only one who didn't know about the ANA lounge.

I hope to post the first entry in my trip report tomorrow. For now, We are opening mounds of mail, doing mounds of laundry and trying to stay awake until a reasonable time to go to bed so we can get back in this time zone quickly.

Looking forward to your report.

Welcome home. Settle in, relax and then do the report when you are ready.

Welcome home. Looking forward to the full report.

And another welcome home.