It was precisely a week ago that I went to Garin Nugroho's house for a 9 p.m. meeting and it was almost midnight when they told me to go to Yogyakarta on Monday's first flight. They offered me a job as researcher for Mas Garin's upcoming documentary film. So I had a family day with my sister on Sunday, and prepared a luggage for my 4-days research trip. The schedule was to go on 5 a.m. Lion Air flight. But alas, I just woke up at 4:30!

The producer team I went with, Om Wowo, got a problem with his online taxi's car. So both of us couldn't fly and we had to buy the second ticket by our own money. I arrived at Halim airport at 6 a.m. instead of the planned 4 a.m. meeting point in Soetta airport. This made everything much easier tho: closer airport, more convenience flight schedule, and of course, much cheaper cost. We flew by the 7:25 a.m. Citilink flight and arrived in Yogya's Adisucipto airport at 8:20 a.m. Turned out, the Lion Air we were supposed to fly on, was delayed and hadn't even take off by the time we arrived in Yogya. So me waking up late and Om Wowo's car incident were actually blessing in disguise!

Arriving at the gudeg city, we were picked up by Om Yayan, who was our driver for the next 4 days and also Om Wowo's schoolmate. He drove us to Kopi Klotok, a place I'd heard 3 months ago but hadn't visit so I did now. It's usually crowded especially at meal times, but when we got there at 9 a.m. we got a comfortable spot on the terrace. We ordered the famous pisang goreng (banana fritter), jadah goreng (fried sticky rice), wedang jahe gepuk (hot ginger drink), and of course, their signature kopi klotok (special brewed black coffee).

Kopi Klotok

After being refreshed, we headed to Magelang. The order was to visit Kenalan Village, and so we did. There we were welcomed by Mas Kamto from BumDes (Badan Usaha Milik Desa), and Mas Seno and Mas Sunu from Balkondes (Balai Ekonomi Desa; but balkon also means balcony). It is a ministry's program for 20 villages around Candi Borobudur to empower the potential and to promote the beauty to the world. Their program includes building the inns (they call as homestay) and 'balcony' (that we call as bale) to host the guests. And each village is supported by different state-owned enterprise, so they all have different designs.

the entrance to Desa Kenalan's Balkondes

the balkon to receive guests

huge ancient rock there speaks for something..

the openness of bale welcomes guests to enjoy the fresh breeze here

talking not preaching

some of their signature dishes include my fave tempe mendoan, jenang leri, and wedang klamijoro

jenang leri is more like a Bubur Manado made out of corn flour, and wedang jahe klamijoro is ginger drink with milk

Mas Seno, Om Wowo, Mas Kamto, Mas Sunu

We talked and talked all day there on the balkon for it was raining hard for hours and we couldn't go anywhere. It was a fun, inspiring talk tho; I learned a lot from there (and if you ask me, I'd tell you in other story). After the rain stopped, we visited one of the villagers' house to see the woven bag of pandanus leaves. Oh, before the rain we also visited a house that produce slondok. It is their signature cassava crisps that are made entirely in this village. We could watch the whole processes from picking to drying to frying to packaging if we stay over in this village.

one of the villagers' house who produces slondok

(sorry I forgot to ask this lady's name)

the slondok is dried under the sun

ready-to-eat slondok in packaging with various tastes

the house that produces woven bags

gotta show off my sewing skill with this lady

Om Wowo and Mas Kamto, talking to Ibu Budi Rahayu the bag-weaver

the woven bags

The price they set for a room starts from Rp 350,000/night. It offers 3-star facility with breakfast, and the priceless fresh mountain forest air. The atmosphere was fresh and chill, and I imagine it'd make a great place to do morning yoga or late night meditation here. Might as well go back here one day to try staying over here myself! (tell me if you want to join ya~)

they have 10 inn rooms here

with a cozy 3-star hotel facility

it's nice, quiet, and chilled here

I'd spend half a day here just to sit and read in silence

looking at the balkon area from the homestay inn

(I know you'll agree with me)

We were then ushered to visit Balkondes' headquarter and we got to meet several of the experts there. These people are the ones who think and do all the programs (not a temporary project but a long-term program) of Balkondes and make sure everyone in the area knows about this. The goal is to make the villages around Candi Borobudur (that apparently are still far below welfare point) to self-sustain themselves and later can be another tourism destinations beside the famous Buddhist temple.

the headquarter of Balkondes Borobudur

pardon the poor quality but these people are the experts who work for Balkondes programs

By sunset we asked for leave and headed back to Yogyakarta. I was introduced to Om Heru, one of the pioneers of art around the Keraton area. One of his programs is Senja Bersastra di Malioboro, and he gave me the compilation book of poetry made by the Komunitas Rondjeng. He is also the owner of Rondjeng cafe at the southeast part of Keraton fort. You should visit for their super-cheap but yummy wedang (ginger drink) variations!

thank you Om Heru!

It was 10 p.m. and we checked in at Edelweiss Hotel at Demangan area. It was quite a long day for me and I still needed to compile a report for Jakarta team for the research we did that day. I was tired but thrilled at the same time for it was always a new experience to have (and new places to go) in this magical city of Yogyakarta. Carry on to my Day-2 report here!