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Published: August 8th 2007
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Taman Sari
Water Palace, was a paradise for old Sultanate. 25 & 26 July 07
Kraton - The Story of Sri Sultan Hamengkubwono IX
Today I and ck having a breakfast at road side stall. Each of us took 2 bowls of Mie Ayam and Baksu Ayam, 4000Rp each.
Our destination were Kraton and Taman Sari. Kraton is a palace or traditional residence of Jogja Sultan. It was built in 1755, and it has been a cultural center right up to the present day. The Sultanate of Jogja was come from the Sultanate of Mataram. In 1755, the invader, the Dutch East India Company divided the Mataram into two, i.e Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat with Yogyakarta as the capital and the Sultanate of Surakarta Hadiningrat with Surakarta (Solo) as the capital. Sultan Hamengkubuwono I was the 1st Sultan in Jogja, while Pakubuwono III who was the ruler of the Sultanate of Mataram as the Sultan of Surakarta.
The entrance ticket to the palace was 12,500Rp (not 7,500Rp). From the entrance it is advised to hire a tour guide and the fee is paid in donation way. We hired a tour guide, she led us to walk through all the places in the palace, from the residence of
Road side stall
We took breakfast here. Sultant to the Sri Sultan Hamengkubwono IX exhibition room. The Sri Sultan Hamengkubwono IX exhibition room displays the items such as traditional clothes, plates, gifts from other countries and etc.
The Sultan played a vital role in Indonesia's independence struggle against the Dutch. On 05/09/1945, he together with Surakarta Sultant Sri Paku Alam VIII declared that the sultanates to be part of the Republic of Indonesia. In 1950, the Jogya city was granted a status of Special Region Province which recognizes the power of the Sultan in his own region's domestic affairs. Therefore Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX was appointed as the governor for life. Sri Sultan Hamengkubwono IX passed away on 8 October 1988 and his son, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X becomes a governor.
Taman Sari - Old Days Paradise
The tour took slightly more than 1 hour. We were informed that there would be a Wayang Kulit show for visitors. But due to time constraint, we got to rush to next place, i.e Taman Sari, or Water Palace.
From the map we knew that the water palace is not far away from kraton, while we were walking, there were a local people asking us and
Breakfast
Mie Ayam. took us to the palace. He took us passed thorough local houses. It was surprised that the old day palace was located within the local houses. The local guide took us to a ruin of building; it was a palace of old days. From top of the building, we can see that the old day palace had already been occupied by local houses. It was nothing to see anymore.
After that, we went to Taman Sari, the ticket entrance is 7500Rp. The Taman Sari was a “paradise” for ancient Sultan. According to LP’s info, the palace was built by a Portuguese architect in between 1758 to 1765. It was said that the Sultan in order to keep this “paradise” place secret, he killed the Portuguese. The palace was destroyed during the Java war. The current buildings and pool that we are seeing now were rebuilt afterward.
Before entering the pool, there were 2 bathrooms, one for the king and the other one for his queen or concubines. We followed our tour guide went to up-stair, there was a small room with a bed, The bed was made by wood, below the bed there were some cavities for burning
Breakfast
Baksu Ayam. in order to warming the room, just like today’s sauna.
According to our guide, this is a room where the king making love with his girl. After bathed with the girls in the pool, he would select one to enjoy here. Since the guide has no license, we don’t know whether he said is true or not. He even said Jacky Chan came here to shoot a movie before.
Back to Surakarta
The environment is small thus less than 40 minutes we have ended our tour. After that we took beca rushed back Malioboro street for the last shopping spree. We stopped over at Beringhajo market, then walked along the street back to the hotel. It was quite rush as we got to take 1pm train back to Solo, before that we took a quick lunch in Malioboro mall.
Actually there was a market called Pasar Ngasem at the palace area. The market is actually a bird market. Variety of birds could be found here. But I found it was dirty and also scare of bird flu therefore we didn’t stop over there.
Luckily we were able to catch the train at 1pm. Again, it
Breakfast
Baksu Sapi. was an hour trip back to Solo. We alighted from the train at Solo Balapan train station as this station is nearer to the hotel area. We walked from the train station to look for a hotel. It was about 1 to 2 km away. We were nearly exhausted walking under the hot sun. As mentioned above, Solo is called Surakarta. Though it was a Sultanate of Mataram’s capital, however the city is not as busy as Jogja. Its population also less than Jogja.
After checked in we were loitering at town area, just walked and took an afternoon tea at a local restaurant. Solo has less to offer compare with Jogja, except the Kraton and Istana Mangkunegaran. However I think I have more interested of attractive places at the outskirt area. According to LP, the Sangiran which is 18 km away from Solo is a site of ancient Java people; Candi Kukuh which is 36km to the east is an old Hindu temple with Inca’s style. Unfortunately we would be end of our tour tomorrow, hence no time to visit these places.
After the tea, we walked to triwindu antique market. When we reached, all the shops
Beca to Kraton
On the way to Kraton. were closed already. We were informed that the market was closed at 5pm. We walked around and saw a steak house and thus took our dinner there.
At night we took beca to Solo Grand Mall. The mall is bigger than Jogja’s Malioboro Mall. We did our last shopping there.
The next day morning after breakfast we straight away to the airport and say good bye to Indonesia.
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Barenco
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Not Baksu
The name is not Baksu, but Bakso. And it's not good for breakfast. Otherwise, you have eat one of the best Bakso around this country.