Traveling with kids in Yogjarkarta

Our latest trip was a two hour flight from Singapore on Air Asia to the city of Yogjarkarta (aka Jogjakarta) Indonesia. For short those in the know call it Jogja.


Pool at the Sheraton



We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel and loved it. The room was pretty spacious (big enough for a roll away bed) had a nice little deck overlooking the pool and the pool itself was frankly amazing.





The trips to the temples themselves are going to be posts for a later time, but they are amazing works of art. UNESCO has listed them both as world heritage sites and while they are fascinating for adults, I was a bit worried that the kids would be board. In order to try to offset this potential, we got the kids cameras. Probably the best move yet. For about 99 Sing dollars each we outfitted the kids with 9 megapixel Fuji point and shoot cameras. Let me just say that the cameras were used to the full extent of the trip.












Making of Indonesian Shadow Puppets in the Kraton












Highlights of the kids trip included a tour of the Kraton. The kids and Jeff were able to tour portions of the Sultan's home and the surrounding Kampong village. The also were able to visit the bird market and view all of the odd and unusual creatures. The kids also road on one of the horse drawn carriages around the city for a 15 minute tour to nowhere. The kids both say this was a total blast!




Bird Market












Another highlight of the trip was probably the discovery of Ayam Goreng (Fried Chicken) Jogja style. We ate at a few places, but the Suharti was the best. The staff's English skills were a bit lacking, but the menu had English and we mostly got what we ordered, which was the Fried Chicken and two bowls of chicken soup. We didn't get the veggies, but hey who needs that anyway? The link above was from one of my all time favorite food writers in Asia. Robin Eckhardt from Eating Asia. I have yet to have a bad meal if Eating Asia reviewed it! Our kids also found the Sasanti Restaurant to have amazing food, great decor, wonderful staff and even appreciation for a certain little girl who turned 7 that day. All and all we would definitely hit both places again.

The city was fun, easy to get around, inexpensive and close to Singapore. When you combine that with tasty food, cheap beer and places to tour again and again, I am sure we will be back again.