Jogja-Solo, One Millionaire Trip

YES! This is the moment that I have been waiting for long. Time to fly, time to walk away from hassle life. Woke up at 3am because our flight is 6.55am. We need to reach there one and half hour earlier.

Day 1 ~ 26.07.07 (Thursday)
The Boarding…
Haha, a very beautiful opening for our trip to Borobudur. Our departure…an unforgettable one. Everyone felt like so relax, nobody worried about the time for boarding. 6.30am, some of the members were still enjoying breakfast in Mc D.

“Attention please, calling for Gate T1, flight AK 996, Mr Chan Chee Ming, Ms Er Chin Chin, Mr Hoh Cheng Meng, Ms Lee Kah Nyee, Ms Lee Lei Kuen, Mr Leong Cheng Leng, Ms Pang Fui Chin, Ms Shirley Cheong Yen Ling, Mr Teh Sin Wei and Ms Yeo Chooi Tsien, please…”

We were so puzzled when heard about the calling of our name. Looking at our watch, opps, it’s almost time for the flight to depart. All passengers in the plane were waiting for us. While rushing for boarding, the scanning for our small backpacks was slow, that had made each of us so excited.

We would be the cause of delay for the flight. The flight could have just left us behind but all of us on board safely for our Borobudur…cheers! You know, being the last 10 persons to get into the flight, we were ushered by the stewardesses, feeling ourselves like VIP…no kidding! Ho ho ho…but no next time, please!

Welcome to Solo…
825am, we reached Solo airport. Time difference for Solo and Malaysia is one hour. Emm…I don’t know how is the check-in area look like for a small place. Solo airport appears to be a real simple one. Someone was waiting for us outside the airport. We were lined up for the loo coz the journey to Borobudur would take 1 to 1 ½ hours.

The journey to hotel…
We were traveling along the narrow kampong road with many paddy fields. Comfortable to see these greenish scenes rather than buildings…real eye washing for the dirt and dust in town!

Nap after nap, we were still looking forward for our destination today. The driver told us 1 to 1 ½ hours, why we were still on the road?

11.30am, finally we reached Manohara hotel after two-hour driving journey. Manohara hotel is the only hotel in Borobudur. So, you have no alternative but have to pay higher rate for the room (Double-bed Rp351,000, Twin-sharing Rp368,500).

Easing the hunger…
Ding dong ding dong almost an hour, Lyn Lyn, the head of the team, had helped us arranged today’s activity. The stomach was making noise now. Without second thought, our first meal in Borobudur – took place in Sunrise Corner Coffee Shop inside the hotel. Nasi Goreng Special (Rp21,500) and Sprite in bottle (Rp6,000). Emm…yummy yummy…the chicken was real kampong chicken, tan gar le wei!

Exploring…
After restored energy level, we started our exploring to Candi Borobudur. The temple will be closed at 6pm. Some members who made this trip purposely for photography could have asked more time to fill their hunger of photography.

Few of us who were not so much into photography, took very short time to explore the whole temple and we had more leisure time to take a rest in the cooling area of the temple. While waiting for other team members who would like to devour the whole temple into their camera, we were making fun around ourselves too. Ho ho ho…they had their fun, we had our fun! Every minute was worth to treasure, no time for boring.

I thought Ming Zai, Ton Ton, Tai Meng, Lyn Lyn and Ney-Ho could create a 3D Borobudur using those picture taken by them. No jokes, compared to their professional standard in taking photo, ours is baby-shooting la. Sure, they need more time to feel, to find their angle and inspiration…strictly no disturbing!

6pm, the sky became darker. We left the temple. Time to clean ourselves and time to fill the stomach again.

Dining…
Found out from the hotel staff, we walked to the nearby “warung” for local food. We tried fish, chicken, vege, potato at Padang Raya. Wow…the chili looked like so-so, but it was spicy hot! The vege appeared to be very raw but not at all and it was acceptable. The potato, my favourite!

The stomach was still left with some space. So, we tried kacang (Rp2,000 one packet) and chicken sate (10 sates Rp10,000) wrapped with banana leaf which reserved the traditional taste at the street mamak.. The kacang was lousy a bit, some cooked, some not. The sate tasted okay but fat meat could have spoiled your appetite if you never like fat meat.

Visual Audio…
We were entitled a free visual audio for Borobudur story prepared by the hotel. After watching the audio, it had made our visit to Borobudur more meaningful. With every carving on the stone of the wall of the temple, it carries different story and lesson to the human. The carving on the stone has become blurred day by day due to sun and rain. Without the help of audio, I don’t think you could know it’s the story about the king, the lion, the cat, the two-headed bird, and so on.

Oyasumi…
Mission completed for today. 10pm, time for bed. We need to wake up at 4am tomorrow for Borobudur sunrise which has cost us Rp102,500. We must rest well to catch the best sunrise tomorrow morning. Oyasumi…

To be continued…