Yogyakarta - Part 1

Well, well, I hardly found time to write from Yogyakarta. Mainly because the whole town is so interesting and captivating that I prefer spending time outdoors than in my hotel room. In addition to that, I was relatively occupied throughout the 10-days of our programme.

So, let me reminisce upon my 2 weeks in Yogyakarta.....

It was love at first sight upon touching the grounds of Yogyakarta. I had the best view ever from above - greenery stretching far and wide, mountains, rows of corn fields and paddy fields, and no skyscrapper in sight! One will not be able to fathom all these emotions brewing from within me, I just want to move to this town and wake up to blue skies every morning. It is too grey back home.

Dumped my stuff in my hotel room and left to run errands with Fitri, who is managing our local organising committee in Yogyakarta. As mentioned in my previous post, I have not had any sleep, excluding the few blinks in the plane - being woken for pancakes, and switching seats to the row behind so that I can stretch myself out on all three seats! Times like this, I am proud to be Asian, standing at 5'4"

My room/workspace for 2 weeks

Despite struggling to stay awake, I am glad I opted to tag along with Fitri to run errands around Yogyakarta. I even passed the offer of heading to Malioboro (the shopping district) on my first day - because I was so exhausted that I do not want to think about shopping nor being squashed by hundreds of people in the afternoon. Hung around in Tandabaca for a bit, then headed to the villages south of Yogyakarta.

As we were driving pass the paddy and corn fields, I can't help but gaze at the people on the streets. Even though they do not make much for a living (as compared to higher middle class people), I can see that they enjoy their life and are grateful for what they have. These people are carrying out their daily tasks in the fields with a smile on their face. It is such a delightful sight, and leaves a warm, fuzzy feeling in my heart. I love the countryside!

>>AND I SAW LAMBS/SHEEP!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!?! IN THE PADDY/CORN FIELDS<<

Excuse the jakun expression, we only have cows and goats on the road sides back in Malaysia.

Fitri brought me to an eatery outlet where I had my first Indonesian meal for lunch. Food in Yogyakarta is so scrumptious, I swear I will not look at Malaysian food the same way again. So, we made out way to the Batik village to collect some items for our programme, and I did some shopping as well. Got my Dad a Batik shirt, for half the price of what you can find in Malioboro, and better quality too. In fact, the Batik was made behind the shop.

On our way back, she gave me a tour of the biggest ceramic village in Indonesia! My head was literally turning from left to right and left again, just looking at the wonderful craft available on a whole stretch of road. Unfortunately, I knocked out on our journey back.

The following day, I hung out at Tandabaca again, because I needed to work too. The organisation is so laid back, although it felt like I was being surrounded by chimneys! Once I was done with my day's work (until there's nothing much for me to do), I decided to take a stroll to the Kraton (palace), only to be approached by one of those 'tour scams'. Sigh!

Anyway, this guy came up to me in his motorcycle and told me the Kraton was closed, and I should check out this gallery that's exhibiting art from 300+ artists. He offered to bargain the becak (trishaw) ride for me at a local's rate. I told him I needed to check with my friends first, and he kept insisting that it was "the last day" and they will be closing in an hour *rolls eyes*  After a brief conversation, I just told him I am going to walk back to my friends' place and check with them. And so I did. You know what? The guy was tailing me on his motorcycle all the way back to Tandabaca (which is a 15-minutes walk away).

I do not mind the Kraton being closed as I wanted to take photographs from the outside or its surroundings. But that guy was being so peskily annoying, he even followed me into the lane towards the Kraton.

Hence, to all future travellers out there, please please please do thorough reading before your trip. I spend insane amount of hours reading up on everything I can about a country (especially caution notes) before I travel. I knew about all these scammers as Brent and I chanced upon one in Bangkok.

There's just so much to see and capture around that area. I wish that guy would have left me alone so that I can wander around more. Bah! Kacau je

The Boss arrived on the second day, so we (Fitri and I) had to head back to the hotel to meet up with him. Then we had more good food for dinner - Nasi Padang!! Had the same for lunch too, the guys packed some back for me.

On my third night, all of us went out for dinner with the participants - 80% of them arrived by the evening of the 30th. Guess what's for dinner?? NASI PADANG, AGAIN!!! Not complaining; I absolutely adored the whole lump of fish eggs cooked in curry. Mmmm....

Yogyakarta Traffic

Our hotel pool served its purposed throughout my stay even though I did not take a swim in it. Towards the end of the programme, a few of us were chilling by the poolside till wee hours in the morning with big bottles of Bintang beer - now, that's how we roll! The night sky is spectacular, clear sky, full moon, blanket of stars; I could sleep outside.

Yogyakarta gets dark early (around 5-ish) but sun rises early too - 5am feels like 8am!