Duta Garden Hotel... a wonderful homey tropical hotel

Last year, when Faye told me that she wanted to have an 18 days trip to Indonesia, I anticipated by writing plans in my blog Kee Heritage (another blog that is written in my local Sabahan dialect purposely for my family of Kee descendants back home). We received overwhelming responses, some of our family and friends wishes to join us but in the end there is only three of us; Faye, Yah and myself who actually proceed with the trip. I've been to Indonesia with Faye a few times but this time it's different... We are not just going to a shopping spree, we are going to see, to learn, to speak, to try, to understand and to experience the culture that seems so similar yet so different from ours.

From Jakarta, we board the Air Asia airlines to Yogyakarta. I'm really excited, I've seen Yogyakarta on tv, read in magazine but this time I will finally set foot on the historical city myself. It only took about an hour before the flight attendance gave the landing announcement. Outside the window, I could see beautiful green landscape that holds so many wonders of the city. We took a taxi ride from Adi Sucipto Airport to our hotel Duta Garden in Jalan Timuran. We feel more at ease as the road in Yogyakarta are not as busy as it was in Jakarta. The people are soft spoken, and doesn't take advantages from international tourist like us. Could also because our dialect and tone are a bit similar we are often mistaken as a local tourist. The taxi driver however, said to us "Lokal kek.. Tourist kek... sama aja" that literally means local or not, the fare are still the same.

We were so happy when we arrived in Duta Garden Hotel, it's such a cozy homey little tropical place. Since the hotel are quite small some common services are unavailable such as ironing or pool bar area, however you have the luxury of privacy in a clean, beautiful and comfortable surroundings. Our room was located on the first floor facing the pool. As a matter of fact the patio was only 5 steps away. The room are decorated with wooden furniture, the bathroom door are a little old and the low-key lighting are not suitable for reading or anything else besides resting. The bathroom window opens to a mini green garden, somehow it's a little too wide that Yah was worried someone might actually take a peep while we bath, but the roof that's covering the mini garden are making it impossible to anyone unless you purposely walk out of the bathroom naked and stand in the mini garden embracing the open air... I doubt it.

The swimming pool are decorated with a man made waterfall and located in the middle of the hotel compound, just beside the restaurant.

The hotel lobby are decorated in a simple and cozy interior. Here you can get a free internet access for half hour or as long as you like provided there is no one else in line waiting to use the computer. Astro are also available at the lobby.

The whole surrounding was decorated with lush green landscape; trees, bamboos, flowers of many kinds and even coconut tree. Each room on the first floor has it own mini waterfall and fishpond. Each day the friendly hotel staff will come and serves complimentary warm tea and cakes to each room in the afternoon or when you are back from a tour. Although the restaurant are closed at night, you can pre-order room service before nightfall so they can prepare your food in advance, that means cold or heated meals. Breakfast menu are okay but offers the same dish everyday; fried rice or noodle, toast, juices, fruits and some egg. You can ask them to prepare the egg to your choice, sunny side up or half boiled. If you wish to have something different, you can simply take a 3 minutes walk to Prawirotaman street, there are lots of restaurants and shops for you to choose from.

Yah at one of the fishpond by the restaurant.

After checking in to our hotel room, we sat outside enjoying the greenery. We sipped our welcome drinks happily and have a small chat while listening to sound of waterfall and small streams. Yah on the other hand was busily punching her mobile keypad sending messages non-stop to our family and friends back home. It's already dark by 5.30pm and you can hear azan from almost every corner of the city, it's time to perform the maghrib prayers to the local muslim. Everything seems to settle down in a quiet serene and relaxing atmosphere.

Recommended for those who enjoy sightseeing, or a quiet gateway from the bustling city life or a leisure family holiday. Not suitable for those seeking a fun night out after sun down.