The Yogyakarta Story 2010

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Saturday, 7th August 2010

It has been 6 long years since I last took an Air Asia flight to a holiday destination. Gone were the days of old and obsolete planes from the bygone era. We were greeted by brand new A320 flights for our flight this morning to Yogyakarta, the cultural heart of Indonesia. Arriving at Terminal 3 basement foodcourt at 9.15am this morning, my mates had already demolished their breakfast as I proceeded to get a quick bite from one of the grumpy storeholders from China.

"Please leave your sour plum faces at home. This is not your HDB kopitiam. You are representing the Singapore Changi Airport Group."

The Air Asia check-in counters were mobbed by eager holiday makers who were making use of the National Day long weekend for a quick getaway. Our flight to Yogyakarta was filled to the brim as we waited patiently to clear our check-in and immigration procedures at Changi Airport. A funny sight that greeted us was a huge Tiger Airways banner hovering over the Air Asia check-in counter. Coincidental or a deliberate attempt to sabotage, we leave it to their marketing folks to sort out the mess themselves.

11.10am. Our flight did not managed to depart on time today due to heavy traffic over Changi's air space. That's what I managed to decipher from the pilots half pass six English. Just before departure today, my fellow passengers seated one row behind let out a cry of disgust as they inspected their dirty seats.

"Wah lau, so dirty. They never clean one meh?"

The flight is brand new but apparently, their housekeeping had failed miserably. The same tale was shared by HQ as she did her toilet inspections during the flying time. Cham!

After more than 2 hours on the sky, our flight landed smoothly at Yogyakarta Adisutjipto International Airport. A long snaking queue welcomed all of us as the Englishman closed by was making hell lot of noise in front of the customs officer.

"There's so many of us out there but there's only 1 counter in service. Unbelievable!"

After probably a good 30 minutes, 4 of us managed to clear the customs when we were approached by a couple of taxi touts. One of them was Hermanto, a driver representing Adipura Transport who offered to drive us to our hotel for 50,000 rupiah. He wasn't too pushy with his services which we appreciated.

"50,000 rupiah? That's the same price stated in the Lonely Planet story books."

After a brief check with the helpful staff at the tourism office, we decided to follow Hermanto to his car. Hermanto seemed relatively honest and his APV car was very well-maintained. On the way to the hotel, we decided to engage his service for our next 2 days in Yogyakarta given his reasonable rates and good driving skills.

Hotel Santika that greeted us was a mixed bag. It was manned by a group of very attentive and welcoming personnel. The modest lobby was nicely decorated and our bedrooms were clean. One minor disappointment were the tired looking bathrooms that would certainly benfit from a makeover.

Lunch was a simple affair at the hotel cafe where we ordered a plate of Nasi Goreng each and my perennial favourite, Gado Gado. This was certainly a delicious and wallet-friendly way to fill our hungry stomaches. After a relaxing massage, we left our rooms and roamed in the streets of Yogyakarta. For every few steps we took, we were harassed by the scores of becak drivers that lined the pavements. After a good 20 minutes walk, we finally arrived at the main shopping drag of Jalan Malioboro. The shopping facilities were nothing too outstanding as the store holders were hawking similiar items - batik, slippers and the 25,000 rupiah per piece "I Love Jogya" T-shirts.

We left the stores empty-handed as we proceeded to the Malioboro Mall for our dinner. Bad bad move! The noodles that we had were probably the saltiest we had ever tasted. I guess unless we were having a full blown diarrhoea or running a full scale marathon, we probably won't need that insane level of salt in our foods.

We managed to reach our hotel at 9.30pm to round up the events for day 1 in Yogyakarta. Hermanto would be coming over to pick us up at 7.30am tomorrow morning for our tour of Borobudur Temples and the Losari Coffee Plantations in Magelang. While tourism is a big business in the city, there was certainly not enough tourist friendly facilities at least for the area near our hotel.

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