Pacitan revisited

I always do what I said I would do - So yes, I went back to Pacitan again in February this year! TO experience the waves in a different period!  Feb was the so-called rainy season in that part of Indonesia and the surfable waves are a little messy and unpredictable but then you get to surf right outside of Harry's.  As usual, I stayed at Harry's and it was really quiet!  There were maybe 10 of us - yes just 10 of us in the waters surfing at any given time maximum!  That was cool!  This time, my mind was on other things to do in Pacitan, besides the surfing. 

It was raining the first morning and by the time I got around to surf it was mid morning.  The waves were messy and seriously not that great for beginners.  I got some small waves but mainly trying to fight and paddle out to find the waves.  Still was fun getting into the water.  In the afternoon was what I was looking forward to - the zipline!  The longest zipline in the entire South East Asia!!  To note - it is only open on weekends and public holidays so do take note if you want to try!  It's about a 45min ride to the entrance and you have to hike a bit to get up to the zipline where you zip across the beach with the view of the ocean! Only 30,000 rupiah per try - and I went twice!!  Just don't think about how the wires are anchored to the whatever structure and you will be fine!

The next day was my last full day in Pacitan, I did surf a little but I wanted to explore the beaches more.  I had wanted to go to Tibo but that was too far.  So I hopped onto Harry's bike to Pantai Srau.  They surfed while I explored.  You can take a short hike around the island to discover the many deserted beaches.  The view was amazing and finally I found my small little private cove where I spent some time just playing around!

Random fisherman who stopped me just so I could take a picture of him with his catch with MY PHONE!!

My private cove

The 2-3 days I spent in Pacitan was fun!  Met some cool German surfer dudes and saw great beaches and places!  It was my last beach vacation before I moved my ass to Netherlands.

Amazing sunset

The next day saw me took a long journey again back to Yogyakarta where I spent the night and the next day in a really nice hotel (free stay!) and went to visit Prambanan.  People who are interested to take the bus trip to Pacitan could possibly contact Bintang Terang Tour & Travel (Jogja contact 081229711951/087751833330) - takes you right to the door step instead of the bus station.  Runs from Pacitan back to Jogja as well and costs 85,000 rupiah.  I think it has 3-4 trips per day each direction.

Met a Polish girl who lives in Singapore now - she rode a bike all the way from Yogja to Pacitan.  IT took about 4 hours but you pass through beautiful coastal routes where you could just stop and stay for a day or so before you continue the journey!

Prambanan

Prambanan was really beautiful. I went early in the morning, you pay entrance fee (foreigner and local prices are like heaven and earth difference) and then you can decide to hire a guide for 100,000 rupiah to explain the main Prambanan temple.  A guide was really useful in explaining the architecture, history and statues.  You could also hire the same guide for the entire palace for an extra 50,000 but I thought 1 was enough and then went off to just explore on my own.  Set aside 2-3 hours to leisurely tour the whole place.  You could take the public bus that stops about 2 km from the entrance.  There is also a bus from there to the airport - very convenient and very cheap (I think it was 3,600 rupiah per journey).  The timing is always the tricky part but I think it was like every 20-30 minutes.

If I were to go back again, sure I'd love to surf a bit, but I would really like to just ride along the coast to discover the different beaches... That would be nice. Provided I don't crash my bike again.... Hahaha that's a story for another time maybe....