Tuesday, November 5, 2013
As mentioned we arrived in the evening after a long drive from Malang.
By 9pm we were checked-in to The Phoenix Hotel (our drivers pronounced the hotel as fo-nik), where, after freshening up, we enjoyed a drink in the bar.
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
We headed out in the morning, along Jl. Malioboro, towards the Kraton, the palace of the sultans of Yogya. After catching part of a puppet performance and seeing some of the royal hang-outs, we wandered around the narrow streets of the Kampung, the area around the palace. Among others we visited the Water Castle and a puppet making place. The Kraton and Kampung effectively are a 1km square walled city home to around 25,000 people (according to The Lonely Planet Indonesia). As for the warnings about touts and scams… do your research and use common sense.
Thursday, November 7, 2013
We had plans this morning… honest we did! But after going out for coffee and a subsequent wander in the Sosrowijayan neighborhood, we decided to go back to our hotel and take it easy. The intermittent downpours and feeling a bit tired helped us to decide to give today’s temple visit a miss.
Yogyakarta (and Malang) impressions:
Not too sure about this city; I guess after reading and hearing all the time how Yogya is Java’s ‘soul’ I’d expected more…, not too sure what, but different… But I do realize that it is virtually impossible to do more than scratch the surface of a place this size in 2,5 days. Walking around the Kampung and Sosrowijayan area’s (ie.: away from the main drag) gave us a bit of a glimpse of what the city is in all likelihood really about. In Malang we didn’t expect anything and the place grew on us pretty quickly after walking around it’s more residential backstreets and alleys. And this is by no means meant as ‘lesser’ streets, on the contrary, that’s where life happens.
In Yogya the touts and especially the becak drivers can be quite pushy: just about each one you pass will try to get a fare out of you and some of them will follow you around for a bit. To say that there is an over supply of becak (see above photo) would be an understatement. But then again: common sense and simply ignoring all the calls usually does the trick. In Malang we didn’t experience any of this; sure a driver would ask if you wanted a ride, but it was done with a smile and a wave and in a different ‘tone’. Simply smiling back while indicating ‘no’ was ok. Maybe I’m not explaining this very well, but for me (C) the difference is in the perceived ‘aggression’. Sure, ask me if I want a ride, or batik piece, or anything for that matter, but take my ‘no, thank you’ for what it is: ‘no’. But that’s one of the ‘hardships’ of traveling :), so no real complaints! Can’t like all places the same! I’ve experienced this numerous times before and will do so countless more times. You get used to it. Just every now and then it does manage to take away a little of what one hoped to experience (in this instance) in a place that was described as being ‘the soul’ of Java.
Ok, enough ‘traveler’s rant’… let’s go get a drink in the bar 🙂
