Jogjakarta Day 3 & Bali Day 1: Kraton, Toko Sarinah, Pasar Beringharjo, Malioboro, Taman Sari, Adisucipto Airport, Ngurah Rai Airport, Matahari Bungalow

We woke up early and prepared our bags, equipments and goodies. We had our breakfast at the hotel (by the way, we skipped yesterday’s breakfast coz we were rushing to watch sunrise and surprisingly, we were informed by the hotel staff that we can actually tapau (packed) the breakfast! Laaaaaaa…bagusnye! If only we knew…). Anyhow, breakfast was not something to be bragged about coz they only served at minimal cost as they can, like tea and coffee, eggs (scrambled or ‘mata sapi’ – if in Malaysia, we called it ‘mata kerbau’), fried rice, bread with butter and strawberry jam, and banana. And there were only us and another couple of foreigners. (Best sangat coz tak ramai orang!)

After snapped few pictures around the hotel garden and swimming pool, we headed to the reception and extended the room stay for another six hours, just to have a quick rest later when we came back from a quick shopping. Then we looked for the yesterday’s ‘becak’ guy (trishaw-er) but he wasn’t there that morning. We were told that we can hire his friend (tah betul tah idak kawan) but we told the new guy that we want to go around town with the same price as the previous guy. He quickly agreed and we told him what we want and where we wanted to go. And this time, we’ve got the power! Hehe!  

We stopped at ‘batik’ shop but we told the guy that we’ve been here yesterday and today, we wanted to go to a cheaper ‘batik’ shop. He cycled us to one of the shop and yes, it was cheaper than yesterday’s shop. Hubby bought ‘kain ela’ (textiles) for his parents at yesterday’s shop, while I bought ‘kain ela’ (textiles) for my parents at this new shop. And both ‘kain ela’ were typical Javanese printed ‘batik’. As usual, being famous as bargain chick, I bargained from Rp100,000 to Rp60,000. Hehe! Tips, walk away till they call you back and agree with your price (they sure panggil you balik punya, they want business what…ini bukan Petaling Street maaa…).

Now, it was the time for us to visit those places that we skipped yesterday. We asked the ‘becak’ guy (trishaw-er) to take us to Kraton (Sultan palace) and luckily, we managed to ask him to wait for us while we were inside, watching the ‘gamelan’ performance by the ‘abdi dalem’ (government retirees who work for Sultan with no pay except for their pension.. ‘Abdi dalem’ means you are devoted to the Sultan voluntarily without any pay). After 10 minutes of not so fun (because we didn’t understand what’s the story behind it) ‘gamelan’ performance (malas nak dengar sebab panjang and meleret sangat) we walked thru the palace with the present of a palace tour guide. She told us the history starting from the first Sultan Hamengku Buwono 1 till 11 (Jogja is the only place in Indonesia that ruled by a Sultan, who is also acted as a governor). Few parts of the palace were still under construction (remember, the earthquake thingy?) and the reason it took quite some time coz they were saving up from the tickets sold (Sultan mintak duit orang ni). We saw few carts that being used to carry bride and groom (huge and heavy that needs 10 people to carry it), souvenirs like pots, cutleries, water filters, and other antique objects from other countries like Britain, German, China, and etc (these gifts were brought by foreigners during wedding celebration or visit).

The ‘Balairong Seri’ was carved with few objects like ‘barongan’ (more or less like gargoyle) and dragon as the guardian, and we were told by the tour guide that the dragon represented the numbers of the year it was built. Even though the palace was opened to the public, the current Sultan still lives there, in one of the new building. But we were not allowed to go to some areas due to security. Then there was a museum that was dedicated to the Sultan’s late father that equipped with all of his clothes, hobbies, pictures, and even some of the antique royal tools that were made of gold! (The one that they displayed of course la bukan gold, mau orang kikis sikit-sikit gold tu…hahaha!) Even the spit pot pun gold tau! And these ‘keturunan’ memang semua study kat oversea. So they were really educated and open-minded (wait till I tell you guys about his concubines!). After finished touring, the tour guide hinted us that she normally work based on tips from visitors as her salary was too ‘ciput’ as ‘abdi dalem’ but we hardly want to give to her coz we’ve paid the entrance fee (mahal gak tau, if murah takpe lagi…). Plus, we bought few magnets and souvenirs from the palace shop, not tepi jalan (known as Toko Sarinah, the daughter of current Sultan, which was opened to give opportunity for locals to sell their products). So we just smile, thanked her, and walked out from the palace.

We looked for our ‘becak’ guy (trishaw-er) and passed by the street sellers again. Then we went to Pasar Beringharjo on Malioboro Street (its like a market that sell everything from clothes, bags, shoes, foods, handphones, you name it!) and YOU WILL BE REGRET IF YOU DON’T COME HERE FIRST! COZ I WAS! Ok…chill out...yeah! Whatever we bought in Jogja for the past 2 days, I can get it all in here WITH CHEAPER PRICE! (Owh sakitnya hatiku…) Since our goodies dah melimpah keluar from our back pack, we decided to buy a bigger luggage (ya Allah murah tau! This is what you should do if you want to shop in Indonesia.). Hubby also bought a pair of kain batik for his mom while me, I bought nothing! Hubby said enough with what I’ve bought. Sigh. (Sebab semua dah beli semalammmmm! Mahal plak tu!). While we were shopping, we saw one lady brought a nice smell ‘bakso’ to one of the shopper. But thinking of the cleanliness, we chose to have lunch at the food court. So we browsed thru the shops at the food court.

With hunger, we walked out from the ‘market’ and searched for halal food…and again, ‘bakso’ jadi habuan. But this time, we tried something new…‘es teller’ which contained blended ice, avocado, nata de coco, ‘selasih’, santan and syrup. To be precise, its Indonesian ice kacang lah. Serious sedap! Sedap sangat-sangat! I think, the ‘avokad’ (that’s how they pronounced it) and santan (coconut milk) that made the whole thing tasty. Oh not to forget, the ‘bakso’ also delicious (not to mentioned, the lady took her own sweet time to prepare our food…I think memang orang Indonesia ni slow dan penyabar orangnya…rasa macam nak tolong je dia masak…hehe! Ok la, guna dapur arang was an excuse…)

Before we went back, I did my last minute shopping at Malioboro Street. I bought 8 pieces of ‘kaos’ (t-shirt) for my nieces and nephews, and another 4 pieces for my brother and brother in laws. All with Jogja printed in front of ‘em. So there you go, I’m done with goodies for people I know (bagus tak?).

Then we asked the ‘becak’ guy (trishaw-er) to take us to Taman Sari, the place where all princess (concubines la actually) took their bath, naked! The garden was actually built by the first Sultan Hamengku Buwono to keep all of her concubines (I don’t remember how many of them but not less than 10 la) away from his queen. Those concubines were from Indonesia, India and China. Therefore, the designed of Taman Sari has 3 influences which were Hindu, Buddha and Islam (there were lamp posts at each corner; swimming pool with dragon statue; and lotus-shaped sitting place from China, Hindu-carved gate encircling the garden, and an underwater Islam mosque. Adil dan saksama la tu.) There was a tower in between of the swimming pools (one for his kids, one for all the concubines, and one for the chosen concubines) for Sultan to peek at all the princess that scrubbing and swimming without they knowing that Sultan was peeping them (gatalnye! Peeping Tom!), which later Sultan will throw few flowers from the tower. Those concubines who able to catch the flowers will be asked to shift to the next swimming pool to bath with the Sultan, where later, they made love in a room that was separated especially for that! (Gosh! Bahagianya hidup!)

