Arrived at Jogja at about 0100 am after a 7 hours journey. There was a hotel called Mendut Hotel right in front of the train station and I decided to just hop in since I was too tired to scout around in the middle of the night carrying 3 bags and with all the becaks and taxis calling out to me.
At Rp270,000+ a night, the room was acceptable tho everything in it was old, and I had few cigarette burn holes on my bedspread. At least they have hot water for a comfortable shower.
After I refreshed myself, I went out looking for food and a 24-hrs convi shop to get some drinking water. The quiet street along that road was scary, with aunties calling out from dark lanes to lure me in for a "massage"... tough luck I'd say, they should have put better baits up front rather than long expired ones, hahaha... I found out later from my friend that this street was actually the red-light area in Jogja.
There were a few shops open and I went in one for a quick fried noodle. The amazing thing about fried noodle and fried rice in Indonesia is that they all basically taste the same - like the flavour you get from a packet of Indomie mi goreng. Although they use fresh seasoning, wet ones rather than the dried bumbu seasoning you get from Indomie, they still taste the same. and sunny side up always come in 2 varieties, the cooked and semi-cooked, so you have to be specific when ordering that. And there they don't say telur mata lembu like we do here, just telur mata. Lembu is called sapi anyway.
At this time I still thought that I could go early to Borobudur, set up my tripod there and wait for sunrise. So I grabbed the first offer I got to bring me there as early as possible, even if it costs Rp300,000 to charter a van. I later found out that they only allow entrance at 0600am, unless you stay at the hotel next to the candi, for about Rp500,000++ a night.
The entrance fee to come in, if you're a foreigner is USD11.00 compared to only Rp9,000 for local Indonesian. That's like 10x more! So I tried to save about USD10.00 by putting my Indonesian language to good use. It gained me smooth entrance, until I had to declare my camera.
arteo: S'lamat pagi, pak. Tiket seorang. (in full Indonesian intonation)
counter: Selamat pagi.
(then some conversation I can't remember...)
arteo: Oh ya, saya bawa kamera satu, pak.
counter: kamera... (looking at my Canon)
counter: kamu dari mana?
arteo: Dari Jakarta, pak.
counter: hmm.. kamera foto (smiling with a raised eyebrow)
arteo: terima kasih... (on shaky knees, thinking that I've been caught cheating)
The garden surrounding Borobudur.
Sun was already up by the time I got in, but because of the haze, we could not really enjoy the sunrise.
And many of the carvings survived even though it has been built since hundreds of years ago. Some of the carvings on the rocks were extremely detailed. This horse is definitely a male, know what I mean?
One that caught my attention is this half-statue of Buddha without a head and a side of its shoulder. I can't really pin-point why I am attracted to this, probably the hands in meditation... tranquil and serene.
The friendly couple from Jakarta who encouraged me to try out my luck at the gate, Budi and Jocie (I might have gotten the names wrong, correct me if you see this guys!)
The other candi nearby to Borobudur. This is Mendut I think.
School children using the areas surrounding the candi as playground.
Then there's another one called Pawon. This statue of Buddha is known to be one of the finest in the world.
The one-man tour included a visit to the Silversmith Workshop, Borobudur Silver. After an extensive tour, I felt bad about not getting anything from them, so I bought a ring for myself.
After the silver workshop, the driver offered to bring me to see a batik workshop but I was too tired so I declined, went back to the hotel and slept the afternoon off. I woke up late afternoon to walk around Malioboro. I'll talk about that in another posting.
At Rp270,000+ a night, the room was acceptable tho everything in it was old, and I had few cigarette burn holes on my bedspread. At least they have hot water for a comfortable shower.
After I refreshed myself, I went out looking for food and a 24-hrs convi shop to get some drinking water. The quiet street along that road was scary, with aunties calling out from dark lanes to lure me in for a "massage"... tough luck I'd say, they should have put better baits up front rather than long expired ones, hahaha... I found out later from my friend that this street was actually the red-light area in Jogja.
There were a few shops open and I went in one for a quick fried noodle. The amazing thing about fried noodle and fried rice in Indonesia is that they all basically taste the same - like the flavour you get from a packet of Indomie mi goreng. Although they use fresh seasoning, wet ones rather than the dried bumbu seasoning you get from Indomie, they still taste the same. and sunny side up always come in 2 varieties, the cooked and semi-cooked, so you have to be specific when ordering that. And there they don't say telur mata lembu like we do here, just telur mata. Lembu is called sapi anyway.
At this time I still thought that I could go early to Borobudur, set up my tripod there and wait for sunrise. So I grabbed the first offer I got to bring me there as early as possible, even if it costs Rp300,000 to charter a van. I later found out that they only allow entrance at 0600am, unless you stay at the hotel next to the candi, for about Rp500,000++ a night.
The entrance fee to come in, if you're a foreigner is USD11.00 compared to only Rp9,000 for local Indonesian. That's like 10x more! So I tried to save about USD10.00 by putting my Indonesian language to good use. It gained me smooth entrance, until I had to declare my camera.arteo: S'lamat pagi, pak. Tiket seorang. (in full Indonesian intonation)
counter: Selamat pagi.
(then some conversation I can't remember...)
arteo: Oh ya, saya bawa kamera satu, pak.
counter: kamera... (looking at my Canon)
Then I saw the words, foto Rp1,000 / Video Rp5,000 on the wall, and I overheard the couple before me declared a foto, not a camera...arteo: kamera foto...
counter: kamu dari mana?
arteo: Dari Jakarta, pak.
counter: hmm.. kamera foto (smiling with a raised eyebrow)
arteo: terima kasih... (on shaky knees, thinking that I've been caught cheating)
The garden surrounding Borobudur.
Sun was already up by the time I got in, but because of the haze, we could not really enjoy the sunrise.
And many of the carvings survived even though it has been built since hundreds of years ago. Some of the carvings on the rocks were extremely detailed. This horse is definitely a male, know what I mean?
One that caught my attention is this half-statue of Buddha without a head and a side of its shoulder. I can't really pin-point why I am attracted to this, probably the hands in meditation... tranquil and serene.
The friendly couple from Jakarta who encouraged me to try out my luck at the gate, Budi and Jocie (I might have gotten the names wrong, correct me if you see this guys!)
The other candi nearby to Borobudur. This is Mendut I think.
School children using the areas surrounding the candi as playground.
Then there's another one called Pawon. This statue of Buddha is known to be one of the finest in the world.
The one-man tour included a visit to the Silversmith Workshop, Borobudur Silver. After an extensive tour, I felt bad about not getting anything from them, so I bought a ring for myself.
After the silver workshop, the driver offered to bring me to see a batik workshop but I was too tired so I declined, went back to the hotel and slept the afternoon off. I woke up late afternoon to walk around Malioboro. I'll talk about that in another posting.
2 comments:
Cool! I remember visiting the Borobudur when I was small. My grandma told me if u peek inside the Mendut, there's actually a princess sleeping, hehehe. Can't wait to go back to my other homeland one day.
Hmmm.. I was there taking some pictures at the Mendut... but no sleeping princess noted.... damn, she probably woke up and went off...
Post a Comment