9 Oct 2009 - Off to Yogya (pronounced Jog-Ja)
Due to unfortunate ignorance on my part, we were almost late for our flight. I had believed that Airasia flew out of the budget terminal (if you've flown airasia, you'd understand why I thought so) and we had to haulass from the budget terminal to T1 and then spend another hour in the queue to check-in (note to any amazing race contestants. NEVER queue behind a man with 4 wives and countless children. Of course at that time, we didn't know it was ONE man and his 4 wives and countless children. There was only ONE man at the check-in counter, and after a while we realised that he was constantly calling people to come over so that the counter could verify the identity behind the passports. What an incredible waste of time). Obviously we were late to the gate (though not as late as the bohol connection flight... which will go down in history) and to compound the bad start, there was a jackass in the aisle seat who refused to move to let us in. (Better half said 'excuse me'. I said 'excuse me', stewardess said 'excuse me sir' and the obvious deaf jackass didn't respond. Finally, he looked up, and said 'why didn't you say you wanted to go in'. I swear I could've popped him right there and then.
Yogyakarta international airport. Considering that Yogya and Borobudur are such tourist attractions, I'm surprised the airport is in such poor condition. (Siam Reap 1: Yogya 0). At least the customs officer didn't ask me for a bribe (Siam Reap 1: Yogya 1)
The street our hotel was located. Don’t ask me how to pronounce it, I can’t. All I know is Rickey recommended the place, which was pre-approved by Miss Ting. Under any other circumstances, I would accept Rickey’s recommendations easily. We’ve travelled together enough that he knows my minimum standards. However, this time, I had to get Miss Ting’s seal of approval as I was travelling with the better half. That said, the Ministry of Coffee was a lovely place. Quiet location in a relatively nice part of town, surrounded by other mid-range bed&breakfast hotels with enough tourists that there are plenty of eateries nearby, but not cheap enough area to be seedy. The hotel itself was quite lovely. Clean, good service (great food – see day 3) and extremely comfortable.
This is the ‘lobby’ of the hotel, which doubles as the dining area (they have an in-house bakery, so cakes/breads are baked fresh. There’s even a library upstairs. Not the typical, take-a-book-leave-a-book bookshelves you’d typically find in many budget lodgings, but a real library with proper reference books. The upstairs seating area was also a nice place to sit at night as it was quite breezy and cool.
Pretty decorations on the reception counter.
The fountain outside our room. There are only 8 rooms in MOC. 2 deluxe rooms (we took one) and 6 ‘normal’ rooms. One caveat, the fountain is loud and it only stops at 11pm. So if you’re early to bed, you will hear it very distinctly.
The rooms were decent considering the cost. My one complaint…ESPN wasn’t working (it was supposed to, but I suspect they had changed the cable provider, so all we got was a blue screen) and the playoffs were on. So I didn’t get to catch the Yankee/Twins games. The lavatory was a little old though, and no soap/shampoo was provided. We even had our own little balcony space with a pond.
FOOD! Our first priority. Our flight landed at 12, which is actually 1pm Sin time, and by the time we checked it, it was almost 2+ (sin time). We were starving. I had originally planned to walk down the street and look for Ayam Goreng (fried chicken), but the Civet Coffee sign was just too attractive. I had to try some Kopi Luwak. What’s Kopi Luwak? Google is your friend, but read-on before you search. The food was quite good. We both had their Mie Goreng (fried Noodles), which tasted wonderfully home-cooked. +1
Maybe about $3-4000USD worth of coffee beans right there.
The various stages of Kopi Luwak. From freshly harvested, to cleaned and dried to roasted.
If you’re thinking to yourself…’those look like pieces of turd’, well, you’re right. Kopi Luwak or Civet Coffee is the coffee made from the beans harvested from the shit of civet cats. The theory is, the Civet Cat would choose the ripest, sweetest berries of the coffee plant to eat. They do not actually digest these beans, so they are passed out of their system (with some addition enzymes from the Civet Cat). Harvesters scour the plantation looking for these droppings, clean, dry and roast them to make Kopi Luwak. The difficulty in harvesting the bean and the rarity makes this the most expensive coffee by weight in the world. (btw, the one cup I had cost me about $12USD. They sold 100gram bags for $35USD)
No fancy espresso machine for this brew. Simple French press, with a teaspoon of sugar.
That’s a $12USD cup of coffee right there. Starbucks eat your heart out. So how did it taste? One word… Nutty… Best coffee I ever had? No. Best coffee I ever had was in a quaint little diner in Hanoi serving Weasel Coffee (the Vietnamese version, except the bean was processed artificially with enzymes instead of through the animal’s digestive tract). Possibly the Vietnamese version tasted better because it lacked the impurities of the Civet Cat version. Impurities is an excellent word. Was I grossed out to drink something an animal passed out of its arsehole? Heh. Not really.
