The need to take off

Not counting the weekend at Bintan, we have not taken a real holiday since returning from Romania. And it has been even longer since we took a proper holiday which was not prepackaged or organized by others. I think the last one was Bali or perhaps the Bangkok trip, which was, of course the most adventurous. The Bali trip, while we had a say to the places we wanted to visit, still was not as much DIY as we would have wished. The Bangkok trip was over 5 years ago. Maybe the triip to Auckland would count in some senses... Anyway, a few proper DIY trips are in order

 

I have been poring over lonely planet guidebooks and the internet and trying to find hotels, sights, sounds and trying to get an over all sense of Yogyakarta. Am really looking forward to the trip. It will be different, since we have the kids... but we have been talking to them a fair bit.

 

Sophia is dissappointed that we are not going to see the orangutans. Dr Birute is still the unsung hero of her dreams. And her favorite game is still to ask me to be Dr Biyute and herself to be the baby Oyangutan. And her favorite wuestion is "When we go to see the Oyangutans, how many years I will be?"

 

But the volcanoes of Yogyakarta and the temples of Borobudur are bound to mesmerize and fascinate. The guidebook has been loaded into the kindle and I guess everything is in order. I have spoken to the girls about the bird market and Sophia wants to buy chickens (we are putting it on hold, but not the visit)

 

This is probably the first temple/ culture oriented holiday that the kids are taking, if we donot count the transylvanian trip that we did in Romania when Anjali was a year old. Husband is into nature, and we have tended to go for forest/ beach trips, landing ijn one place and exploring there for a few days has been the general norm of things.

 

There is going to be a significant amount of nature in this trip too - we are planning to cover Dieng and Merapi, so it should be an all rounded one.