Borobudur was obviously the highlight. I shall leave that to last.
Other highlights – an active volcano, Merapi. Actually my fourth, the others being Ruapehu, Anak Krakatoa (seen from a ship) and Vesuvius.
I guess the biggest surprise for me was how green everything is. As Java is one of the most densely populated places on earth, I expected high-density living to be more obvious, but that wasn’t the case. Seen from the air, there are still trees everywhere (although thick tropical rainforest appears rare) and of course lots of ricefields.
Even in the city, many streets are tree-lined and gardens grow.
The city does not look poverty stricken or dusty or dirty – so toss out all those pre-conceived ideas – just pretty much like Malaysian towns, I suppose, except a little more unregulated perhaps. More motorbikes. And beca (pron. bay-cha) aka trishaw, and horse-drawn carts.
And the flags? It is coming up to the Presidential elections, so political flags were everywhere.
Interesting pictures Glenda, looks an attractive town and very clean. The mountain looks like one’s childhood pictures of mountains, a perfect cone. Full of tropical plants – one assumes people have their own food plants in their yards/gardens the same as they do in the Caribbean.