Showing posts with label Indonesia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indonesia. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Borobodur

Today we visited the very impressive Buddist temple Borobodur which is from the 9th century but was unearthed only in the 19th century, and drove up towards Mount Merapi to see where the lava flow destroyed a village only 3 years ago!

We had lunch at a restaurant along the way where every table is on an individual pavilion on a small lake, the fish there was so good we ordered a second, and when you are finished your fish you can throw the remains into the lake where the large lake fish eat it greedily! We could also take little bamboo rafts out on the the water which was good fun after eating.

It was raining heavily when we got back so Gyorgyi went off to finish the Batik painting course she started yesterday and we retired to our favourite cafe for cake and ice cream.

Fiona was over her high temperature yesterday but we took it easy, not to tire her out. She's fine today. And yesterday Briana was playing in the pool with some kids from the family that I guess own the hotel. They have enough English to communicate.

Tomorrow we will visit the Sultan's Palace in the morning and in the afternoon move to Solo and visit Prambanan along the way.

Friday, May 1, 2009

ATMs

The maximum amount most ATMs in Bali allow to withdraw is half a million Rupiah. That might sound a lot, but it ain't. Half a million works out at just 36 Euro. That gives some idea of the cost of living for the locals here, although it can create a bit of a headache if you want to withdraw enough money to pay hotel bills, otherwise they slap on an extra 3% credit card charge.

The biggest challenge is making mental calculations with an exchange rate of around 14500 Rupiah to a Euro. In the first day or two it's hard to know what you are paying for anything.