Given that 20 July, which falls on a Monday is a holiday, it was again a long weekend in Indonesia. As such, it became a personal mandate to take Friday off and go on an out-of-town trip to have a mini-break from the stressful work-life in Jakarta for at least 4 days. While Bali was a no-brainer choice, I realized that I have to get out of that “Bali comfort zone” and explore the other “worthy to visit” provinces in this country. After not thinking too hard, I chose Yogyakarta – the home of the famous Borobudur temple, which used to be part of the original “7 Wonders of the World”.
Day 1: FEELING QUITE DISAPPOINTED
I arrived in Yogya’s airport at around 12 noon. As usual, I was greeted and picked up by the hotel’s driver. As it was a long weekend, the office secretary didn’t have much options for my accommodations – the hotels that are known to be fine and value-for-money (Mercure, Novotel, Mulia) were all fully booked! Hence, I settled in a traditional 3-star hotel called Puri Artha, but before approving the recommendation, I checked the reviews from the internet first and realized that it wasn’t really that bad, so I gave it a go. Unfortunately, I felt cheated by the reviews and pics from the net as the actual place did not match my expectations – bottomline, it was a very old hotel that appears to be not so well maintained! After smelling the room assigned to me, I simply browsed for other hotel options in Yogya and called them myself. After 30 minutes of making cold calls, 2 options opened: a presidential suite in Sheraton which I can immediately occupy that day or a deluxe room in Hyatt that I can take the day after. Given budget considerations, I chose the latter after realizing that one dreadful night in the ugly hotel will not really kill me. Note to self: Your aspiration of becoming a backpacker may just be an influence of watching NatGeo Adventure channel too much, yet deep down, you really are a lavish traveler, wanting the best of everything – your hotel room standard is something that should look better than your home bedroom!
To ease my first disappointment, I started my travel adventure by hitting the road after taking my simple Ikan Goreng (fried rice with grilled and buttered shrimp) lunch. In today’s agenda (which was drafted by my very helpful Account Executive who was originally from Yogya): Malioboro street, Bank Indonesia, BNI building, Alun Alun and becak ride.
Malioboro street is a very long stretch (almost 2 kilometers if I’m not mistaken) of market stalls where all the specialties of Yogya (or should I say, Indonesia) can be found – and the nice thing about it is that they are all so cheap! Batik (this place is the home of this famous textile, by the way), wayang, paintings, handicrafts, footware, furniture, shirts, you name it, they have it all! Perhaps I was so overwhelmed with all the merchandise that I saw, I ended up buying only a couple of pieces. Hahaha!
After practicing my haggling skills using a foreign language (I need to sound like a local so that the vendors won’t take advantage of my being a foreigner), I took the “becak” as my ride going to Alun-Alun Square a.k.a. the sultan’s ground. Becak is Indonesia’s version of the Philippines’ pedicab, the only difference is that the bicycle is on the back, instead of on the left side and the front is open, allowing the passenger to have a better view of what’s in front. As it was quite late already, the Alun-Alun square looked dead, so I just stopped by the famous building structures in the area and took photos of them. Similar to the buildings in old Jakarta that still have that Dutch influence, Bank of Indonesia and BNI in Yogya also have the look.
The first day ended in a place and ride that are in total contradiction of finding the place’s real culture – a mall and a taxi! Wahahaha! Again, while the objective is clear, sometimes it’s difficult not to get a piece of comfort – so I decided to have dinner in Malioboro mall and a taxi ride going back to the disappointing hotel.
DAY 2: EXPERIENCING THE REAL YOGYA AND A REAL VACATION
As expected, the front desk officer was surprised by my early check out. Without elaborating on my issues to not make her feel bad (I’m starting to become Javanese!), I paid the 1-night bill and went off to my first destination for the day via the car rental that was arranged by the office’s official travel agent.
