Mister, mister, picture, picture...

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By Polona

Taking advice from fellow travelers, we decided that when arriving to Indonesia we would skip Jakarta and go straight Jogjakarta. We actually prepared this time and we decided it might also be a good opportunity to use the CouchSurfers site and see if we could stay with a local and see what life in Yogya is like for the people living there. This is how we came across Ganjar. He replied immediately and welcomed us to his home, saying he might not be able to dedicate that much time to us on account that he was getting married the week of our arrival. He also invited us to attend the wedding to experience what a traditional Javanese wedding is like. Of course we could not say no to that.

We arrived to Jakarta in the middle of the night and as we were trying to catch the early morning train to Yogya the best idea was to spend those four hours – waiting for the train station to open, at the airport. We were joined by a large group of locals, who just arrived from Berlin and still had a long way to get home. Speaking to them helped speeding up the time.

Arriving to the train station, at 5AM, early birds that we were, I was surprised that there were already so many people there. But we managed to get the tickets and we were up for an 8 hour trip to Yogya. Waiting for the train, we also had our first official “Indonesian” breakfast at the train station, where we paid less than £2 for good 2 portions of yummy fried rice. Ah, food that actually tastes like something.

The trains in Indonesia are an experience of another kind. Officially there are three types of trains: executif (1st class, expensive and fast trains), business (2nd class) and economy (3rd class, for which even the locals advised us never to take as it is supposed to be really bad 😊). Stepping on the train, business class, got us both immediately wondering – if this is second class, what the heck does the economy class look like??!! But it wasn't all that bad, the train was buzzing with people the whole 8 hours, every station we stopped at, there were locals coming on the train selling everything from your average kitsch to food, drinks...Their sales technique is interesting as well. They would drop an item of whatever they are selling into your hands, (well, OK, unless it was food or drinks) leave it with you and on their way off the train they would take it back unless you decide to buy it. The train was also the place where we tried our first gado-gado (it's a typical Indonesian dish: loads of fresh vegetables and rice, covered in the most amazing, but seriously spicy, peanut sauce, served on a banana leaf). It was amazing, especially after a month of pretty bland and unexciting food in Philippines, so we were both like: “Indonesia, bring it on!” 😊. All that for about 70p.

After a couple of communication problems at the Yogya train station, we finally arrived to Ganjar's place, or to Memo. Ganjar namely put together a small creative company called Memo, that deal with photography, putting together creative school yearbooks, etc., etc., if it's creativity you are looking for, Memo is the right place. The apartment is the company and a home for Ganjar, Ray and Ivan, but the place is always buzzing with people, hanging in the hallway, playing guitars and singing, chatting, pretty much just hanging. They are all more or less students and we both had a flash that the place has a similar feel to it like a student club back home. We were immediately accepted and we felt like we knew all of them for ages. The first night Vista, a lovely, chatty girl, took up the role of the translator between us and the gang, but over the next couple of days everyone got a bit more comfortable and we had loads of fun with the team: Ray, Vista, Anggoro (Jan's new gf, watch out Pete), Emil (my designated driver, the Queen of the road), Iyul , Freddie, Ivan and Djacka, Krisna and loads and loads of other people coming and going. The amazing thing about this bunch of people was how talented they all are, whether that be music, photography, design, art, tattooing...They are an amazing bunch and we do miss them quite a lot.

Ganjar was kind enough to give us his room, as he explained he would be out of Yogya for the majority of the week: last minute details to be arranged for the wedding. As this was our first night in Yogya we haven't thought out what we want to do in the city. Ganjar offered us to take us all the way to the Borobadur temple the next morning (an hour outside of Yogya) as it was on his way home. Of course we said yes as it gave us the opportunity to spend some time with our host. So the next day we were woken up by a knock on the door and 2 hours later we were on our way to Borobadur with Ganjar and his bride to be, Hastin. The drive to Borobadur was fun, as we chatted and we got to know Hastin and Ganjar a bit more. They also told us, that we do not have to worry about what to wear for their wedding as they will dress us up in traditional Javanese clothing. So not knowing what to expect we said “yes” to that as well 😊. Shortly, it seemed that way at least, we arrived to Borobadur, where Jan and I ventured on our first touristy thing in Java, the Borobadur temple- a colossal structure erected by the Javanese Buddhists in the early 9th century AD. The temple itself is massive and consists of several “terraces”. But I guess for Indonesian tourists the temple was not the biggest attraction, WE WERE. 😊. Seriously though, the first time we heard: “Mister, mister, picture, picture”, we thought they wanted us to take a picture of them. But it was all about them taking pictures with us. We ended up taking so many pictures that day, our faces hurt at the end just from smiling like idiots, for them to have pictures with some weird white people. 😊.

