The Honeymoon pt4

One full day left in Jogyakarta, time to start off the day with a becak ride through town

 

Passing by the Tugu monument nearby our hotel on the way back South to the city center.

 

 

 

 

And through other various sites along the Malioboro shopping district street

 

 

 

Past the Sultan’s palace

Where our 1st stop begins, at the Kraton palace

The history of the Sultan of Jogyakarta is an interesting one stemming back to this city’s importance as a spiritual center.  A previously separate sultanate, Jogya joined Indonesia as a self-governing province in support of their struggle for independence from Japanese and Dutch occupation, and still maintains their own sovereignty over regional affairs.  It became quite clear that the sultan (both the 1st governor for life post-independence and his son, the current sultan ) is a highly revered and respected individual, much like some of the early Han dynasty monarchs.  The current sultan is a man who clearly sees his position of power as one meant for service.  “I may be a sultan, but is it not possible for me to also be a democrat?”  Can’t argue with SE Asia’s successful history of benevolent dictators

Oh sultan, why must you tempt me so… in your own museum?

Having spent a full day visiting some of the world’s most impressive temples, we elected to skip the majority of those housed within Jogya and continue on to other sites such as the Taman Sari… the sultan’s (former) private water castle.

It was en route to the Taman Sari that we had our first of many pleasant experiences with the über'-friendly Indonesians.  Leaving the Kraton complex, an older gentleman began walking with us, talking about our continuing trip to Bali (where he worked at the Hyatt), life growing up in Jogya (where is wife is from)… our knee-jerk reaction was of course along the lines of what does this guy want, why is he here, etc. before coming to the realization that he actually is just genuinely friendly and wanted to talk with some visitors to make sure we were enjoying Indonesia.  Upon reaching our destination, we bid our fond farewells and he walked back from whence he came.  What a country!

The infrastructure was quite well maintained, but clearly not the bathing facilities.  If there’s ever a new renovation project for the local government of Jogyakarta to undertake, I vote restoring the facilities of the Taman Sari back to bathing conditions.  Here you see the view from the sultan’s tower of the bath dedicated to his private harem.  It is good to be the sultan.

On the grounds here we are introduced to some traditional puppet making (here of course, Rama an Sinta).  Intricately crafted from buffalo skin, when finished these puppets are quite durable and flexible.

 

So here we are in the world’s largest Islamic nation that is the home to strong Buddhist, Hindu, and Christian minorities with a multicultural heritage that continues to celebrate the Hindu epic of Rama and Sinta with such admiration.  It’s as one taxi driver in Bali (predominantly Hindu) would later tell me “I may be a Muslim, but we are all Indonesians first.”  Indonesia certainly has had their share of unity problems (more on this later) but overwhelmingly I have to say that most (certainly all whom I spoke with) citizens reflect this individual’s mentality.  I really must applaud the Indonesians’ adherence to patriotism inline with Jefferson and Montesquieu’s secular ideals.  I know it doesn’t help garner any ratings but if only guys like Rush Limbaugh or Avigdor Lieberman would take note.  Xenophobia sucks.

Lastly a quick visit to the underwater mosque which leads us out through this quaint little village and to a view overlooking the quaint 500,000 strong city of Jogyakarta

 

 

 Although I no longer travel quite like I used to, receptiveness towards Americans in the 6 countries I have visited since the election has been markedly improved for one reason (far more than just W/Cheney’s departure or the overture towards a more cooperative/less unilateral foreign policy).  As you can imagine, thanks to the few years of his youth that he spent here Indonesians love Obama like McAdams loves Gosling.  It truly was moving to see already brimming Indonesians’ eyes further light up talking about a poor black kid who grew up here to then become the most powerful man in the free world. And even a world away, where the average GDP is $2200/yr, the message of HOPE continues to resonate strongly.  Whether justifiably so or not, let’s hope we as a people never forget Pandora’s critical lesson.

A quick stroll through the bird market, and finally then we have made it to the Batik Arts Center!  Batik is a traditional Indonesian art that involves melting wax onto either cotton or silk, then creating breaks very intricately in order to form patterns that remain when dyed with ink.  A Batik can often take months to complete and go through several different ink dying steps.  Sometimes these wax patterns are imparted regularly with a template, sometimes they are done completely creatively by hand.  The batik is of course one of the top souvenir draws in Indonesia that brings out the most acute of hagglers where the untrained eye is certainly not one to rely upon to assess value.

