In Reply to: Honeymoon Follow-Up posted by nycbanker on Monday, 6. August 2007 at 20:45 Bali Time:
One week in Bali and one week in Yogyakarta, Java.
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In Yogyakarta you can see some of the best shadow puppet plays in Indonesia.
The Sultan's palace is well worth seeing and if you're lucky you may be there when there is a cultural festival at the palace.
Borobudur & Prambanan temples, both near Yogya, are amazing and not to be missed. I saw a beautiful evening Ramayana dance performance at Prambanan temple.
If you wish to see a live volcano then Mt Bromo is a day trip by bus from Yogya. You can arrive there in the early evening, next day climb the volcano in time for dawn, and return to Yogya same day. Either hire a horse ( i dont recommend this as the horses are gasping for breath in the sulphur fumes) or it's an easy walk across the caldera to the volcano. The vicinity of Mt bromo has some of the most spectacular rice terraces i've ever seen.
Best buy in Yogya has to be the silk hand-painted batik paintings.
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Bali
For one week in Bali i recommend 3 days in Seminyak, 3 days in Ubud, an overnight stay at Tirtagangga Water Palace. (Actually i could stay at Tirtagangga much longer but looking at a week in Bali here)
I liked the Harley Davison one day tour with ER Tours. Found it to be a very safe ride ( we were passengers) and it took us to Ulawatu Temple and to Jimbaran Bay for lunch and a swim. They also did a stop at Galleria shopping mall and if i did this tour again i'd ask them to leave out the mall.
Have heard the rice field walks in Ubud are wonderful and much can be learnt about the culture of Bali on these walks. Tickets for dance performances in the temples can be easily bought in Ubud.