Indonesia
Yogyakarta

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    • Day 96

      Sightseeing and traditional dancing

      October 28, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      Started sightseeing together with Oliver, a great guy from Switzerland I've met at Laura's backpacker's hostel (btw. a nice place to stay 😉).
      Already had a beer at the bar street together and decided to go to the water palace together. Very nice old palace or area, which was a huge bath in earlier times, too.
      Exiting the palace at a random place, strolling around and seeking some food, we ran into a nice guy, working at the palace's music corps, who was showing us around at a hidden gem, the Sultan's princess' house.
      Amazing to see the amazing artwork and unbelievable massive handcrafted wooden carvings. Sometimes having golden backgrounds made them like shining from itself.
      A huge main room and a smaller, but even more impressive, meditation room was to see there, another great experience we accidentally walked into and enjoyed so much!
      After that, it occurred that there was a nice tiny coffee house, serving the famous Luwak coffee, so we decided to try it. This special coffee is known worldwide, as it's made out of beans from the poo of the Luwak cat. This cat eats the beans with it's green hull, in its stomach beans are kind of fermented, after collecting and roasting it gives some decent coffee. 😅 To be honest, I didn't taste anything special, was a good one, but I'm not a coffee gourmet, so please try by yourself. 😅😉
      While drinking that coffee, we've met Robin, another nice guy from Germany, after chitchatting until coffee house was closing, we altogether grabbed some food.
      There we decided to go to a traditional dancing show at the museum, in the evening, which was amazing. It was kind of a dancing theater with some dialogs in between, performed in traditional costumes and wearing traditional masks.
      There were way more locals than foreigners visiting it (locals had even more fun, as they understood the spoken words 😅), and the multi-language leaflets gave even us an idea, about the story and the backgrounds.
      Again the unexpected made this day a packed day full of impressions and new views onto amazing Indonesian culture and history. 🥰
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    • Day 33

      Yogyakarta 19/12/2022

      December 20, 2022 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

      Slept like a baby - despite the oppressive heat in my room. Had the fan on all night, which seems to have helped. It's warm already, so it must be time to get up.
      As it turns out, it was a big day today. I went hunting for a replacement for the portable hard drive I dropped and broke :( and managed to find one at a bit below what I'd expect to pay on eBay. Not only this result, but I got my hair cut (photo of smiling barber in black mask). The cost? The equivalent of about 80 pence. (I should feel guilty, but tipping is just not a thing here.)
      In the afternoon, I took in a museum about Indonesian culture & artefacts. Quite good and the staff were very (genuinely) supportive. I seem to have got to Yogyakarta the they're having some kind of promotional push: As far as I can tell, it really does seem to be the cultural hub of the nation.
      Slightly strangely, a woman from India with excellent English started talking to me. She was a bit stranded - looking for a money changer and a hotel/hostel to stay in, and I felt sorry for her, knowing the hassles I had when I arrived. The last I saw of her was her walking into a hostel to check if they would accept a card for payment (it's mainly a cash kinda place).
      In the evening I took in a Gamelan show in a courtyard next to the museum (well, you have to I suppose). It was actually pretty good - a relaxed affair with the musicians hardly appearing to take their job seriously at times - my kind of 'musos'.
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    • Day 31

      Yogyakarta, 17-18/12/2022

      December 18, 2022 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      Feeling very veery tiiired.
      Yogyakarta looks fairly interesting on first sight. I only have a couple of days here as his morning was spent haring about from bus ticket office to train ticket office to check on what are the available options. Through being faffed about by some shady bus ticket sellers, I've booked a train onto Bali for 20th Dec. It's a long 'un which will get me into Bali the following day. (Through exhaustive research, I've come to the conclusion that the luxury ekspress trains are not significantly more comfortable than the ekonomy ones).
      Following more cheap lunch near my place for two nights, Arimbi Hotel, I spent the hot afternoon at one of the nearby temple complexes. Annoyingly, the entrance price for Indonesians is 50000 INR (c. £2:63), whereas for foreigners it's 385000 INR (c. £20:26). What a multiple though! 'Indonesia Welcomes Tourists'. On balance, it was a bit of a let-down. The site is huge, but the temples are a bit 'samey'.
      I'm looking forward to a quiet day tomorrow, maybe buying a new portable hard drive for backing-up photos, definitely not much walking.
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    • Day 30

      Transiting Jokarta 16-17 December 2022

      December 17, 2022 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

      Catching up after two busy and stressful travel days.
      I had to get the bus from the airport to Gambir Stesion in the centre of Jakarta; in order to buy my onward bus ticket to Yogyakarta in Central Java. Almost inevitably, there were no trains when I needed them, so I had to book for the following day (17th).
      This is my second visit to Jakarta, and it hasn't improved much in the intervening years. Madly congested, a few more skyscrapers, but the grime and sense of a city not completely functioning pervade. The city somehow manages to fit huge, swanky hotels cheek by jowl with semi-slum buildings. My place for the night, Hotel. 35, is just around the corner from a Hyatt Regency Hotel. My room is din gy and not clean. The hotel appears to be a fairly grand old thing: carp in an indoor pond, interesting art on the walls. But the rain! Oh my giddy aunt, the afternoon rain is biblical.
      However, I got on a de luxe 'Ekspress' train so things are brightening up.
      In fact, I knew there were going to be 'down' days, unexciting and sometimes difficult days. The last two while I've been travelling from Singapore, into and out of Jakarta were like this. The flight itself went off without too many probs: bumpy for some of the way, especially the landing.
      Hassle at the airport - the endless form filling, queuing and more officialdom. I wonder if the airfares are worth it. Maybe hopping right over Jakarta would've been a better idea.
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    • Day 9