The next day we decided to go into the center of the city and visit Kraton- the Sultans's palace. We took Yogya's public transport, minibuses, which cost 3000Rp, which is less than a 20p (1 pound is about 14.000Rp, oh yeah, the currency here, man, everything is in thousands, millions, for the first time in our lives we actually became millionaires). Arriving to Kraton, we realized we will need to make an effort next day and wake up earlier, as Kraton closes at 2pm 😊. So following one of the museum guide's instructions we took a becak (a sort of a rickshaw) to take us to the Government Batik Center, where Jan was almost tempted to buy a huge batik painting, he just fell in love with it. Although we did realise it would be difficult to carry it around with us for the next 6 months or so.
I wanted to see the traditional puppet show that evening, called Wayang Kulit – shadow puppet show, with puppets made of leather and painted in bright colors, portraying local legends. We learned there was a show held every Wednesday evening at one of the main museums, and only took 2 hours - the traditional shows namely usually last 8 hours or more. So to kill time until the show, we walked along the main street, Malioboro street, filled with people, stalls...It is so busy that after a while you can't help yourself and you just want to escape the noise and the crowds. We did manage to stick around and see the show, although we only stayed for about an hour: the show itself is amazing and so amazingly put together, but when you don't understand a word, it kind of loses its attraction. I would definitely recommend seeing it though, as it is, in my opinion, a must see.

The next day we had a busy day ahead of us – we finally made it to Kraton, where according to Jan the most fascinating fact was, that one of the deceased Sultans had 21 wives and about 78 children, who had to introduce themselves to the Sultan each time they met, as he could not remember who is who. 😊. Nowadays the Sultan can only be married with one woman and have maximum 3 children, although the current Sultan has 5 daughters – each time hoping to produce a male heir. After Kraton we went to see the Water Palace – complex of canals, pools and palaces built within Kraton. Today it is a mass of ruins, surrounded by small houses and numerous batik galleries. We continued our way to the famous Bird market – for some reason there is a big demand for birds in Indonesia, and it was the weirdest market I have ever seen. Forget about the gazillion of birds there, you could find anything from hamsters, puppies, even enormous snakes – when I came across though I ran as fast as I could. Jan had a ball just seeing me running and producing high pitched sounds that could only be heard by dogs.

To end the day we went to see the second famous temple in Yogya, Prambanan, the biggest Hindu temple complex in Java. To be honest, the sights were breathtaking, the architecture alone leaves you speechless. The only problem was, that after a busy day we were both exhausted and we didn't appreciate the views as much as we would if this were our first stop. Needles to say, we just fell into bed in the evening.

The next day was “Wedding time”. So we drove to Ganjar's and Hastin's home town for the first day of the festivities held at Hastin's home. The day was dedicated to mingling, eating nice (and loads of) food and enjoying the live music – the only thing with the live music was it turned into a Karaoke contest, anyone who wanted to sing, could go up to the stage and sing. And sing they did. 😊. But it was fun. Oh, and Jan and I discovered our favorite Indonesian snack – umping, which is like eating crisps, only they are bitter/salty/sweet...It's hard to describe but as everyone saw how much we love them, we got 2 bags full of umping on our way back to Yogya the following day.

