Another Victoria's Secrets

Hi all! I just got back from Yogyakarta and it was tiring. But I have a whole bunch of stories and photos I desperately wanna share with you and so here I am, all red-burnt and sleepy still working on my Macbook trying to pour everything that I absorbed from the past 4 days I spent.



I woke up by 3 a.m. and hurriedly get ready to go to the airport by taxi. It was 4.30 a.m. and I was waiting alone for my cousin to come at Terminal 3. We were flying with AirAsia which is the only airline that uses the new terminal so it was nice to be there, experiencing a brand new building.


Anna came shortly after my arrival, along with her classmates Maartje and Andrea in Holland when she was an exchange student during high school years, and also with Marion, another Dutch girl who met with Maartje when they were in Gili Air, Lombok, just before they came to Jakarta last Monday.


We all departed by 6 a.m. and landed safely at Adisucipto Airport, Yogyakarta, before 7 a.m. We headed straightly to the hotel at Mayjend Sutoyo street, around the Keraton. I found both the hotel and transportation address from yogyes.com, which I found very useful to arrange this backpacking-style trip.

We reached Wisma Puspita by around 8 a.m. and after checked in and put our stuff in our family-sized room (which was really cheap when divided for 5 persons), we walked to the Keraton area. We met a kind man half way there who told us that the Keraton was still closed during the fasting month. It will be open by 12 p.m. so we went to a painting shop at Kemetiran Kidul.








At Novi Studio, we browsed and shopped for some batik painting on cotton. But I got a really nice one from silk with special price as I've bought two others. Maartje and Marion also shopped for some paintings and we were so happy because they sold them for fixed price while other shops are selling with multiple times price.








We walked along the Malioboro to the Sonobudoyo Museum and had a tour there. We also practiced to play a very simple gamelan music. A guy guided us thru the rooms and dropped us at Jl. Wijilan for gudeg lunch. We wanted to go to Yu Djum's (which was told as the most delicious of all) but it was full so we went to Ny. Rini's. It was not a nice one :(


We were kind of late to go to Balai Besar Kerajinan dan Batik at Jl. Kusumanegara, but luckily they were still welcoming us. So this little group of five started the batik course with Ibu Rida and Mbak Irfa, also with Bu Kartini the batik expert and some other helpful men till around 3 p.m.

We learned how to draw the pattern with pencil, to cover it with the boiled wax liquid by canting, dye it with the artificial color, and lock the color with some acid. We then simmer it on boiled water to remove the wax, then wash and rinse it, and voila, our very own batik cloths are ready to be dried!


It was not even 4 p.m. when we were done and we headed to Kotagede for silver handmade at Ansor's Silver. After a little shopping we went to House of Raminten, the place people been talking about, around Gereja Kota Baru. But we were a bit too early and we walked around the corner to find an internet cafe (it was Manna by Mirota Bakery) to kill time.

At around 7 p.m. we were back to House of Raminten and we got a spot in the corner of the place, someplace quite on the stage they called as lesehan. Then Nadya (little sister of Nalya, my elementary schoolmate and once best friend to my sister) and her boyfriend Cahyo joined us and we had some dinner, tho the meal didn't really amuse us.

During the in-town trips we met Pak Bambang from the Primkopad Taxi and we got his number so we could call him anytime we needed him. This is important, because there weren't so many taxis passing in the city, especially on the less traffic streets. It was around 11 p.m. when we finally back to the hotel and we were all tired and went to sleep immediately. A very tiring and sleepy day, and not-so-nice meals we had all day, but we were all glad for the day...

We got up early and after the nasi goreng breakfast the hotel served, we were ready for the journey. Pak Supri, our driver with black Avanza rental car, was already there by 7 a.m. and we headed right to the north to Sendang Sono, a Catholic retreat place. It was around 9 a.m. when we reached the place and we were like the only visitors there, out of nowhere, and it felt incredibly quiet and peace in there.









After (more of) a little shopping, we headed to Borobudur and had a tour around but without any guide for Anna and I had been there before and we thought that there wouldn't be necessary to have the tour guide. Shockingly, international tourists had to pay $15 and 50% discount for students, but only around $2.5 for domestics. Marion was terribly upset about that for she paid the most expensive of all (Maartje and Andrea still had their student cards).



So after they covered each of us with sarong, we went up from the east steps and went around clockwise at each floor and went down from any other steps (we exited from north). Too bad more of the stupas were damaged by the earthquake and volcano eruption happened lately so we couldn't go further.


Of course, we did a little shopping again on our way out, and Pak Supri was already there waiting for us. We had lunch on the way back to the town, planned to go to Sekar Kedathon but found that it was kind of too expensive so decided to go to the Bale Kambang next to it. The lunch was a nice Indonesian meal and everybody was happy.

We went by the other road but it was again too boring for us so we fell asleep (except for Maartje for she was having this motion sickness if she falls asleep in the car) and by no time we were passing Jl. Magelang which still had huge rocks from the eruption on each side of the road and saw how awful the houses were damaged by them.



We headed to Kaliurang near the Merapi volcano, but we were late for Ullen Sentalu Museum which was closed by 3 p.m. Too bad, cuz the spooky museum holds the story of Keraton Solo and Keraton Yogya and all the cultures and horror stuff inside of it. But it was okay and we headed to the watching tower which was also closed (but we sneaked in there, led by Marion) and went to the top of it.

It was such a beautiful sight from the tower, to see the mighty grayish volcano behind the clouds up there, tho around that was still covered with a lot of sands and rocks from the eruption. I was continuously amazed by the mightiness of Merapi, standing quite distant and taller from the other mountains around it, giving me sort of a goosebumps just to imagine what's boiling far down inside of it.

