Yogyakarta is different than any other city I visited in Java. The colors on the walls, the nice smell coming from every warung (these kind of small restaurants opened on the street where you can serve yourself succulent Nasi Goreng for few bills), the noise of the busy traffic, the smily people, the chicken on the road…

Indonesia is such a big country that you should spend month and month there to be able to pretend to get the vibe. 

To be honest, when I arrived in Java, I was about to celebrate my three month of travel and I had some reserves about visiting a new country. Not that I wanted to stop but I could feel that I needed to slow down a little bit and enjoy the way with another view in everything. I started to be tired. I started to really think about my decision of travelling by my own for such a long time.

Three month mark the end of a period for a lot of travelers.
It’s when you start to miss home without being tired yet of the road; when you feel that learning new words, how to use the currency and enjoying new flavours is not as exiting as is used to be because it’s a part of your daily life for 90 days already; when you can feel that you are still amazed by observing new sceneries but you have seen so many wanders that it doesn’t touch you in the same way. You are spoiled and you are still grateful about life offers you but there is something tingling in the back of your head who is making you waking up later in the morning and losing your enthusiasm when you are reading few lines about your next destination. 

After Thailand, maybe I started to be more “intolerant” about young backpackers asking me if I “have done that in this country” and then the “no? Ohhhh dude you missed that!” following. As if my life was ruined because I haven’t jumped from a 60 meters tall waterfall. Or maybe I was annoyed by these people pretending they were real travelers when they were just alcoholics spending their time in bars instead of listening others and learning.
I didn’t want to become a prick who pretends that she knows how to travel and that she has seen it all but I really wanted to go in a place where I was sure to meet more matures travelers and have the chance to talk to locals. I thought that Java was a right place to start again and I was right. Yogyakarta was a good choice for my state of mind. 
    

Here, you have to be a real explorer if you want to find booze somewhere because of the main religion. No chance to find drunk naked people in the street after midnight. 

Here, you can grab a sit in a warung and start to talk about everything with the owner. You know you will be treated well because you know how to say hello and how are you and because there is only one or two tourists eating there per day.

Here, you’ll find wonderful, respectful, smily, smart and open minded characters.  
    
    

I don’t know what’s the image you have of Indonesia and Java in particular but Yogyakarta is way more different than I was expecting. When I arrived there, I was not “in the mood” but everything made me fell in love with this city. 

Instead of staying one night, I extended at three. It was the perfect amount of time and I could have easily stayed one more week so intense was the city, so many things were to be seen inside and outside.