We thought “let’s go to Indonesia”. Easier said than done. Not the travel, of course, from Malaysia it’s just a hop skip and a jump. But Indonesia is vast, diverse, fascinating. So, how to choose where to go and what to see in the few days we had? We decided on Jogjakarta, and liked it very much.

What did we do? We visited stunning monuments, including the extraordinary Buddhist Borobodur, and the most beautiful Hindu temple in the world. We saw wonderful landscapes – startlingly emerald lawns and fields, result of rich volcanic soils and lots (and lots) of rain. We admired elegant, gracious Javanese palaces, Dutch colonial architecture, our confidently post-colonial hotel. We ate delicious, spicy food. We met charming people, and even, as English is not very widely spoken there, got to practice our Bahasa (Bahasa Malaysia is rather similar to Bahasa Indonesia. Phew).

What didn’t we do? Well, we missed the Royal Palace as it was closed (for repairs, said one person, for a major event, said another). We were taken around the outside, though, by a very entertaining gentleman, 85 years old with few teeth and even less English. And we decided against going to a “tourist destination with great nature landscape”, Suroloyo Peak. We were, er, a little put off, as “in order to reach the peak, the visitors must take the 286 steps and adrenaline-pumping stairs” the brochure explained. It would all be OK though, because “…once the visitors reach the top, their exhausted breath will be rewarded with the magnificent view and floating butterflies”.

We were rather disappointed to have missed Tweeting. The annual Bird Chirping Festival, that is, which took place in May. Apparently there were 2700 participants, and 27 sessions. Seven different sorts of local birds (rowo, murraybatu, kacer, cendet, murray, jalaksurren, cecakijo and anis merah, for those who recognise these things).  Only two varieties of imported birds, though, love birds and canaries. 

Ah well, another time, maybe. We saw enough to know that we’d like to visit Indonesia again. Which of course leads us back to choosing where to go. Volcanoes, beaches, rivers, cities or villages? Wildlife (Komodo dragons!)? Archaeology? Oh dear. In the words of Lewis Carroll’s White Rabbit: “So little time, so much to do”…