After a while we felt enough and went back to the city, looking for another internet cafe for Andrea's flight booking and then trying to find Gadjah Wong, a riverside fine restaurant by friend's recommendation. But too bad it was closed, so we asked Pak Supri for another nice dining place but near the hotel. He showed us K-Meal.

It was such a nice little place with lots of woods, serving wood-fired pizza and other western food, filled with lots of foreigners eating beside us. The price was good (not expensive at all for pizzas that good) and we closed the dining by ordering le Fondant au Chocolat et Glace Vanille. It was awfully nice!

We were walking back to the hotel because Pak Supri's 12-hours rental was done by 7 p.m. and by 9 p.m. we were all ready on our beds. It was kind of a new thing to me, having 5 girls inside a room, each busy with books or laptop or smartphone. Indonesian girls tend to be chatting or doing other stuff before sleep but it was so funny--and fun--to see us all disciplined by ourselves on our beds. Sort of a new experience to me.

Andrea was flying to Bali that morning so after saying goodbyes, she went by taxi and we were left with our breakfasts. Nadya and Cahyo arrived around 7 a.m. along with Pak Supri as well, and we headed to the southeast now, out of the city and up on the mountains to Gunung Kidul (kidul means south in both Javanese and Sundanese).


We arrived in Ngrenehan Beach by around 9 a.m., one of those beaches my friend recommended us to, but disappointed to see so many fishermen and a small village around and fisherman's boats in that little bay, so we decided to go to the other beach Cahyo already knew about. The beach next to it, Ngobaran, had some kind of Balinese little temple on it, but not quite a good one to spend a day in.






Going to the direction of Baron, we stopped by Tritis, a Saint Mary Cave. It was a large natural cave with stalactite and stalagmite and big Saint Mary handmade statue and a Catholic altar for masses. It was quite chilly and peaceful place to say prayers, and we were amazed by the glory of God's creation there. A lady said a prayer for all of us before we left, and more ladies brought umbrellas for each of us. It was a nice stop we made.









Marion and Maartje and I prepared our sarong and lay down with our books under the midday sun while Anna was hiding from the sunlight for she has this allergy of the sun. Nadya and Cahyo were playing by the sand and sea water, then got along with a local family. It was really a nice day in the sun, and I had a terrible sunburn after that, but I think it's just worth it. I fell in love huge time with the beauty of Krakal Beach and the shining sun and the chilly sea breeze.

By around 1.30-2 p.m. people were get bored and hungry so we had to end the relaxing time. Not too far from it, just when we reached the main road, we found Kampoeng Baron, an artistic restaurant belongs to a foreigner. I could instantly tell by seeing the interior and decorations of it. We had quite a nice late lunch there, and after that, headed back to the city.


We reached our hotel by 6 p.m. and separated with Nadya and Cahyo there. We quickly changed clothes and in no time were heading to Prambanan Temple in the east. We didn't go to the temple for it was closed by 5 p.m. but we were there for the Ramayana Ballet at 7.30 p.m. We paid for the Special seats for IDR 175,000 and got the frontal back seats.


The dance was kind of boring sometimes but pretty much okay and they gave us time to take pictures with the dancers at the end of the performances--which made me and Maartje bursted in laughter to see them up close for they looked really nice from afar. What a magic make up artist could do. Lol.

We did take photos of the Prambanan too, which was standing so majestic, helped with the spot-lighting from below. I was always looking in an awe for Roro Jonggrang temple in the middle, which was also damaged greatly in the inside from the earthquake last year. It was so close and familiar yet felt so mystical and distant. It always take my breath away just to look at it.



Pak Daliman, colleague to Pak Bambang the taxi driver picked us up and we headed back to the hotel by around 10 p.m. We packed up that night a little for it was also a tiring day for all of us, and for me, a painful night dealing with sunburn all over my legs and arms. But should I say it was another great day that we spent.

It was our last day there and basically there was no such plan for the day so we got up a little late, did a lot of packing and checked out from the hotel by 9 a.m. We then took a bus to Malioboro street and after got some cash from the ATM, we walked along the shops to Beringharjo Market. There, we found so many shops selling batik clothing with cheap prices (as long as you can bargain like Maartje--she has an amazing bargaining skill indeed).


Marion had to get her phone fixed so she and Anna went to the phone shops while Maartje and I stayed for more shopping. We did found many beautiful and cheap stuffs there, all batik for cloth, shirts, dress, bag and laptop case. We also found nice souvenirs for our hommies back home. At 12 p.m. we took a taxi to Jl. Wijilan and had a gudeg lunch. This time, it tasted better. Way better than the first one.


We headed back to the hotel hurriedly and then stopping by at Bakpia Pathok 25 to buy some packages home before we finally arrived at the airport. We were 1.5 hours early, but we still had to check in and stuff, and waited for our 3.40 p.m. flight came. Marion's flight to Bali was 30 minutes after ours. It was kind of sad to depart from each other after 4 days we've been together, but we hope we'd meet again with each other soon.

We landed in Jakarta before 5 p.m. and Uncle Patrick, Aunt Paula and Andrew were already there fetching us. They dropped me at around Slipi then I continue by taxi home to Joglo. I was tired, sleepy and sunburnt, but also contented by all the new experiences and new friends I got the last few days. It was such a valuable thing to treasure and I'm surely gonna do the backpacking trip again soon :)

P.S. I'm still waiting for the pictures from the others because I didn't bring any camera with me, so I'll update them ASAP. Just wait! :)

I'm just super busy now with work and got nearly no time for anything else. But in two days I'll be leaving the city to Yogyakarta town in Central Java with my cousin and her friends for a short holiday and I'm so excited about it. So pardon me for disappearing from posting till at least Sunday! Btw, Happy Fasting to all Moslems... Cya!