Saturday, January 12
Today is Saturday. However, this is not an ordinary Saturday for us. UII scheduled a city tour today! Yey! We again gathered at the Ersyada Club House around 9 am and departed around 9:30 am. We booked a ride using Grab. There are three cars booked. Vanni, of our buddies accompanied us. The other buddies accompanied the other participants.
First Stop: Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Also Known As Sultan’s Palace
Yogyakarta is the only region in Indonesia that still has a king that they call Sultan. Today, we have given a chance to visit his Palace. The Sultan’s Palace is around 30 minutes away from our dormitory. When I first saw the Palace, it looks like a house for me. Moreover, there are also many vendors outside selling souvenirs, t-shirts and food for tourists. However, when we went inside that is where we witness the beauty of the palace. The building aged by time and served as mute witness that this Palace had endured for years.
Inside the Palace, there are mini museum where traditional royal clothes were displayed. Traditional musical instrument also exhibited. Paintings of the past Sultans were hang on the wall with the details about their life including how many children they have. One of the Sultan have 78 children! I wonder how many wives he had.
I asked Ida, one of our buddies, if where is the Sultan. She said that the Sultan is not staying here anymore. The weather is quite hot today but we enjoyed the heat of Indonesian heat while roaming around the Palace.
Second Stop: Riding a Becak to Taman Sari Water Castle
Using a Becak, a traditional transportation here at Yogyakarta, we arrived at the Taman Sari Water Castle. Actually, we found that Becak is interesting since the passenger is in front while the driver is on back. In the Philippines, the driver is on the side of the passenger but it seems like it is not the way of transporting passengers here at Jogja! Angelica and I enjoyed the experience of riding Becak since the wind is freely touching our faces. The fare costs 20 thousand rupiah for the two of us but the UII paid our fare. How kind they are!
Taman Sari Water Castle used to be the bathing and resting place of the Royal Family in Yogyakarta. It is a place where numerous large pools can be found. Well, what I found interesting about the Water Castle are its entrances and exits. They said that once you’ve entered the first entrance you cannot go back and enter again. Just keep going straight. You should exit on the other side of the castle.
Third Stop. Visiting the Batik Painting Center
Indonesia experience is not complete without Batik. We went to the Batik Painting Center by just walking from Water Castle around 12:30 pm. At the entrance, I saw women creating a new Batik design in a piece of cloth. I’ve heard Batik a lot but this is the time I realized I just know little about this. I just know that this is a traditional design found in Indonesia but I don’t know that they created design using candles! Inside the painting center colourful designs can be found like designs coming from nature, character in myths, image of Jesus and even abstract designs.
Fourth and Last Stop. Shopping at Malioboro Street
After our late lunch, our buddies accompanied us to buy some souvenirs at the Malioboro Street around 2pm. Our buddies help us to bargain the price for us to save money. I bought Batik designed wallet for my family that only cost 10,000 rupiah each. Then, I decided to buy a Batik polo that I am planning to wear when we go to Borobodur on January 27. It is quite expensive but I really liked it and gift to myself as well.
Aside from numerous stores and stalls you can find here, Andong, another traditional transportation pulled by horse is roaming the streets. I wish I can ride it but it is quite expensive maybe next time when we come back here before we go back to the Philippines.
Overall, we all enjoyed this day. Around 6pm, we decided to go back to our dormitories to take our dinner and have some rest. Tomorrow is another day.