Halo, Yogyakarta!

THE ITINERARY

Day 1: [Jakarta] Soekarno-Hatta International Airport [Yogyakarta] Adisutjipto Airport, Prambanan Temple, Makam Raja-Raja Mataram, All Seasons Hotel

Day 2: Ullen Sentalu Museum, Mirota Batik, Vredeburg Fort, Yogyakarta Batik Monument, Oseng Mercon Ahmad Dahlan, and Yogyakarta City Tour

Day 3: Malioboro Street and Kraton Yogyakarta

Friday, January 13, 2012

Indonesia AirAsia Aircraft Airbus A320

This was my very first experience fly through Terminal 3 Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, it’s new and modern building. I was using Indonesia Airasia Airlines heading to Yogyakarta QZ7556, also my first. The boarding was on the time, and the take off also. The aircraft was surprisingly comfortable, without none of expectation before. I arrived in Adisutjipto Airport, Yogyakarta about 7 am. The flight only took around 1 hour from Jakarta. Overall nice flight.

Adisutjipto Airport, Yogyakarta

I took TransJogja, a shuttle-to-shuttle bus provider, first heading to Prambanan Temple in Sleman area. Prambanan Temple was located in the border of Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta Special Region) and Surakarta (Central Java). The TransJogja was actually the same with TransSarbagita in Bali island, because they have no special way, like TransJakarta. The ticket fare is IDR3,000 for all destination, one-time travel.

TransJogja bus and shuttle

This is what I called development, I feel proud of my country which every city has concern about their each development, so they could afford the convenience of tourist both domestic and international. I found it started many international tourists coming to Yogyakarta, since I believe Yogyakarta offered different specific tourism objects.

Entrance info in Prambanan Temple Complex

Prambanan Temple, Yogyakarta

Prambanan Temple was one of Hinduism temple constructed in 850 CE by Rakai Pikatan. The temple should be in many numbers, since the giant earthquake shoke Southern Yogyakarta in 2006, Prambanan collapsed. Less than 10 biggest temples were remained. Now, they still reconstructed and I really don’t get how could they probably make the temples back to their origin.

Me in Prambanan Complex

After my super tired and tanned journey to Prambanan temple, I was picked up by Sekar, my nice friend, also with his brother, Adi. They took me around, and first destination was Bakso Sido Semi in Kotagede area. ‘Bakso’ means meatball. I ate a bowl of meatball and also a mungbean porridge, their specialties. The price for a bowl of meatball is IDR6,000 and the mungbean porridge is around IDR4,000. The kiosk building was old, located not really far from the complex of Mataram Kingdom Gravery Complex.

I did my Friday Prayer in Mesjid Besar Mataram Kotagede (Mataram Big Mosque, Kotagede). After the prayer, we continued our religious tour inside the gravery complex. So, Mataram Kingdom was ruled all Java until Nusa Tenggara Island, in the past. You could imagine, how big the kingdom was. Before entering the complex, we should obey some rules, including not allowed to take any picture inside the complex plus we should wear a traditional costume. Here they are.

The uniform you should wear before entering the complex. Sekar with me.

In this complex, they were all of the important person of Mataram Kingdom, so, the people in the area were supposed to be very respect the soul buried here, so the rest of the visitors coming. The ceremony were took about 45 mins to be done. So, if you would like to find inner peace by praying for the ancestor soul which you adore most, go get here.

The ceremony entering the graveyard

In front of the building. Very spooky. 😉

After all first interesting destination visited, I checked in to the hotel in Dagen Street, 10 mins walk from Malioboro area. The room was nice, new, and modern.

All Seasons Yogyakarta

That’s all for my trip for today, Have a nice day.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

So, today was another part of my journey. I took almost an hour TransJogja from the Malioboro shuttle to Kentungan shuttle, northern side of the city. Then continue my travel to Kaliurang area, which the Ullen Sentalu Museum located. I took a minibus as a public trasnportation route Yogyakarta-Kaliurang, the fare was really flexible, depends on the distance. From the Kentungan to near the museum, about IDR7,500. You need to take about 800 meter walk until you reached the museum. So, from my experiences, if you want to travel conveniently to the museum, you should rent a car or at least a motorcycle.

