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| Shop at Kasongan |
On Saturday February 10
th 2013 two friends, the
young son and pembantu of one friend, and I went to Jogjakarta for our three
day weekend over Chinese New Year. We rode the train both directions. It took
about 5 hours. On the way to Jogja we left at 7:30a.m. We had to catch a cab
starting at 6:15a.m. We all live in different neighborhoods. We got executive
class. I am not sure if there are different companies, but in talking with some
of the locals and seeing their pictures it did not seem as if ours was executive.
We stopped at several towns to pick up or let off passengers. Also, we had
vendors come and sell food products when we were stopped at the different
towns. The ride was pretty bumpy. Also, there was a toilet and it was open to
the ground, so basically anything that went in there went straight onto the
ground in the tracks. When we got to Jogjakarta we met up with the friends of
the pembantu that were going to drive us around. They took us to the hotel that
one of the ladies had booked and we decided it was not the right place. Not in
good condition and not in a good location. I had a hotel that a friend
recommended the Bladok Loesman. We really liked it but it did not have cable tv
for the son. I knew we needed a pool but not cable tv. We spent two hours
looking at hotels. We ended up staying at the Malioboro Inn just down the
street from the Bladok Loesman. After we had picked out the hotel we had lunch
at the
Bladok Loesman restaurant. Then, we had the driver and friend drive us
to Kasongan (tempat kerajinana gerabah), the pottery and handicraft/woven road.
The street was just filled with all sorts of incredible shops. Many of the
shops had great things but I don’t have any where to put them. One of them had
an awesome fountain that I really liked but I wouldn’t be able take it with me
someday when I move. Our next stop was Kota gede (tempat kerajinan perak) and
Tom’s Silver shop. They had lots of beautiful silver jewelry and other items
made out of silver. We thought about stopping at Gerega Ganjuran (a church) but
we were very tired so we went back to the Bladok for dinner. We looked at a few
other restaurants but they all were very quiet and the other two were nervous
about eating in a place with so few customers. After that we went to bed.
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| Borobudur temple |
On Sunday we
got up pretty early again. First we went to
Boroburdur (Buddhist) temple. Most pictures
that I have seen only take pictures of the top, so it wasn’t what I expected
but incredible. The only drawback was there were at least a thousand students
there. It wasn’t that I minded the students being there, but every few steps I
was stopped by a group asking to practice their English and to take their
pictures with me. At first they wanted individual pictures. Eventually I had to
tell them I would only do one group picture. I told them that I was willing to
do one picture but that I wanted to enjoy Borobudur and was spending so much
time answering questions and taking pictures. My friends were also asked but
not as much as I was. Once we got to the bottom and were leaving I was flocked
by men wanting to sell me souvenirs. I remember looking up at one point and my
friends were already way past them. On the way to the next stop we went by Mendut. We didn't stop but I did take a picture.
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| Borobudur |
Next we went to
Sendangsono Ziarah Maria. I
was told it was close to Borobudur but it took us two hours to get there. If we
would have gone straight from Jogjakarta it would have only been an hour. We
had all agreed on it but one friend decided that it was taking too long and
wanted to turn around.
Plus, we
couldn’t find it any of our books. My other friend said that we should just
stick it out since it is what I had picked and we were going to her choice
after.
The driver knew the general
area but had to stop a couple times for directions. This place was way off the
beaten path. We had to keep going up and up a hill. We eventually got to the
church. They were doing some performance next door to the church under a roofed
area. We went in and looked at the church and then we got back in the vehicle
and drove to the pilgrimage site. It was another two kilometers. Then we had to
walk up this path that was lined with carts full of rosaries, candles, bottles
for the water, etc. Finally, we arrived at the building. Next to it was a
Virgin Mary statue that had people lighting candles, placing flowers, and
praying in front of it. I had read there was a stream that had holy water, so I
wanted to get some for my friend that had recommended I came to this place.
There were so many different little buildings and stairs everywhere. I saw one
place that had a pump and then walked up a flight and there was a graveyard and
more stairs but I came back. There was a bridge that we crossed and down below
were all these faucets but we had already filled up the bottle up at the pump
so wasn’t sure what those were for. I didn’t get much time to enjoy it because
the other friend was waiting since she hadn’t wanted to come up after it took
so long.
