Thrilled by Yogyakarta

Personal Experience: 8/10 

Travel Period: 4D3N

Travel Mode, Time & Cost:r
Flight: Air Asia
Duration: 2 hr 45 mins
Return Cost: RM 426.50 / pax

Accommodation:

KJ Hotel - Family Suite (Fits 4)
Cost: RM 280/ night
Remarks: Spacious, clean and close to Parangtritis Street (Bars, cafes, night club etc) but from the room, I barely hear any noise.
Rating: 8/10

Visa:

Malaysians - Eligible to travel visa-free.
You can check your visa requirements here: https://airasia.traveldoc.aero/

General Remarks:

1) Food and activities are really worthy but you will need a good driver aka guide as attractions are mostly away from town.

2) GRAB to places close to town (i.e Malioboro St) - 10-15 mins drive for approximately 20k IDR.

3) Here's my highly recommended guide: Pak Koko [IG: cocorico1605, +62 877-3885-5929] is an attentive and professional guide. Would love to give him a shoutout for the awesome service.

4) Airport transfer is approximately 100k/way.

Exchange Rate as of September 2018: RM 2.80 ~ 10,000 IDR.

Activities (Recommended in Bold):

1) Sandboarding @ Gumuk Pasir Parangkusumo
Transport:  IDR 150k from hotel/car
Activity: IDR 100k/board (You are only required to pay rental for the board)

2-days transport with the following activities is IDR 1.36 mil per person:-

2) Goa Jomblang

3) Cave Tubing @ Goa Pindul - Not recommended (Perhaps you can opt for Kalisuci instead)

4) Hutan Pinus Pengger

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5) Mount Merapi - We got a great guide that brought us to many good spot for pictures!
Activity: Additional 400k for one jeep rental that fits 4.

6) Punthuk Setumbu

7) Chicken Church - Not recommended (Opt for other activities nearby instead)

8) Borobudur - Perfect for photos in the evening and with some help from the expert(friendly security guards) nearby!

List of local food worth trying (Recommended - Bold):

1) Nasi Gudeg Yu Djum - A bit on the sweet side which doesn't seem like a proper meal for my taste buds.

2) Sate - Loved the sate from Dapur El near my hotel.

3) Fried chicken in any other place- I believe this will be acceptable by everyone. Just ask them to keep the sambal/chillies aside.

4) Bakpia (Green bean paste/other flavours pastry) - This is like Malaysian version of biskut tambun. Worth trying! (A box of 20 - IDR 50K)

5) Kue Bandung - The amount of cheese, margarine and chocolate in this... I witnessed it with my own eyes. I was afraid that it will be awfully sweet but the taste was surprisingly sinful great. Our guide especially drove us here to grab this cause he said it is a very famous. (One pan with cheese, peanut and chocolate - IDR 70K)

6) Traditional delicacies @ Malioboro Street

In Malaysia, we call the green ones onde-onde but at Yogyakarta, it is known as Kelepon. Instead, the brown one is known as onde-onde.

I forgot what is this called but generally, if you see someone having a small pan over charcoal frying egg with meat floss and onion, it is most probably it.

7) J-Co Cafe - Feel free to order the doughnuts but NEVER EVER ORDER THE AVOCADO CAFFE. It's so damn sweet that 4 of us could not finish one cup of drink.

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience in Yogyakarta. It was an exhausting trip given we had to wake up early as we were there for a short period of time but overall, the experience was overwhelming. 

If we were meant to stay in one place, we should have roots instead of feet.