If there’s one thing that I remember most about my trip to Central Java, Indonesia, it’s the very hospitable Indonesians that I have encountered. Yes, there may be dodgy ones like my motorbike misadventure in Solo, but it was the affable stranger in Yogyakarta that stuck in mind. I was shooting at Candi Prambanan when I did a little chat with a local photographer that seems to find good angle of this temple complex. Finding that I don’t seem to have a ride when the park closed, he offered me a ride on his bike and even treated me to a delicious street-side nasi goreng. In Solo, the neighboring city of Yogyakarta, I remember being invited in a gamelan rehearsal room to fully enjoy the mesmerizing music and soaring vocals of this Javanese culture. So traveling Central Java for me is more than the archaic temple complex but also immersing with the local culture and its people.