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| Prambanan |
After that we drove two hours to
Prambanan, a Hindu temple.
Right across from the entrance was a beautiful mosque that we stopped by, but
didn’t go in. So for Chinese New Year I saw a Buddhist temple, Catholic
pilgrimage site, Hindu temple and Mosque. After that we went back to Bladok
Loeseman for dinner. They didn’t want to go anywhere else. I kind of wanted to
try the Jogja specialty, Gudeg,
but was tired, so it was ok.
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| Underground Mosque |
On Monday morning we split up. One friend went back to the
Pottery street to by some items. My other friend and I went to
Kraton (Sultan’spalace). We rode in a becak. We had a hard time fitting both of us. Some are
very small. I noticed that they have motorcycles, becaks, horse drawn
carriages, and vehicles on the street. It had a couple large buildings, but
other than a few pictures in the main building and one building with all these
different statues of people there really wasn’t much to see. After that I
wanted to see
Taman Sari (the water castle). This guy that worked at the palace
told us that Taman Sari was closed until noon for renonvations. He told us not
to go the Batik shops in the area because they were like the mob and all of their
items were really expensive. We were told instead to go to the Government Batik
place where the batik was inexpensive.
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| Taman Sari |
We thanked him and decided to choose
another place on my list. As we were coming out becak (baycheck) drivers
pointed us the way to the water castle. One man took us down this small alley.
I finally got him to leave us and let us find our own way. It was a long
roundabout journey because no one would point us in the direct way because they
wanted us to stop at their shops and by stuff. At one point there were these
arches that looked like they might be the entrance but the sign pointed to the
left. So we started walking to the left and then we were pointed down another
alley. My friend didn’t feel comfortable following men down alleys. We kept
going to the left but then we ran into a whole group that told us we were going
the long way around and to go back to the alley. So we went down the alley and
the guy caught up with us and passed us. We tried to let him get way ahead of
us but he kept stopping telling us we should believe him. We told him it wasn’t
that we didn’t believe him we just didn’t want him to lead us. He led us up by
people’s houses and above some roofs.
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| Taman Sari |
We found the ruins of the Taman Sari and saw the arches that were the
entrance to the place. We went down and there were some buildings that had been
pointed out. One led us to an underground Mosque, but it didn’t look like a
Mosque. It was a circular building. We went down another one and when I came up
I had put my hat back on. It was a low stone arch and I thought I was clear but
I smacked my head really hard. After that we were done looking at this place.
It was ok, but we were tired of guys trying to lead us here and there. Looking at the pictures as I write this post. It doesn't look nearly as nice as on the internet. So we
walked back to the hotel and stopped in a few shops. We ate at the Bladok
Loesman one last time. Then we took cabs to the train station. The train ride
back seemed so much longer. The door on our compartment was broken so most of
the time it was left open and it was so noisy.
Next we went to Sendangsono Ziarah Maria. I
was told it was close to Borobudur but it took us two hours to get there. If we
would have gone straight from Jogjakarta it would have only been an hour. We
had all agreed on it but one friend decided that it was taking too long and
wanted to turn around. Plus, we
couldn’t find it any of our books. My other friend said that we should just
stick it out since it is what I had picked and we were going to her choice
after. The driver knew the general
area but had to stop a couple times for directions. This place was way off the
beaten path. We had to keep going up and up a hill. We eventually got to the
church. They were doing some performance next door to the church under a roofed
area. We went in and looked at the church and then we got back in the vehicle
and drove to the pilgrimage site. It was another two kilometers. Then we had to
walk up this path that was lined with carts full of rosaries, candles, bottles
for the water, etc. Finally, we arrived at the building. Next to it was a
Virgin Mary statue that had people lighting candles, placing flowers, and
praying in front of it. I had read there was a stream that had holy water, so I
wanted to get some for my friend that had recommended I came to this place.
There were so many different little buildings and stairs everywhere. I saw one
place that had a pump and then walked up a flight and there was a graveyard and
more stairs but I came back. There was a bridge that we crossed and down below
were all these faucets but we had already filled up the bottle up at the pump
so wasn’t sure what those were for. I didn’t get much time to enjoy it because
the other friend was waiting since she hadn’t wanted to come up after it took
so long. 
