Hello
Dear Diary,
The cryptic text above reads Yogyakarta in Javanese characters. It is a scan of a T-shirt I bought which my sister happily asked (or rather forced) me to give her.
Oh yeah, I just came back from a three-day trip to Yogyakarta, which is located to the south of Central Java. I went with my sister and mum. Right now since I’m quite tired, I won’t go into details, and most likely I won’t even do a travelogue like I did when I came back to Singapore in March. It was an enjoyable trip, though.
We went to the Borobudur temple which is supposedly one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I said supposedly because I’m not too sure whether it is actually one or not. According to what we learnt in History in Indonesia, the Borobudur temple is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. But I remembered reading from another source (in English), that it actually isn’t. So right now I’ll just say that the Borobudur temple is one of the Indonesian Version of the Seven Wonders of the World. If anyone can confirm for me I’d be grateful.
We also went to the Mendut temple, Taman Sari Water Palace (the place where the Sultans and their families bathe, which is currently being renovated), the Keraton, Kota Gede (the place which produces a lot of silver products, mostly jewelleries), batik shop, the Prambanan temple, and of course, the famous Malioboro. At least it’s famous in Indonesia. We took becak (trishaw) to go around in the town in the evening.
We went to Yogyakarta on the great and wonderful Lion Air flight (those who read my 9 Days in Singapore travelogue would know what I’m talking about). We stayed at the Santika Hotel. Our tour guide (Mr. Kodar) and driver (Mr. Hariyanto) were very courteous and friendly.
Here are a few observations while I was there…
- Yogyakarta is a place with a rich history.
- Yogyakarta still has a Sultan, who is also the governor for the province, hence the name Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta or Yogyakarta Special Region.
- A lot of land space in Yogyakarta is owned by the Keraton (Sultan’s Place). The people who use these land pay a rent to the Keraton, which in turn pays taxes to the government.
- It looks like there’s a fine mix between the areas for the rich and the poor. For example, our four-star hotel is located just next to small houses near a river belonging to the less-endowed.
- Javanese accent is cute. For example, they stress the ‘d’, ‘b’, ‘j’ in words, and when a word ends with a ‘k’, the ‘k’ is silent.
- The Sultan’s fifth daughter studies in Singapore. According to a guide at the Keraton, she’s in the second year of Senior High School. So that means either that she’s studying in the Sekolah Indonesia Singapura (Singapore Indonesian School), or she’s in the second year of either JC or Polytechnic.
- The souvenir sellers at Borobudur temple are very aggressive. When we exited the temple complex, one seller actually followed us all the way from the exit to the parking complex, which are separated by at least 200 m, all the while trying hard to convince us to buy his souvenir. We already said that we didn’t want to buy any, but he kept on following us so we let him do that until I finally made an excuse and said that we didn’t bring any money. Which totally made no sense at all considering we were tourists there, and there were no way we would not bring any money. But he left afterwards, so it was good.
- The food at the hotel and some restaurants we went to were good… Gudeg (a local food) also tastes good.
- Adisutjipto Airport at Yogyakarta is very small. It basically consists of a runway and a very small terminal of the size of probably smaller than half a soccer field. Only small airplanes like the Boeing 737, Airbus A320, and MD-82 serve the airport.
- The runway of the airport is not flat. It has a bulge at the center part.
- The representation of the airport at Microsoft Flight Simulator is quite accurate.
Hmm, ok, what else? I can’t think of anything else right now, I’m very tired, so when I feel like it and when I do remember, I shall add them. Tata!
Exhausted,
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