This is the second in a two part series in which I share about my trips to Semarang, Magelang and Yogyakarta. Make sure that you don't miss reading Part 1 here! ;)
Got to Dita's house we were greeted by Daniel a.k.a Iyel and Victoria a.k.a Vicky, 2 dogs with opposite personalities. Cute Iyel was very active, barked, and stalked Vicky at all times whereas old Vicky was very quiet and kindly let Iyel stalked her... oh, such an angel!:o3
Dita's parents were so kind to let us stay in their home. Her mother even cooked and prepared hot water for us (thanks so much Dita and family! >:D<).
Dita showed us around her hometown on the following day. So, where did we go on the first day then? Yogyakarta!
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Got to Dita's house we were greeted by Daniel a.k.a Iyel and Victoria a.k.a Vicky, 2 dogs with opposite personalities. Cute Iyel was very active, barked, and stalked Vicky at all times whereas old Vicky was very quiet and kindly let Iyel stalked her... oh, such an angel!:o3
Dita's parents were so kind to let us stay in their home. Her mother even cooked and prepared hot water for us (thanks so much Dita and family! >:D<).
Dita showed us around her hometown on the following day. So, where did we go on the first day then? Yogyakarta!
YOGYAKARTA
Taking a bus we went to Yogyakarta accompanied by a new friend, Bondan. Normally it only takes less than 2 hours, but due to the traffic jam it took us more than 3 hours to finally get there. #:-S
We also got caught in the rain twice, first when were looking around Taman Sari complex, and the second one when we were on our way back to Magelang. So, it was a "long" trip!
The province of Special Region of Yogyakarta (we simply call it Jogja), with its capital Yogyakarta City, is well-known for culture, tourism and education. It has a long history as the former capital of Indonesia and also home to a number of great temples. One of them is Prambanan which is one of the world's most beautiful Hindu temples. Javanese cultural heritages deeply entrenched in this province, such as Batik, Wayang (shadow puppet), Gamelan (Javanese orchestra) etc. Known as a City of Education because of its numerous educational institutions that attract people across Indonesia to study there.
The territory is ruled by a Sultan who lives in Keraton (palace). Our only destination there was an ancient relic named Taman Sari. We picked it because we'd never been there before (been to Jogja once and passed by a couple of times). What is the connection between the Sultanate and Taman Sari? It then functioned as a recreation garden, hideout, and hermitage place of the royal family. The complex is quite huge and divided into some parts.
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| the entrance |
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| Taman Sari bathing pool |
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| a big earthquake damaged some parts of the site |
It was funny how we thought we had finished walking around the complex until someone told us that there was a separated part of the complex connected by an underground tunnel. But, to get there you have to go out first through the back gate, walk pass residential houses and you will see the tunnel that leads you to get into the complex again, sounds complicated? Practically, it's located in the middle of residential houses! =D
This other part of Taman Sari looks older with a lot of relics. Unfortunately some are in a very bad condition due to the big earthquake hit Jogja a while back.
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| Mas Bondan, Me, and Dita heading to the tunnel |
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| rooftop! :D |
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| I'm here, you're there, we don't know each other... |
Taman Sari is easily accessed, it is located close to the heart of the city, Malioboro St. You can reach there from Malioboro by a rickshaw, which is ubiquitous, and don't forget to bargain the fare. Usually it's always less than USD 1.
MAGELANG
Surrounded by mountains makes this small city green and peaceful. The most popular tourism object in Magelang is Borobudur, the world's biggest Buddhist temple. Actually we had planned to go there, but the news on TV reported that it was being visited by huge crowds of Buddhist pilgrims to celebrate Vesak (holy day in Buddhism) that day. They came not only from the surrounding areas, but also from all over Indonesia and even overseas! We all knew that it was a public holiday that day, but we just figured out that it was Vesak after watching the news. :))
Surrounded by mountains makes this small city green and peaceful. The most popular tourism object in Magelang is Borobudur, the world's biggest Buddhist temple. Actually we had planned to go there, but the news on TV reported that it was being visited by huge crowds of Buddhist pilgrims to celebrate Vesak (holy day in Buddhism) that day. They came not only from the surrounding areas, but also from all over Indonesia and even overseas! We all knew that it was a public holiday that day, but we just figured out that it was Vesak after watching the news. :))
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| Welcome to Magelang! |
Ayam Kosek (chicken with chili paste) at Rumah Makan Panjiwo (Panjiwo Restaurant) is what I like the most from this town. The key that makes this food so special is its spicy sambal kosek (chili paste). They deep fry chicken, flatten it out and put the sambal on it while it's still hot. This is how the chicken will adsorb the sambal well and make it very spicy and savory. =P~ ^:)^
I'm not exaggerating but this is one of the most delicious foods I've ever tasted. The restaurant is situated across a mental health hospital which Dita often bragged about as the biggest mental hospital in South East Asia (I'm wondering if she was one of the patients there :-?).
I'm not exaggerating but this is one of the most delicious foods I've ever tasted. The restaurant is situated across a mental health hospital which Dita often bragged about as the biggest mental hospital in South East Asia (I'm wondering if she was one of the patients there :-?).
Dita only had not even half a day to show us around her town as we had to be at the bus station by 5pm to go back to Jakarta. :(
We went to a hill located not too far from her house named Bukit Tidar (Tidar Hill) where people usually come on a pilgrimage to the graves of Muslim figures there. It's not too high though.
Okay, as I said previously it's not too high, but reaching the top of it was not an easy thing for us. We had to stop to take deep breath for several times (girls, we need more exercise!). I was expecting something spectacular up there say a lake hehe, but when we finally managed to get there, there was nothing to see but a big flagpole in the middle of it. After taking some steps, one thing drew my attention... a huge Banyan tree! Girls, let's do one or two Tarzan swings! :D
We went to a hill located not too far from her house named Bukit Tidar (Tidar Hill) where people usually come on a pilgrimage to the graves of Muslim figures there. It's not too high though.
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| Tidar Hill |
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| Not even halfway to the hilltop #:-S |
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| Say Hi to this little buddy! |
Okay, as I said previously it's not too high, but reaching the top of it was not an easy thing for us. We had to stop to take deep breath for several times (girls, we need more exercise!). I was expecting something spectacular up there say a lake hehe, but when we finally managed to get there, there was nothing to see but a big flagpole in the middle of it. After taking some steps, one thing drew my attention... a huge Banyan tree! Girls, let's do one or two Tarzan swings! :D
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| swing... swing... swing... |
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| local children who watched our "show" ;)) |
Next location, a park called Taman Kyai Langgeng. This is a one huge park, children playground and also a mini zoo where you can see some animals like monkeys, snakes and crocodiles. However, we were not interested to see those animals, we prefered to spend our limited time around a river on the park. It took some time to reach the river since it's located far behind the park.
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How I wished we had spent more time in Magelang. But we had to race against time to come back home. Quoting Aulia, "It's not a matter of where you go, what matters is how you enjoy your time", if I may add "It's not a matter of how much time you spend but how you spend". :) Crazy friends made this trip a fun and wonderful experience although it was just a short one.
By the way, we arrived in Jakarta at 8 am and I had to work at 1 pm. (:|
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