Initial stop is in Prambanan complex, the home of more than a hundred ancient temples, ak.a. candi, archeological structures of either Buddhism or Hinduism, during the very early centuries. Walking towards the gigantic first set of collective temples (Vishnu, Nandi, Garuda) gave shivers on my spine. It’s quite hard to put it in words, but seeing the wonderfully crafted structure with its exquisite details simply put me in awe. Not to mention the intriguing myth that defined the essence of these temples – a man was in love with this woman (Lara Djonggrang), but the feeling was not mutual, so the woman tried to trick the man by asking him to build 100 temples in 30 days to win her heart, on the 30th day, the man completed building 99 temples and the woman rejected him for not being able to finish 100, the story ended with a tragedy when the man killed the woman and made her the 100th temple. It was also mentioned that since this place is cursed, lovers who visit the place together will end up separating (well, ain’t applicable to me as I was there alone – what’s new?!).
I kept walking in the huge complex and found myself in another temple called Sewu. This is where I found great serenity as there were only 4 or 5 people including myself in the said place. I settled in a small temple, plugged my ear plugs and smoked 3 sticks while reflecting about life. Not realizing the time, I spent half of my day exploring the amazing venue. I bid goodbye to Prambanan after taking an equally good lunch (Bistik Daging, nasi putih, Tehbotol) at the resto inside the place.
The Prambanan was just the start of the temple-hopping adventure. The driver took me to more breathtaking temple ruins: Boko – a high level structure which according to the water vendor that I was able to talk to in the place, is a famous venue for weddings and other important functions; Kalasan – a typical candi that is easily accessible on the side of the road.
At around 3PM, I asked my very pleasant Innova driver to take me to Hyatt first as I’m scheduled to check in that afternoon. After walking into the lobby and seeing the deluxe room I managed to reserve, I would have to say that it was the best decision that I did the day before! Finally, I can now smell the “real scent of vacation”!
After an hour of freshening up (by the way, the only party-pooper is the very hot and humid weather), I’m back on the road to visit more places. Next stop was the sultan’s water temple called Taman Sari in the Kraton area. The place was also very interesting – quite sleazy though. The concept was that there are two huge swimming pools and in the middle of it is a high temple. The sultan looks out at the temple and chooses who among his 40 wives he wants to spend time with. After choosing, “the lucky one, two or three” will transfer to the other pool to meet the sultan! Goes to show that conceptually, “girls with numbers” and “orgies” originated way way back! Hahaha!
Still in the same compound, which by the way was inhabited by the sultan family’s servants (doing tour guide side jobs for foreigners visiting the area), I toured an underground temple and various painting shops. I bought a couple of interesting pieces, which hopefully will fit my room back home! I concluded the day with a sumptuous dinner in a casual dining place called Sagan Resto where I gastronomically feasted on prawns and mushroom chicken – yum!
While it was a very productive and enjoyable day, I won’t deny the fact that it was also damn tiring – considering that I view “walking” to be such a pain! So, to temporarily heal my aching body and put me to a great sleep, the ended the night with a full body massage in the hotel.
DAY 3: ULTIMATE DIVERSITY
The day started early, I was picked up at 8.30 AM by my new found friend Pak Dwi, the car rental’s driver. From the city, our first destination is Magelang, where the used to be world famous Borobudur temple is situated. After an almost hour and a half of land trip, I’ve reached the number one “must see” candi in Yogya. Perhaps I was not the only one who has this thought in mind considering that there are hundreds of people at the entrance of the place! Fortunately, there are two entrances that divides (or should I say discriminates locals and foreigners), and the booth for non-locals is air-conditioned and has a very short queue – yet, the fee is significantly much higher versus that of the country citizens.
From a distance, you can already see the glorious view of Borobudur – and yes, without exaggeration, it was really “glorious”. Before racing to the actual candi, I sneaked in to a tour group to have a “free explanation” from the official guide about the history of the temple and a topline overview of Buddhism. Interestingly, my “intentional eavesdropping” helped me understand the significance of each level of the temple, as I move up every step until I reached the peak called “main stupa”. Further, it made me appreciate the essence of the religion, which appears to be the ultimate journey towards discipline, self-content and peaceful heart. Honestly, if I were to assess my level, I am just a struggling soul at its starting point, i.e. trying to get out of materialism, worldliness and a life driven by emotions! Frankly, in the society where we are living, reaching the ultimate level of Buddhism is way too hard – hence, for those who religiously and non-hypocritically practice the essence of this belief, I salute you all!
