It would be impossible for us to set off anywhere without a sumptuous breakfast, but the Conrad's is something else!
For those of us who managed to squeeze in a trip to the gym or a walk along the beach we were very happy to have had some exercise before we embarked on the joys of the Conrad breakfast.
Anne was thrilled to discover they had a special station for Hanainese Chicken rice - one of her favourites. There was even a gluten free station with lots of choices for those who needed it. For the rest we tried smoked salmon, delicate french pastries, eggs Benedict, pancakes with raspberry coulis, french toast with maple syrup etc etc etc. As someone commented the big American hotels know how to do breakfast.
Before we headed for the Airport we spent a truly fascinating morning at a Perfume Workshop run by a french woman who owned the company called L'Atelier. none of us were to sure about it, but we all had a great time inventing our own personal scents. We had to complete a questionnaire which helped narrow our choices. Then we had to choose scents we liked from a huge array of small bottles, and then combine them into three different perfumes.
The tricky part was deciding which one we liked best before giving it a name and just before we left the Hotel we were given a bottle to take home. The only problem is that we aren't allowed to open it for three weeks to allow the scents to combine properly. There was much sniffing, and oooohing and aaaaahing as we smelled each others combinations!
After a pleasant lunch in one of the many restaurants we headed for the Airport and the 80 minute trip to Jogjakarta, or Yogyakarta as the locals call it. The trip was uneventful and we were met at the Airport by Atik, our young and enthusiastic guide, who gave us a potted version of the history and taught us some Indonesian in the bus on the way to the Phoenix Hotel.
I was last in Jogja in 1974 and it look a a bit different now, not surprisingly. It was like a large country town in those days and is now a huge city and province of 3.6 million people. Lots of textile and batik stores were passed and I'm sure will be revisited as batik is the important handcraft here.
The Phoenix is an old worldly hotel near the centre of town and is white and colonial in style. We all have wrought iron balconies overlooking the pool where I am sitting as I write this. Very pretty.
PS: To get to dinner at Madam Tan's opposite the hotel we needed to cross a main road full of bustling traffic and in the rain. One of the hotel employees had to use his Darth Vader red light baton to make the traffic stop long enough for us to get across. Coming back was just as bad and Jan called out to us in a loud voice "Where's a man with a light stick baton when you need him? " which caused some hilarity!!
Another busy but fun day had by all,
Your well-travelled correspondent
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Hard at work developing our own personal fragrances |
Dianne
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