We arrived at the Rumah Boedi at 10.30pm: much later than anticipated as one of our two suitcases hadn’t flown with us and we had to wait for the next flight.
After a very quick check-in, we simply followed our guide through gardens and tall wooden gates to a small courtyard area surrounded by rooms.
The first thing that hit us was how small the room (5a) was. There was a bed with around a foot around it. There was a small dark wood dresser in an alcove. The shelving had a lockable drawer for our valuables and the base was an empty space where we had to store our bags. However to be able to open them, we had to put them on the bed. There was some shelving fixed to the wall and one tiny bedside table. Two of the walls were floor to ceiling glass with one of them having a sliding door which opened up on to a small private garden. The room was colourful with attractive tapestries and decorative plates adoring the wall. The bathroom was equally small but with a decent shower and very thin towels. There was only cold water in the basin. A small wall-mounted TV on the wall seemed out of place.
Despite arriving so late, we needed to be up early to see the sunrise over Borobudur. There was no telephone in the room and so a knock on the door came at 3.30pm. As we’d arrived in the dark, and it was still dark, we struggled to find the way back to reception but eventually found the way out and our waiting guide.
After seeing the spectacular sunrise, we were back at our hotel by 8.45am for breakfast of papaya juice and poached eggs on toast. In the daylight, we noticed a beautiful open air lounge area full of sofas, tables and chairs, piano, lots of plans and artifacts which all look very colonial. It was next to a pond with fountain and there was the relaxing sound of trickling water. Complementary afternoon tea with banana and tofu fritters was served here at 4pm. It felt terribly civilized. As darkness fell, the lights came on the, scented joss sticks were lit and calls to prayer emanated from nearby mosques. It was a lovely place to sit and use the free wi-fi (excellent signal strength), take a book from the library or play one of the board games available. It was also an ideal place for pre-dinner G&Ts whilst browsing the menu.
We were the only people in the open-air restaurant where dinner was a simple, but good, shared chicken and rice dish (mangut ayam) and fried noodles.
Once again we had to leave before the official leaving breakfast time of 7am, but were offered a ‘simple sandwich’ for breakfast and tea. We were the only ones around again, but feasted on club-style sandwich with salad, omelette and spicy tomato sauce.
Although the rooms are minute, the beautiful gardens and lounge more than make up for the lack of space.