Admittedly, the Prambanan experience turned out to be more solemn and meaningful to me compared to the Borobudur tour – perhaps, I can attribute it to the perception that the latter is like a commercial landmark where people flock just to take photos of them in the candi, without really understanding the essence of what they are seeing. To put it simply, it’s like comparing Lombok versus Bali, where the former provides an opportunity to feel the peaceful ambience of the beach and the latter is a party island that defines the meaning of what “fun” is all about. Another important item to note though, I was able to touch the hands of the budha inside the temple – according to myths, being able to do so will allow you to fulfill your wish.
Next stop is a Buddhist monastery called “Mendut”. It sounds funny in Filipino as the name reminds you of a Pinoy term that has a green connotation. Nothing really spectacular about the place, but there are photo-worthy images that didn’t miss my eyes…
As I was nearly starving to death, Pak Dwi took me to the next breathtaking view where I had my Ayam Goreng and Sop Buntut lunch. The place is called Ketep Pass, a one-stop venue where tourists can see the view of an active (they said) volcano called Gunung Merapi and at the same time, see a museum that says everything about it – unfortunately, there was no English translation, so I only understood 30% of what I have read! If I were to find a comparable landmark in the Philippines, the place is like Tagaytay – quite cold, volcano is the main tourist spot and has a lot of food stalls.
After a couple of hours in Ketep Pass, I went back to the car. As I was full and tired, I easily fell asleep. Our next stop will be one of the famous beaches of Yogya called Parangtritis. Since Magelang was far from the next destination (about 2 hours), I was advised by the driver to sleep first. After 120 minutes, I woke up with a view of Parangtritis beach, perfect timing as the sun was about to set.
While I was not really expecting a “fucking nice beach” as Yogya is not really known to be a destination for such a thing, the sight was really not that inviting, unless I was again ruled by my discriminating taste. But then again, I came back to my senses and realized that I was there to have a diverse experience. Thus, I threw my hesitation out of the window and marched to the black-sand public beach and entertained myself by the interesting sights that the place offered – kites flying all over, horse carriages (called “andong”) by the shore, market stalls selling anything and everything, lovers flirting, families enjoying.
I ended the day by trying Yogya’s signature local delicacy for dinner called “Gudeg” – a curry of jackfruit, chicken and egg served with rice. Over-all, the food was good – I just needed to add a bit of salt to address its seemingly bland or non-flavorful taste.
DAY 4: LAST-LEG OF GETTING HANDS-ON TO YOGYA’S CULTURE
As it was my last day, it was on purpose that I decided to just stay in the whole morning and maximize what Hyatt can offer. After taking my last continental breakfast, I headed to the pool – had a quick dip and proceeded to one of the seats to bask under the sun while reading my chosen book for this travel – “How Starbucks Saved My Life”.
After checking out at 1PM, I was taken by Pak Dwi to Museum Kreta – the sultan’s carriage museum. It was fascinating to see a total of 24 horse-drawn carriages under one roof and the way they look. While touring the museum, I just realized that it was amazing to tangibly see this mode of transportation by the royals, which I used to have a picture in my head just from fairy tales and parables.
Next stop is the Batik center (unfortunately, I forget its name). I am honestly not such a huge fan of the said textile, but I ended up buying one piece. What’s more interesting though is that there were old ladies in the shop who were doing the Batik! As I was interested to see the process, I approached them, interviewed them (in my trying hard Bahasa Indonesia) and was made to try doing the actual thing! After finding out how difficult the process is, I respected this artistic cultural heritage much more.
Last stop before catching my flight back to Jakarta was one of the famous silver shops in the city. Yogya is also quite famous for this industry given that it’s a rich source of the said precious metal. Again, for the first time, I witnessed the process of jewelry making using silver as the primary ingredient. To thank the friendly lady who toured me in the plant and carefully explained to me the steps, I bought a bracelet which will be a great remembrance of the place that I would not forget and perhaps revisit again in the future.
While Jakarta was mourning due to the terrorist attack in Ritz Carlton and Marriot hotels during that weekend, I found myself comforted by an experiential and complete sensory adventure that allowed me to appreciate and give respect to my new second home country, Indonesia. I am indeed thankful that I have chosen Yogyakarta to be that weekend’s destination of choice, as I came to realize that one would not have been to Indonesia not only without enjoying Bali, but also without experiencing the country’s real rich culture, that is Yogyakarta…
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