Day 318- Yogyakarta, Indonesia

YOGYAKARTA, JAVA (15/11/09)

Having only seen a small amount of what appeared to be an extremely vibrant and interesting city we decided to spend the day exploring Yogyakarta. What better way to get around than by bicycle rickshaw? We had to hire two for the three of us but it gave us plenty of opportunity to laugh at each other in the rickshaws.

Rickshaws are not just for people.

Not only an inexpensive and ecologically sound way to get around, but great fun too.

We were dropped by the rickshaws at Kraton, the palace of the old Sultan of Yogyakarta. The palace was rather garish, but we spent an interesting hour looking around.

Also at the temple every Sunday is a traditional Indonesian dance which we watched for a short while.

As at Borobudur we were stopped in Kraton by a number of students hoping to practice their English on us. Once again we were happy to help and got talking to their teacher (on the far right) who invited us to visit their nearby school. We were delighted to accept the invitation and set off with our rickshaw riders in tow. Much to the girls' amusement Adam gave one of them a ride up the road in one of the rickshaws.

At the front of the Santa Maria Catholic Girls School, along with our enthusiastic guides.

Having had a tour of the school buildings we posed for a picture in the school yard with our new friends.

Part of the girls' English project was to collect the names, email addresses and signatures of the people that they had spoken to.

Having had a great time at the school we set off once again along the busy streets.

Pedal power cannot match petrol power but the rickshaw riders seemed entirely unfazed by being surrounded by mopeds- unlike Adam.

In the evening we took a short walk to visit a traditional Indonesian puppet show. Since we arrived early we were given a tour of the workshop where the puppets are still hand made using traditional methods.

The finished puppets are true works of art- a shame really that they are only intended to be viewed as shadows.

Accompanied by a narrative (in Javanese) and a traditional musical accompaniment the shadow puppets sprang into life- slowly at first before battling each other in dramatic style.

To enhance the experience visitors are allowed to walk around the other side of the screen. Here you can see the puppeteer some of the musicians in the foreground.