Public minibus

Inside the public van

This is the entrance gate, the domestic tourist fee is IDR25,000 included a museum guide (it’s really recommended for you to hear the explanation so you would understand everything clearly), 50 mins museum tour, and a special drink. For international IDR50,000 is needed to pay, so the guide will use English during his/her explanation.

Ullen Sentalu Museum Entrance

Ullen Sentalu Museum is a private museum that was initiated by Haryono family and now is managed by Ulating Blencong Foundation. It was established in 1994 and officially inaugurated on March 1, 1997, coinciding with the date commemorated every year as a historical day for Yogyakarta City. The inauguration was done by KGPAA Paku Alam VIII, who was at that time the Governor of Yogyakarta Special Province. (Ullen Sentalu Museum)

No picture taken allowed inside the museum, but you could find many memorable things related to the story of Mataram Kingdom story. The details you haven’t understand before, should be asked to the guide, they should really know about it. The other name of the museum is Javanese Culture and Art Museum. This museum is privately organized, but the quality is beyond most of the public museum I ever visited in Indonesia. We should be proud of it. World-class museum, really.

The trip to the museum which really hard was all worth. A-half-day trip was gonna be something left in your life experience. So, I went back to the hotel for a moment rest, then continued to explore Malioboro street. I just take a look at some things along the street, and then entered one of the store which was well-known, Mirota Batik. It sells many handicraft as Yogyakarta’s specialties souvenirs. So, everything you’d like to find, will be found here, and it’s cheaper.

Ambience of Malioboro

I met a woman who making batik in the store, and what a WOW. She did it very fast and neatly. I adore her.

WOW!

As my walk along the Malioboro street was heading to the Vredeburg Fort, I visited it. But unfortunately, they already closed. The entrance fee was just IDR2,000 (also while all the buildings opened), so I just explored the park, and the things outside the showroom.

Vredeburg Museum Entrance

Around the Vredeburg Museum

Not really far from the museum, I visited Yogyakarta Batik Monument. The monument explained each pattern of batik that Yogya has. You could easily read each pattern together with the explanation.

Yogyakarta Batik Monument

At night, I was picked up by my very nice friend, Tedy Setiana Muslich (@TMuslich). He is a famous radio announcer in Yogya, Swaragama FM. He took me to Oseng Mercon in Ahmad Dahlan street. It’s a very hot and spicy. For anyone who like the hot and spicy meals, you should try it. Chicken, Dove, Duck, in fried or grilled.

After the dinner, Tedy took me to take a short city tour. He explained some of the important  till unimportant places around Yogya. Anyway, what a day. I love Yogyakarta. 🙂

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Today was my last day in Yogyakarta for this trip. I went exploring the Malioboro street. All I found along the street was the gift; shirts, keychain, bracelet, many thing which are very unique related to the city. Repeated items for different sellers would be find along the street. Don’t forget to try Yogyakarta Becak. A traditional vehicle.

I visited Kraton Yogyakarta, a place for Sultan lives. Not really much to say, because I didn’t pay for any tour guide. But the picture will tell you my visits.

Part of Kraton. Place for gathering.

A room which consist of personal infos of each Sultan

The gate of Alun-Alun Selatan

That’s all my trip for this time. I left Yogyakarta using Indonesia AirAsia QZ7557. The flight was arrived earlier in Jakarta. Only 45 mins.

So, Yogyakarta was a destination for cultural sights. If you interested in it, Yogyakarta has more and more tourism destionation to explore. Because the time limit, I just visited the place ever mentioned before in my post. Once again, thank you so much Sekar, Mas Adi, and Tedy for accompany me during my trip.

See you, real soon. 🙂