Jogjakarta/Yogyakarta

I included both names in the title because this place can't seem to decide what to call itself.

It's also the first place in Indonesia we've been that can't seem to decide if it wants to be Indonesian or Western. A bit of a Saigon in the sense that it is a cultural mish-mash; plenty of local, traditional culture, but either hidden or dressed up and sold to Westerners for a price. And of course there are all the standard Western phenomena like massive, massive shopping malls. And yet, as well as taxis, horse and carts are the standard way for tourists to get anywhere. It all makes for a very confusing but exciting city.

We arrived from Gili late at night, headed for street food, and then settled into our slightly dingy hotel - Gabi and I shared the room that had the window, so it didn't feel exactly like we were trapped in a prison cell, which was nice.

Breakfast in hotels in Jogjakarta seems to consist solely of chocolate sandwiches. No, actually - chocolate sprinkles and bread toasted together in a toasted sandwich maker. It started off as a novelty but by the end we were sickened and forewent free breakfast in favour of paying for fruit and green tea somewhere else. There's only so long I could handle chocolate in a sandwich for.

That day, we booked all of our excursions for our few short days in Java, and then just hung around in cafes and shopping malls, getting a general feel of the city. We finally, finally, sent our postcards - I sent 18 in total which ended up costing a bit of an absurd amount of money, but never mind. You're all worth it, ha.

In the evening, we went to Prambanan temple (a Hindu temple) to see an outdoor performance of traditional Ramayana ballet. It was the first episode, where Sita is captured and Rama meets the ape prince. I vaguely remembered the story from my religious education at primary school, so was able to tell roughly who was who, because otherwise it wasn't exactly clear - the golden deer, for example, was difficult to distinguish when all of the 200 people on stage were wearing enough gold to satisfy even, like, 50 Cent. The dancing was obviously very different to traditional ballet but we enjoyed it very much, and spent some of the journey home making clever puns based around "ape" (japes, etc.).

The next morning we were awake absurdly early, at 4.30am, and headed off to Borobudur, an absolutely massive Buddhist temple about 40km from Jogjakarta. Our guide told us many really interesting stories about Buddha's youth which I already knew (class geek...) but were still interesting nonetheless. And it really is a fascinatingly beautiful place. The hordes of Indonesian schoolchildren were less fascinated by the temple itself and more fascinated by Charlotte, Gabi and I; we couldn't walk three steps without being asked for a photo opportunity. It ended up being really annoying but since they were children we felt bad being rude, so we spent a lot of our free half-hour post-tour being hugged by various small Indonesians rather than wandering around, finding Nirvana. Never mind, I found metaphorical Nirvana in Gili Air anyway.

After that, we went on to see Prambanan by the light of day which was really nice but we were pretty knackered by that point, so after wandering through a few of the temples that make up the complex, we showed our religious awe and appreciation by sacking it all off and going for chicken noodles.

We were pretty tired when we got back from the tour [a general theme of our busy, crazy, awesome Indonesian jaunt] but no rest because next day we were up to begin our long journey to Mt. Bromo, an active volcano.

After a 12-hour car journey, we reached our hotel, snatched a few hours of sleep in a tauntingly-comfortable bed, and then we were up and in our warmest clothes at 3.15am.

Yeah, 3.15am.

We walked 2km uphill (before breakfast, I might add) to the viewpoint, which was, to be fair, completely incredible and absolutely worth the minor trek. We watched the sunrise over Mt. Bromo, which began to erupt as we looked on. It was awesome. We were cold and tired and hungry, but we forgot all of that in the face of the incomparable view and the constantly-changing, always-vivid colours of the sky. At one point the brightest orange began to merge with the brightest blue, and it was better than any postcard.

After that, we headed to Bromo itself, and climbed up through the ash-dunes (like sand-dunes, but, you know, ash) and then up the ash-y side of Bromo itself. A difficult climb and a long one, but, once we got to the crater itself, again, completely worth it. We were actually on the edge of the crater, standing on it, as a volcano erupted ash. It was absolutely amazing and kind of incomprehensible that a)this was really considered safe? (it totally was though because I'm fine) and b)that we actually made it to the crater. The smoke was thick and there was ash covering our hair and clothing. We obviously took some photos, and then slid all the way down the ash dunes and made ash angels (because to be honest we were already covered in ash so may as well enjoy it...). This was a total highlight - this, the orangutans and my diving on Gili Air have contributed to the most incredible three weeks and confirmation that Indonesia is my favourite country on my travels, if I were forced to pick one.

Then we got back to the hotel, where a man leading a komodo dragon was just walking around. Standardly we each grabbed the lead and walked a dragon for a bit.

It wasn't even 9am. I'm forced to admit that if such a massive amount of amazing stuff can occur before 9 o'clock, I might well have to convert myself into a morning person.

(By the way, on our way out of breakfast, we saw the man slaughtering and gutting the poor komodo dragon that we'd walked only a few minutes before. I was traumatised and couldn't watch, Gabi, with all the fascination of a surgeon-to-be, was really interested. Poor dragon. In my head I'd named him Charles.)

It was then time for the journey back to Jogjakarta - twelve long hours, but we snagged the front seats in the minibus (thanks to our experience fighting for seats on the London Underground, I reckon) so at least there was ample legroom.

We got to Jogjakarta around 11 and crashed out, after showering to remove at least the first coating of ash from our hair. I can still feel it though, two shampoos later. I look like I have gone prematurely grey.

Today we packed up (I threw out half my bag to try and get it down to the weight limit for this absurd flight) and headed for juice and fruit, and then for some serious internet time.

We fly out of Jogjakarta at 6 and get into Jakarta about 7. Since our flight to Singapore leaves at 6am tomorrow, we have decided to leave our bags at the airport and go out clubbing all night - obviously the only sensible option. It will save us lots of money on a hostel and is a more-than-suitable way to celebrate our last night travelling as a three. It has been so lovely having Gabi along and I will miss her very much indeed.

Gabi stays in Singapore tomorrow whilst Char and I will continue to Bangkok, where we have two days of souvenir shopping and general readjustment before we fly to Sri Lanka for our last week of travelling.

With only ten days to go until I am back in London, my excitement levels are rising. I've been making lists of everything I want to do and see when I get back and all the things and people I have missed. As well as passing the time on long journeys, it is really nice to think of home knowing I will be back there soon.

But I am going to miss Indonesia so much. It is paradise and I will be back.

Missing you all, lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxx