Yogyakarta Day 2 and 3

Ok, this is my first post in 2010 and I’m feeling guilty to abandon this blog, so let me continue the story.

On our second day in Yogya, we rent a car plus a driver. It costed us Rp 450.000 for 10 hours. Basically, our schedule in 2^nd day was to explore Jogja from the center to the far north, back to the city and then went to south. So, if you want to travel in a long distance, far away from the city, you should consider renting a car.

Keraton Jogja's Gate

First destination is Keraton Jogjakarta. This is the palace of Sri Sultan, the King of Jogja. This place contains so many historical artifacts. If you know nothing about Jogja’s history, don’t worry, there will be a tourist guide that will accompany you. There are many tourist guide who are fluent in English, Japanese, Dutch, or Germany. The entrance fee for local is Rp 5000 plus Rp 1000 if you bring the camera. For the foreigner, the entrance fee is Rp 12.500. Keraton is a must-see place if you visit Jogja, so make sure you won’t miss this place.

Restaurant inside the keraton

Posing with Abdi Dalam

Next destination was Sendang Sono, about 45 minutes from the center of Jogja, by car. It’s a pilgrimage place for Catholics.The place was so beautiful and relaxing. There was also a lot of puppy. It was a high altitude place so the air was so cool and fresh.

The beautiful and relaxing Sendang Sono

The Cross

Borobudur was our next stop. Borobudur is quite far from Jogja, about 40 km. Borobudur is the largest Buddha temple in Indonesia and also one of Indonesia’s national treasure. It was built in the 7^th century (which is 5 centuries older than Angkor Wat!). The temple itself was in the good condition. When we were there, there was some renovation in some parts of the temple. There were a lot of foreigner visiting this temple but unfortunately Angkor Wat outnumbered Borobudur in the term of foreign visitors ( 2 millions vs 700.000). Seriously, this place needs some promotion.

The Mighty Borobudur

Gapura

Oh ya, about the entrance fee, the local and foreigner is different. We paid Rp 15000 while the foreigner must pay Rp 135.000. Inside the temple complex, there were also some museum that you should visit.

Christo with some Japanese girls

The Stupa

It was already 4 p.m. and we should go back to the city because the rent time would be over. After we arrived at Jogja, we asked the driver to take us to the restaurant which sold sate kuda or horse satay. Yup, we ate horse meat!!! I forgot the price but I think it was not expensive. The taste? It was really good. You should try it.

Horse Satay

After finishing horse satay, we went to another food stall, it was called “BAKMI SHIBITSU”. Actually, it was quite hard to find that place (there was a long story behind this but I won’t tell in this blog. Trust me, it was such a silly story! =.=). So, bakmi shibistu sold javanese noodle and the taste is very good and the price is quite cheap. I’m totally recommend this place! We closed our 2^nd day in Angkringan Lik Man (some kind of food hawker) which lied not far fromYogyakarta train station. The place is always full of young people. The speciality of this place is Kopi Joss. Kopi Joss is a glass of coffee mixed with charcoal. Only Rp 3000 but personally I didn’t really like kopi joss.

The "hard-to-find-but-delicious" bakmi shibitsu

Bakmi in the making

Basically, we did nothing in our 3^rd day in Jogja. It was our last day of our tour. Kozzy and I went again to Mirota to buy some souvenirs (and later we found many DARK secret about this place hahaha…) and the others went to buy bakpia. After that, we were just hanging out in the Malioboro mall, waiting for our flight.

Although in our 3^rd tour we didn’t go abroad, we still had some fun. Karimunjawa is heaven on earth that you must visit at least once in your lifetime. Yogyakarta has so many things to be explored. Personally, I love the ambience and the laid-back atmosphere of Yogya. While Semarang doesn’t have many tourist attraction, It still has some great food. Can’t wait for another tour!!