The streets of Yogya are decorated with graffiti. Some look officially sanctioned, most looked like vandalism. Teenage angst and rebellion aside, most of the graffiti were very good. I reckon these same teenagers descended from a long line of cultural artists who made the beautiful, ageless batiks. You can tell the talent and artistry involved (even if it were only tagged on by miscreants)
Kentuky Ayam Goreng. Ordinarily I would jump at the chance to eat street food, but as appealing as fried chicken on the street sounds, I had to resist. The chicken looked a little old and not freshly fried (and a little soggy). My line for streetfood (which I rarely cross)… If it’s cooked in front of me, I’ll eat it. If it’s been sitting for a while (in the heat), I won’t. If the guy tending the stall had taken the chicken out of the oil at the very moment I was there, I would’ve been first in line to grab a piece. Pity.
There are 4 kinds of public transport in Yogya. Taxis, Becaks(trishaws), Horse drawn carriages and Buses. We usually walked or took the bus. The Trans Yogya bus service is surprisingly efficient and cheap (3000rupiah(about US0.20Cents) for a single trip, regardless of distance. You could even take the bus around the different terminals, and explore the city… on just 3000rupiah. Even if you get off the bus, as long as you don’t remove yourself from the busstop, you don’t have to buy another fare. The one time we wanted to take a Becak, we were totally given the the shaft. Original becak driver says “2000rupiah”, we say ‘ok’, then another idiot becak driver comes by and says (in Indonesian) ‘these are tourists, charge them more, 20,000rupiah’. What an asshole.
This is the Monument 11 Maret (eleventh of March). Refers to a battle during the Indonesian revolution.
Malioboro street at night. This street is the main shopping area. Practically all the shophouses are batik shops, and in front of them, illegal batik vendors. The sheer density of batik vendors will blow your mind (the difference in prices too). Definitely the place to go to when visiting Yogya. Lots to see and do, and eat within a small area. More picts at Day 3
10 Oct 2009 - Templeitis Part Deux
Easiest way to see everything is to pick a gate, go around, then take the staircase up to the next level, and so on. The crowd is pretty scary, but its mostly locals who aren’t interested in the history or the carvings. They just head straight up to the top to chitchat and pass the time. Unlike Angkor, you won’t get many camera-totting tourists getting in your way of the perfect photo.
. Since all visitors are herded in one direction, the east entrance is always crowded, but if you want a good shot, just walk over to the other 3. From this angle, the temple grounds look practically deserted.
This was probably my favourite carving on the walls. A whole bunch of chicks serving one guy… what’s not to like?
Many of the buddha heads have been chopped off. I’m betting you’d find them in collectors residences all over the world.
Like I said, pick one of the OTHER 3 entrances and you will have unblocked, uninterrupted photo-taking. This photo would have been impossible at the east entrance.
One of the ‘restored’ buddha statues. This one is purely for tourists. They removed the outer blocks so you can see the actual statue. The head has also been restored (when you go up close, you can see the scar around the neck). If you have time, and are truly interested, each statue is actually different. They have different hand positions. Wiki here
You can see the ‘cut’ at the neck clearly. Obviously this head has been removed and restored
The design of the statues and the different colours of the stones combined with some photoshop trickery (using an imitation old film stock) certainly make for some dramatic photos.
How it looks like in colour. The great thing about the place is that everyone congregates at the same location, so unobstructed photos are very possible. Although, we did go quite early, it might get more crowded as the day wears on.
Next stop on the tour was to Prambanan, another temple complex in the area. Sadly, the place took a beating in 2006 when an earthquake struck the area.
A little photoshop trickery here. In actual fact, the 2 buildings on the left were entirely covered with piling as it was still being restored.
This was how they built the temple in those days. I’m sure the forklift was an artifact from the 9th century.
Looks like the world’s largest (and definitely heaviest) jigsaw. Putting all the puzzle pieces together one stone at a time.
A system so easy even the dimmest of folks can follow. All edges and its corresponding piece marked with identical symbols. All the construction crew have to do is line up each matching symbol. In the year 3145, some brilliant historian or archeologist will decode these symbols into an ancient 21st century language.
Photoshop trickery. There’s no way the temple compound looks like this.
LUNCHTIME. I had actually wanted to go to Candi Sari Ayam Goreng Kalasan for lunch (as per Indiana’s recommendation), but when we pulled up to the restaurant, the place was entirely empty. Not a good sign in my books. The driver recommended Suharti’s, and off we went. Definitely a better choice. First good sign, the place was packed, all locals. Plates were heaped on the tables and they were empty (with lots of bones). Looks like this was the right place to go.
