I went with bus from Cikarang yesterday afternoon. It took about 15 hours to arrive at Terminal Jombor, Jogjakarta. Yeah, what took us so long is the traffic jam.
Based on research we've done before, we looked for motel at Jl.Sosrowijayan. Poor for us, it was peak season n we haven't made any reservation yet. So we finally found a motel -kinda forget it's name-. We got a room with two beds, a fan and a bathroom inside, it is a bit stinky anyway, beggar cannot be chooser,huh? :D
Actually, there are soooo many motels there, it's just not our luck to get that room :D
Small tips for you, if you want to visit Jogja at peak season, make sure you already make a reservation first. You can see here just to compare the price cos as i said before, there are many cheap motels to choose. One recommended motel is "105 Homestay", it's placed at Sosrowijayan, clean, cheaper and a way more cozy than the motel i've stayed before.
After put our backpack at motel, we went to Kraton Jogja by pedicab. Fyi, there are hundreds of human pedicab here. And each of them will offer you a ride to go anywhere in Jogja. The one with us, took us to Kraton Jogja, Taman Sari and Benteng Vredeburg. And he waited for us while we were exploring those spots. Wew, felt like our own pedicab driver, but yes he was :D
First Spot: Kraton Jogja (Sultan Palace)
The Kraton Jogja, or in formal terms Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat is the principal residence of Sultan and his family. The current Sultan is Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.
From its fancy halls, spacious courtyards and pavilion this Kraton looks oh-so-Javanese. And little touch of European style add enchanting value. No wonder this place captivates tourists, either local or foreign. There are some part of places inside Kraton that can be entered by tourists and some are prohibited. I wonder if i were Sultan's family and live in Kraton i would get distracted :D
Bangsal Kencana is one of prohibited part to enter, so i just took picture in front of it. Part of Kraton is used as museum and holds some collections such as gamelan instruments, royal carriages, etc. The museum contains collection of Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX. We could see his pictures, medals of honor, suits, hobbies stuffs and so on.
In other part of museum there is a room that holds batik collection. A lady statue who is drawing batik welcomes us at the entrance. We could see dioramas of such procession, equipment to draw batik, some batik collections. Ah, and there is a well inside the room. Yea...i'm not joking, a well, and it is there in the room. It is an empty well, and trellised. I saw it's bottom though, and it's full of coins. According to the guide, peoples have superstition that throwing coins into the well will bring good luck or something. I dont know whether it is true or not, i didn't try it :D
One thing that would remind me most of Kraton Jogja is the abdi dalem. Abdi dalem are court servant who subjugate their services to Kraton, Sultan and his extended family. They are low-paid, but very loyal. A lot of them are getting old by ages, but their devotion do not faded at all.
I almost forget to mention about the shadow puppet show which was performed in Kraton. The shadow puppet or Wayang Kulit is one of Indonesian heritage that has been acknowledged by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Bravo Indonesia (^_^)V
Performance of shadow puppet show is accompanied by gamelan (musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from Java or Bali). I dont know exactly what was they were playing, but some foreign tourists i saw seems like enjoying the show ^_^
Second Spot: Taman Sari (Water Castle)
Formerly, Taman Sari was a place for Sultan and his family's recreation. Other function is used as hiding place for royal family from enemy attack. Once we enter, there is spacious yard which was used for performing traditional dance (as said by the tour guide). Then we will enter the bathing pool, inner and outer pool. In outer pool there are two pools, one for children, one for women.
Between inner and outer pool there is building for Sultan. He might peep...oh no, i mean he might watch women swimming in the outer pool, then he might ask one of them to accompany him. To show which one he choose, Sultan throws her jasmine flower( there are lotta jasmine plants in the Taman Sari).
I wonder why does this building have no doors, in as much as the building consists of several rooms. The guide explained us that it's the philosophy of openness. Actually, there are many philosophy along with Javanese building, particularly this Taman Sari. The architecture itself is a mixture and symbolization of interfaith harmony.
Then we went to the underground tunnel by walking through narrow alley in Kampung or village around the site. The villagers sell batik craft here, batik clothes and batik paintings. The underground tunnel is such a passageways to the Sultan palace.
There is secret tunnel too, according to the legend it connects to South Sea or Laut Selatan (The Indian Ocean) where Nyai Roro Kidul lives. In Javanese folklore, Nyai Roro Kidul is a supernatural queen of the South Sea. But the secret tunnel now is closed.
In the tunnel we could see such a circle construction which formerly used as praying room. In the center of the the praying room, there is a well for ablution, but it's dry now.
Around the Taman Sari complex lies some ruins, and they've been restored.
Third Spot: Benteng Vredeburg (Vredeburg Fortress)
This museum is kinda quiet and spooky. Inside i only saw dioramas and i didn't explore more. Outside there are few people took some photographs, yeah...you know, museum, vintage style.
Once, when we're inside museum there's a moment which caused us run out. Kinda goosebumping because of spookiness :D
Fourth Spot: Alun Alun Kidul
After spooky moment inside Benteng Vredeburg, we went to Alun-Alun Kidul or The South Square. It is famous for the-walking-through-two-banyan-trees-with-eyes-closed attraction, lately i know this is called Masangin. The belief says that those who succesfully do it will get blessings.
After renting black scarf to close the eyes, i tried the Masangin, just for fun. And....yaayyy, i did it successfully. No cheating, no peeping, just walking quickly ^_^
Then we bought Ronde, a warm ginger-taste liquid containing peanut, bread chunks, sugar palm fruit, and rounded rice dough. Such a perfect beverage to accompany everyone while enjoying afternoon atmosphere at South Square. Not only beverages, food are sold here too. Leker(thin crispy pancakes), fried mushrooms, fried bananas, and many more.
We went back to motel at dusk. After cleaning up our body, we go to Malioboro for the reason of our hungry stomach. It's crowded there, pedestrians, pedicabs, horsecarts load the road. And many Lesehan lie along the pavements. They set up open front tents, lay out straw mat and put small tables to place the food.
While we're eating, some minstrels entertained us with their guitar and voice. What a wonderful way to end up this first blissful day at Jogja. Now it's time to sleep, take a rest. Another journey is still waiting tomorrow ^__^
Travelling expenses:
Cikarang - Jogja (Terminal Jombor) on bus = IDR 120K
Transjogja = IDR 3K
Motel rate = IDR 100K
Pedicab = IDR 15K /bargainable (a tip for you, choose older one, mostly they are very bargainable :D)
Entrance ticket:
Kraton Jogja = IDR 5K + 1K for camera
Taman Sari = IDR 3K + 20K for tour guide (5K is okay for them actually ~_~")
Benteng Vredeburg = IDR 1,5K
Food and beverage:
Ronde = IDR 3,5K
Snack(leker,fried mushroom,etc) = IDR 1K ~ 10K
Dinner at Malioboro = varies, from IDR 10K ~ 30K
No comments:
Post a Comment