      Wayang Kulit und Straßenleben

      July 12, 2022 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      Tagsüber war erstmal Weiterreiseorga angesagt. Wir wollen nächste Woche eine Tour durch Ostjava u.a. mit Bromo machen, die an der Fähre nach Bali endet.
      Die Reiseagentur war noch in Fußmarschweite. Allerdings stellte sich heraus, dass Yogyakarta doch eine typische indonesische Großstadt ist. Sprich unglaublich viel lauter Verkehr und die Bürgersteige sind teils kaputt teils mit Ständen und Mopeds zugestellt. Nerviger Spaziergang.
      Abends hatten wir uns die Wayang Kulit Vorstellung des Sonobudoyo Museums vorgenommen. Wayang Kulit ist javanisches Schattentheater mit Gamelan-Musik.
      Auf dem Weg dahin steppte echt der Bär auf der einzigen Fußgängerzone Yogyas, der Jalan Malioboro.
      Überall spielten Bands und es gab Tanzaufführungen.
      Ob das immer so ist oder heute irgendein Festival stattfand, konnten wir nicht herausfinden.
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    • Day 4

      Abend in Yogyakarta

      June 30, 2022 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

      Nach mehrfacher Bildersaison mit einheimischen, die Elisa Blindschopf nicht wiederstehen könnten, haben wir eine Führung von einem Künstler durch ein Atelier bekommen. Er hat uns erklärt wie man Wachsbilder ablegt und Elisa hat großzügiger Weise Nadine ein Bild gekauft in das sie sich verliebt hat.Read more

    • Day 4

      PoopCafe

      June 30, 2022 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      Uns hat irgendein Lehrer auf einem Markt angesprochen und uns auf seinem Roller zu einer Kaffeerösterei gebracht. Dort gab's eine kleine Einführung und einen Probecafe.
      Das besondere an diesem Café ist die Herstellung, die Bohnen werden von Katzen gefressen und wieder ausgeschrieden, von Hand eingesammelt, geschält und geröstet. Daher ist es der teuerste Kaffee der Welt.Read more

    • Day 85

      Palaces in Yogyakarta

      February 28, 2020 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

      Actually, 2 palaces plus a unique mosque within one of them.
      The 1st two pictures are of the sultan's palace: one of a courtyard and buildings. Mostly this is now a museum displaying royal possessions. The next two pictures are of the water palace or water castle. This is said to be where the sultan's wives, his concubines and all the children would bathe.
      The last two pictures are of the so called underground mosque. I've not seen anything even close to this before. The structure is round with circular corridors on 2 levels. Then there is the interesting staired structure with the central platform, located in the open center of the circle. The mosque is entered through a nondescript doorway, leading down to a tunnel that leads to steps up into the lower ring. The upper level is only reached by the stair structure in the center. Nothing like any other mosque I've visited.
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    • Day 14

      Javanische Tänze im Sultanspalast Kraton

      July 17, 2022 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

      Im Kraton, dem Sultanspalast der Sonderregion Yogyakarta, finden täglich vormittags kulturelle Veranstaltungen statt. Sonntags gibt es javanische Tänze untermalt mit Gamelan-Musik.
      Die haben wir uns an unserem letzten Tag in Yogyakarta angeschaut.
      Lohnt sich wirklich für 15.000 Rupien pro Person, umgerechnet rund 1€.
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    • Day 22

      Kraton

      March 19, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 32 °C

      Nachdem ich mich endlich wieder getraut hab weiter als ein paar Meter vom Klo wegzugehen haben wir uns den Kraton, also den Sultanspalast in Yogyakarta angeschaut. Der Palast selbst war gar nicht so beeindruckend wie wir erwartet hätten. Die Produktion der Schattenfiguren und deren Geschichte und Symbolik war aber echt spannend! Und der Typ der uns das alles erklärt hat war seeehr lieb!Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Yogyakarta, DIY, يوجياكرتا, Kuta Yogyakarta, Γιογκιακάρτα, Jogjakarto, یوگیاکارتا, योग्यकार्ता, JOG, DI Yogyakarta, ジョグジャカルタ市, Kutha Ngayogyakarta, ჯოკიაკარტა, 욕야카르타, Džogjakarta, योग्यकर्ता, Kota Yogyakarta, Jogjakarta, Джоджакарта, Џогџакарта, ยอกยาการ์ตา, 日惹

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