After a short morning stroll through the nearby Universita Airlannga Campus A, B and the university hospital complex sandwiched between, I hopped on the train in Gubeng station to Yogyakarta so I could see the countryside through the daylong ride, but also because each train route has different stops therefore limiting my options. Arriving at Lempuyangan station in the late afternoon, I trekked to my hostel and was able to quickly arrange for a Borobudur sunrise tour. With some sunlight left, sufficient reconnaissance from my walk to the hostel, and undeterred by the prospect of an early wake up, I headed back out toward the March 1st Attack Monument then walked up Jalan Margo Mulyo, through some of the tourist areas, and kept going until I reached University Gadjah Mada where it became apparent just how integrated religion is into the academic curriculum since all the universities visited during the day featured centrally positioned mosques. Also apparent is the sense of identity formed through uprising and rebellion across East Java when the Indonesian people fought for independence.

Tip:
When traveling by train, make sure you research and understand the schedules and each route’s station stops because they can vary and have many trade offs. Slow trains might make all stops, but they take dramatically longer. Fast trains might skip the station you want, or might skip entire cities altogether. In my case going to Yogyakarta, different trains stop at different stations within a city, but but not all of them.

Published by BE

I write about my travel and money experiences. View all posts by BE