After a short night in one of the village's guest houses, I woke up before 6am and already I was called to the local beauty parlor, to get my make up done. There were so many girls there, getting themselves ready for the wedding – we each got the same make up, I wore false eyelashes for the first time, than it was time for the hair. Man, it hurt, but the result was HUGE hair with an additional nest of hair added to the back of the head, which after a whole day of wearing becomes really heavy. Result: a totally new me. 😊. Last but not least, I was dressed in a traditional kabaya. I had no idea, they tie the batik around you so tight, with an additional wide belt that is tied around you and takes the role of a corset. I could hardly breathe, let alone sneeze, or do any extreme movements. But I looked nice. Jan and the rest of the memo gang were shocked to see me. 😊. Then it was Jan's turn, again wearing traditional batik, jacket with a small saber and a hat, which they had plenty of difficulties putting onto his head, because of his hair. Oh, and Jan also got his make up done, hihi. We looked awesome, as the pictures will prove. Then it was time for the wedding ceremony, which was really beautiful and off we were to the festivities. They hired a huge venue, where poor Hastin and Ganjar had to take pictures for more than 2 hours with all of their guests, while the rest of us ate and enjoyed ourselves. Needles to say, as we were the only white people there AND we were dressed in traditional clothing, we got quite a lot of attention and ended up taking pictures with almost all the guests at the wedding. And there were A LOT of guests there. One of the women who wanted to take pictures with us, asked me if we were famous actors. Aw, bless. But the wedding was so much fun, and I need to thank Ganjar and Hastin for inviting us to be a part of such a special occasion. At the end of the day, both Jan and I were soooooo happy to take off the batik, and to breathe normally once again. As for the hair – It took 4 washings, with hair conditioner, to get them into the state they used to be before hectoliters of hairspray were poured all over.

Jan and I thought we would leave Yogya the next day, but the gang asked us to stay and help them film a commercial for Indomie noodles – it was a competition and whoever wins gets their commercial aired on national TV. So we could actually became superstars. 😊. Filming the commercial was a lot of laughs, and another different experience for us. The following day we were thinking of leaving, but just couldn't leave the memo team. Which was apparently thinking into the right direction as we had 3 more eventful nights ahead of us with everyone.

I guess I forgot to mention the most important thing about Yogya and something you can't not notice: the main means of transportation are motorbikes- proper ones, scooters, vespas, you name it you got it. There are so many on the road, they actually have their own lanes in the busiest parts of Yogya. The memo team was no exception and every time you would look around you would be surrounded by helmets lying on the floor and there would always be loads of motorbikes parked in front of the building. But it enables everyone to be pretty mobile.

So one evening they got us all on motorbikes and they took us to the city's biggest park, Alun- Alun. I was teamed up with Emil, who became my favorite motociklista. Alun- Alun- was busy, to say the least. Loads of stuff for people to do, drive bikes around park (which we did), eat and drink (which we did) and one activity that is supposed to bring you luck. There are 2 huge trees in the middle of the park. And it is said that if you manage to walk straight in between the both tress to the other end, your wish will come true. Oh, and you are blindfolded. It sounded simple enough, but it isn't. From the 3 people that tried it (me, Jan and Dave – a Dutch guy that arrived to Memo only that night) I was the closest to succeed, but failed 😞.

The next evening the gang decided to take us to a local hill where people hang out in the evening with an amazing view of Yogya. When we got to the hill we understood why it is called Stars Hill. The view was phenomenal and only then you grasp how big Yogya actually is.

The last trip we took with the Memo team was a trip to the waterfalls, and it was he most painful one. Painful for our behinds as we are not used to sitting on motorbikes for a long time, call us spoiled 😊. But it was only our butts that ached, the trip itself was full of laughs, and it was another magnificent sight. We did try and step under the waterfall, but the water was too strong. We did laugh a lot at people's atempts, getting totally wet and people trying to bodysurf in the water. Anggoro and Emil, you know what I am talking about.

We had so much fun in Yogya, but we knew it was time for us to say goodbye and to leave. Our last night at Yogya the gang decided we can't leave before trying gudeg, typical Yogya food with rice, chicken and jackfruit.

It was hard to say farewell to our second family, because they all did become like family members to us, but after 10 days, we decided there are still parts of Indonesia we want to see. So “Terima Kasih” again to everyone at Memo, and we hope to see you again soon.

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Photos

Train to Yogya
Our first gado-gado

Borobadur Temple
Unfortunately we weren't able to keep the batik's (no idea why we had to wear them)

Main means of transport in Yogya
Not unusual to see whole families crammed on one scooter

The Government Batik Gallery
One of the phases of making the Batik

Making of the traditional puppets
They are made from the skin of water buffalos

Polona, the supermodel
and Jan, the master photographer

Bird Market
Jan just announced he wasn't ready to leave just yet

Prambanan Temple
The main temple

Comments

[vista]

uh yeah!
thanks so much for mentioning my name! lol we really had a great time together, rite? cant wait to see u guys come back to jogja -seriously- :D enjoy ur next next trip, jan and polona. we miss u so much here! xoxoxoxo -vista (and im not onion girl, anyway :p)

[Chittos75]

you had awesome experience in Jogya.