In Reply to: Yogyakarta Safe? posted by Foster_patton on Monday, 19. July 2004 at 08:30 Bali Time:
"Nice" and "Fun"? Give me a break. Jogja is basically another Indonesian dump of a city. I spent 18 months there. Sure, it can be OK to pass through and see the few sites for a few days. Living there is a nightmare.
Borobodur and Prambanan are both definitely worth visiting; but be prepared to pay comparatively ridiculous amounts to enter them...and then be hassled every few minutes to buy something or other. Kind of takes the gloss off things a bit.
Much of the food in Jogja is sickly sweet...even Indonesians from other areas complain. The traffic is the usual Indonesian insanity. And if anybody suggests going to the "beach" at Parangtritis, only accept if you're a glutton for punishment. (There are some pretty routes to get there, but once there, it goes downhill. The "beach" is too dangerous to swim in - although many Javanese try every weekend - and many people have been drowned there, or swept away never to be seen again. The locals reckon they were taken by the rather nasty "Queen of the South Sea", and she hates the colour green. Don't wear green togs if you're mad enough to go there.)
On a more positive note, one of the best hotel bargains is the "Winato Sastro Hotel" in Prawirotaman...Jalan Parangtritis. There are two of them - the better one is on the right hand side as you're going south. Big, clean rooms, hot water, a swimming pool you can actually swim in and inexpensive. (There's another one near the airport in Jalan Adisucipto - it's not too bad, either). Forget about the ones recommended in guide books like "Lonely Planet" - or you'll be sorry.
Kaliurang is worth a visit for views of Mt Merapi (although you can't get too close these days because it's a bit active - and there are supposed to be "leopards" or something in the no-go zones).