Today we went north. With a car and driver. Three hours north, in fact. Through beautiful mountain scenery, and through lots of places that I'd like to go back to. Ambarawa, for example, with its plethora of pretty churches (and its extensive railway museum, at present unfortunately closed for renovation). Bandungan likewise, perched high up on the slopes of Gunung Ungaran, and sporting a tempting collection of vegetable markets and roadside food stalls.

Our prime destination, however, was the Gedong Songo Hindu temple complex, gorgeously located even further up the mountain. This is a big day-trip destination for folks from Semarang, so the lower temple area was thronged with Sunday picnickers and strollers. But the higher the path climbs, the more you start to leave the crowds behind. And in the fitful light and floating mist, the temples are wonderfully atmospheric. We didn't find all nine (and Lonely Planet's estimate that you can walk the whole thing in an hour is way off beam), but we very much enjoyed the now unusual experiences of a) walking uphill, and b) feeling slightly cold. Out of sight of any temples, and with the looming pines and the roaring fumarole, it could almost have been New Zealand...

We stopped off at a roadside eatery on the way home, and rounded off our savoury-and-spicy meals with sweet-and-spicy bandrek, which we've not had since our day-trip to Bandung three years ago. This place also fed our current addiction to non-commercial cassava chips (with which local suppliers just cannot keep up).

Back in Yogya, we closed the day with coffee and highly decadent cake at the Ministry of Coffee, and took a becak home through the rapidly darkening streets.

Despite the long journey, on roads that are sometimes very slow, and despite our disappointment over the museum, the chance to see a little more of Java's rich heritage made it a worthwhile trip.