I really like Fanta… green, red… any colour, in a bottle. Can’t get them in Singapore. Such a pity.
We ordered the Ayam Goreng Mbok Berek, which is their signature dish. It’s basically a fried free-range (less fatty, more gamey) chicken, seasoned with garlic and coriander, and served with a covering of fried crackers. It was delicious. The only way I could describe the texture is, it’s the opposite of KFC. It’s kind of dry, entirely crispy with smaller portions of intensely tasting meat. The plate of sambal served with it was heavenly. I was literally spooning the sambal into my mouth directly.
Did I mention they serve the entire chicken, head and all. Well, that’s what was left of it after we were done.
11 Oct 2009 - Day around Jogyakarta
Ministry of Coffee has a fantastic breakfast service. You can arrange for your breakfast the night before, and they will prepack the food for takeaway. This is wonderful for those setting off early for day-trips. Even then, it’s definitely worthwhile to stay in for breakfast at least once. The breakfast menu is different for dining in and packing away. They designed their pack-away breakfasts to be portable, and convenient to eat in a car. Their dine-in selections on the other hand, are classic Indonesian dishes. We both had the nasi goreng with keropok, a fried egg (they ask you how you want your egg, I like mine well cooked, BH had hers runny) and sausage. The fried rice was delicious.
A motorcycle, a couple of trolleys, bright-paint and presto, you have a kid-friendly tramride. We found this at the circular road around the center of the Kraton Complex area. There was an entire carnival going on in a wide open field. I do like that all the attractions we went to seemed to be catered for local tourists rather than foreigners. The local tourists are the ones who will sustain the industry and unlike some country I know, locals are more important than foreigners. Everyone knows the foreigners come and go, sometimes never to come back, whereas the local is there to stay. Shouldn’t locals be treated better than foreigners?
Of course we got lost, so we ended up at the Taman Sari (water castle) before the main palace. Supposedly, this place was built by the sultan to view his concubines.
From that tower, one could look into the pools (especially if they were filled with nubile bathing beauties) and select the choicest concubine for a quick afternoon romp. The tower had a bedroom as well. How wonderfully decadent. I can almost imagine it. Sitting up in the tower, enjoying the ‘view’, then calling out to the chosen beauty to have one’s itch scratched.
The humorous byline would be ‘This is how they supported their buildings back in the 10th century’. In actual fact, the structure suffered substantial damage during the 2006 earthquake, and it was actually only recently re-opened to the public after restoration works.
Egg or grass, which came first? Definitely not the chicken.
We managed to catch a traditional dance performance when we were there. I think this was called a Beksan putr, but with hindu story and influences. I have to do more research to confirm.
CLASSIC. You’d find beauties like these all over SEA…except Singapore. They are always well-maintained and in excellent condition. Unfortunately in Singapore, because of the COE system, people are forced to buy new cars every few years instead of properly maintaining old ones.
A whole street dedicated to the Yogya speciality ‘Gudeg’, which is a curry of jackfruit, chicken and egg served with rice. It definitely does not look very appetizing, but I can’t vouch for the taste as I didn’t get a chance to try it.
My rule about food sitting out had to take effect. The Gudeg is pre-cooked and left out. When you order, the servers will pack it into these woven boxes with rice, and all the other ingredients, then you take it home to eat it. The entire street was dedicated to Gudeg… at least a dozen stalls. I had no idea which one was good (and there wasn’t any queue of locals), so I didn’t want to risk it. Also, as much as I like streetfood, I prefer to see it cooked in front of me. Something sitting out, especially in the warm equatorial air is just asking for bacterial growth and trouble.
We were pretty hungry (and hot and tired) once we were done at the palace. First stop, find food. This is the Yogya equivalent of KFC. Fried Chicken in any culture is still fried chicken. There are bad fried chickens, and good fried chickens. This was good. Especially with the chilli sauce that came with it.
Dessert was donuts at JCo. I know there are 2 JCo branches in Singapore. Sadly, I’ve never been to them. If the ones in Singapore are anything like the ones in Yogya, I will definitely give them a shot.
Just our luck, there was some parade going on in the Malioboro main street while we were there. The street was entirely closed to traffic and even after the parade ended, the traffic was at a standstill (see next photo)
TRAFFIC JAM!!!
I really liked these murals. Found them outside a school near Jalan Parangtritis. Basically, the murals are telling the kids to study hard and denounce the Capitalist American Imperialism.
Even the horse-carts have to obey traffic. That’s awesome.