Fortunately, while departing the bird market we ran into another super-friendly Indonesian who works at the Jogya tourist office.  This kind soul suggested that we visit the Batik Arts Center, which is a school where many of the country’s top artists work at with fixed non-negotiable prices that are fair and accurate.  This cheerful Indian-accented man who walked with us for 1km would have taken us there personally had he not been on the way to pick up his son from school.  Thus, we made perhaps a little more than just a few purchases here… only upon making a trip back to pick up more money.  Showing up at our 5star hotel carrying a motorcycle helmet through the lobby definitely raised some eyes.  Staying behind as collateral, Michelle was able to sample some true Indonesian delights, such as the onde onde (similar to Chinese sesame balls… but totally different).  We spent much of the remainder of our trip on the lookout for a list of foods that our friendly Batik Arts Center manager gave to us.  Included among his recommendations was a trip to Luwes Luwes, one of the better stores to buy Batik clothing near the Malioboro shopping street… and certainly the most reasonable in terms of price.  It was here that I purchased 3 shirts and really regret not buying more.  This rumor of the “cooling” effects of the cloth actually is quite true.

After another long day out, time for some relaxation at last to enjoy our beautiful $70/night 5star hotel’s facilities

  

 

do you even need 2 guesses to figure out who they are?

 

what a magnificent pool… and comfy batik robe!

Strolling back down the Malioboro street once more at night, which has now become a calle del hambre, complete with serenading guitarists looking for some funds

 

with us stopping to talk to a few others in the road until we came upon this batik artist.  What began as a sales pitch under the guise of an artistic showcase quickly evolved into a little bit of hanging out drinking Bintang beers with him and his Spanish girlfriend.  She, in true European fashion, was nearing the end of a 9 month vacation where she had become smitten with Indonesia and decided to remain for the majority of her SE Asian ventures. Being 18x longer in this country than us, her experiences 100% reaffirmed what we have discovered in a short time – not only the genuine friendliness of Indonesians but also the overall safety for a single woman to be able to travel around without any fear or hesitation.  The two of them had just returned from Laos where they took the opportune batik exposition as an opportunity to venture into the jungles.  Hearing their stories has definitely raised Laos from relative obscurity to quite high on my travel list.  And of course only made me wish more and more to have scheduled more time to spend in the “real” Indonesia vs. flying out for the tourist-world of Bali tomorrow.  If Michelle had not been dying of hunger, I think we probably would have spent much more than a reasonable amount of time hanging out on Jogya’s back alley streets… but who can say no to more avocado juice and ginger tea?

 

So now to the last day in beloved Jogyakarta… time to stop off for some street food before making our way to the airport.

 I still don't know exactly what “lotek” is, but man this lemongrass-infused stone bowl-ground fresh mix of spices and goodness may have been the tastiest meal I had among a plethora of delicious Indonesian dishes.  At $0.90 including a hefty tip, how can you go wrong?  Better yet, we got to eat it the true Indonesian way, just as with Ethiopians: with our hands!

 

The only thing better to help wash it down is some civet (basically a giant rat) digested-coffee.  If you’ve never been forwarded the articles about $30 cups of coffee, these beans come from Indonesia, Thailand, or Malaysia… home to civets who engorge on coffee cherries only to have some poor soul sort through their feces for the digested beans.  Evidently these creatures’ magical intestinal juices help to dissolve the bitter/sour aromatics from coffee leaving only the tasty goodness… or perhaps just that their discerning palette naturally picks out only the best beans?  Either way, when a bag like this (luckily for me the last one! otherwise I would have bought many more) goes for only $2 I HAVE to buy it. Perhaps blinded by the novelty, I thought it was really quite good.  Kind of mild like a Kona, yet full-bodied like a Costa Rican.  That shit’s complex.

And now passing the hump of our journey, en route to Denpasar to begin the Bali leg of our trip.  Did I mention how much I love Garuda Indonesia airlines btw?  Named after the mythical bird, how many airlines can take you on a 3-leg multi-stop R/T journey for only $174… let alone on a spacious A330?  Brilliant!