As an activity during that day, all the kids that were delivered by concubines will have a ‘batik’ class at the middle of the garden. Thus, you may see all locals here were good in ‘batik’ paintings as they may inherit the skills from the concubines’ kids (plus, all the paintings MESTI ada topless ladies…so I can imagine la semua concubines tu topless dulu-dulu). And it’s cheaper than when it being exported to the cities! By the way, during our visit to Taman Sari, we were actually being escorted by a guy who acknowledges himself as the tour guide for this place (kira kemas, tucked in, ada handphone, and very well spoken guy la). Tak kisah lah! And luckily we had him, as to see the swimming pool, we had to walk thru houses around there, went thru half-sized-stone gates, and climbed up a wall! Coz Taman Sari now packed with villagers that mainly painting ‘batik’ for living. Even that guy, Dewa, conducted ‘batik’ class whenever needed. (He told us that he used to go to Malaysia, particularly Port Dickson, to conduct ‘batik’ classes. We tried to ask the name of the place in PD and he answered correctly. So betul la dia pernah pegi Malaysia). After finished touring, we told the guy that we were rushing back to hotel coz we need to catch our flight to Bali tonight. Thus, we passed the Water castle (actually tinggal dinding je sebab earthquake, so nothing much) and the Underwater Mosque (it was purposely built underwater sebab nak udara sejuk while praying). Gladly we tipped him Rp10,000 coz he was really friendly and full of exciting stories!

We went back to the hotel and grabbed our things and asked the reception to call us a meter cab (it should be cheaper than the rented cab that we hired before). When the cab arrived, we loaded the cab with our bags and straight to Adisucipto Airport. We checked in and guess what, the flight was delayed for 1 hour! Dah la check in awal sejam, delayed lagi sejam! Many people were stranded in the departure hall and some were sleeping on the chairs. We took Lion Air for domestic as this airline was listed as the first to fly new Boeing and it also has a counter in KLIA, so what else you can expect, right? A good and trusty airline, for sure. And due to the delayed, we arrived in Bali at 11.30pm. But we were satisfied with the pilot as he took off and landed successfully, in the rain! Even when we walked thru the arrival, one of the passengers congratulated him coz he landed nicely. (Biasa la, we always commented the pilots on how they took off and landed, to see whether they were well trained or not…hehe! Kalau tak jerky tu terer la! Tapi this pilot memang bagus, you barely feel when he actually landed the flight!)

The Matahari Bungalow has arranged someone to pick us up at the Ngurah Rai Airport and the guy was holding hubby’s name on a card board. After long hours in flight and waited for our luggage, we approached the guy and he guided us to his cab. On the way, he started to ask for the cab fee, as he said the exact guy who should picked us up has gone back and asked for his help. We told him that Matahari Bunglow has arranged everything for us including return transfer! It’s all in the package. He later said that it shouldn’t be that way and insisted us to pay first, then later claim from the hotel. We nicely asked him who the guy was so that we can inform the hotel, but he was not managed to give us the name. In fact, he admitted that he was fool enough not to jot down that guy’s name. (Hmm…try to trick us huh?). Then he tried to find a way to get the money straight from us, Rp40,000 plus another Rp10,000 for midnight charges! Hubby later told him that, never to worry as he will get his money when we arrived. Luckily he has no bad intention or what so ever, we arrived at the hotel and quickly went to the reception.

The reception checked us in and at the same time, talked to the cab driver. We noticed that the hotel also didn’t know that the guy that was supposed to pick us up has made an arrangement with this cab driver. After few minutes discussion, the reception later paid Rp50,000 to the cab driver. (So, for those who have arrangement with hotels in Bali, do make it clear and say it out loud, so that you won’t be ripped off by cabbies). We actually took a package that offered us 4 days 3 nights with free 1 night, plus 1 romantic dinner by the pool, including free airport return transfer. Hubby been dealing with this hotel closely till he managed to convince the hotel to get us a rented car, Avanza, (the hotel itself didn’t have any service for rent car), with discounted price. We changed from Feroza to Avanza due to its performance in Jogja. Easy and fuel savvy. Plus, it’s spacious. Oh yea, the hotel room, crafted wooden walls and ceiling. With yellow light at every corner, it was so beautiful and cozy. You can even feel chilly coz it was raining outside. Without waited any longer, we off to sleep.