Borobudur Town

After leaving Bali we spent a week and half in Java (4 nights in Borobudur, 4 nights in Yogyakarta). Borobudur town was a 1.5 hour drive from Yogyakarta airport. A quiet town, with hot and dry weather — we seemed to come at height of the dry season.

Drying racks of tofu balls

Our second day we were ready to explore on a moped. We toured a small tofu factory and were treated with some fried tofu balls that were being turned inside out to be dried and prepared as bagged snacks. This was next to a tobacco factory, with giant piles of shredded tobacco. The tobacco plants grow very well in the dry season, and were seen growing in fields all over. When dry season finishes, there are two seasons for growing rice. Throughout Indonesia it’s our experience that nearly every man smokes, women rarely.

Mountain of Tobacco

We skeptically joined a guided tour by horse carriage. The three of us played some simple gamelan in a music classroom, ate some local treats and learned more about the history of the region from our guide.

Outside Bali our food options have become more limited. Along streets you can see signs for warungs (the word for a small family restaurant or cafe in Indonesia) which prepare food for buffet style (or usually point-and-eat) items to eat usually with white rice. In Java, there were fewer non-spicy options. Asa’s spice tolerance has increased marginally, and Kanako can have a little bit, while my tolerance has increased a lot.

Still, we’ve remained very healthy, though the first morning in Borobudur Asa and Kanako toured the farm animals around the guest house — Asa had fun feeding the cows — but they soon fled after being attacked by fleas. The fleas were tenacious and left Kanako with a number of bites, Asa not so bad.