Kamis, 2009 Februari 12
Jalan2 ke Bundaran HI
Bundaran HI memang bukan tempat wisata yang sangat khusus. Bagi warga Jakarta, Bundaran HI mungkin hanya sebuah monumental yang biasa. Monumental yang berada di tengah keramaian. Yang sekaligus menggambarkan usaha pemilik kekuasaan untuk menunjukkan keagungannya. Tetapi bagi FE IFP Cohort VII, mengisi waktu luang bersama merupakan hal yang sangat menyenangkan. Salah satu caranya adalah dengan mengunjungi Bundaran HI. Sesampai di sana, para FE hanya bercanda, bersenda gurau, dan tentu saja tidak lupa berfoto.......Paling tidak mengusir kejenuhan setelah belajar Bahasa Inggris setiap hari.....
Kamis, 2009 Februari 05
Tulisan Achmad: Yogyakarta
Berikut ini adalah kutipan temanku sesama IFP FE Cohor VII....Ahmad, asal Aceh pendiam, tetapi memiliki ketajaman dalam hal menghimpun dan menuliskan kembali segala hal yang pernah dialami, termasuk hasil jalan2 kami ke Yogya beberapa waktu yang lalu....Tulisan di bawah ini adalah salah satu hasilnya.
Started;
Keramat Lontar, Thursday; 29.01.2009
Jogja, Yogyakarta
(Based on Trip to Yogyakarta on 23 – 26 January 2009)
I have been in Jakarta for almost four months since October 2008. As one of persons who come from outside Java Island, there are many sites I would like to visit in Java. Last holiday, I had a chance to join my friends (P’The, Tante Anna, Om Rudhi, Om Ewin, Mas Nur, Tante Inda, and Tante Kiki) spending time in Yogyakarta. Having vacation in Yogyakarta was very exciting because we could have many interesting experiences, such as traveling by train, staying at cheap hotel, visiting museum, visiting Keraton, walking around and shopping in Malioboro, eating and drinking Nasi Kucing and Kopi Bara, watching street performance, visiting University of Gajah Mada, visiting Borobudur Temple, and visiting Parangtritis Beach.
The holiday began after the class end on Friday 23 January 2009. We took a taxi to Senen station and traveled with Senja Utama business train around 08.30 pm. The return tickets was around Rp.220.000,-. It takes quite long time to reach Yogyakarta by train; it is for about eight to ten hours depending on situation on the road. We started to enjoy our journey by taking photos of ourselves in the train and having a long chit-chat through the night until one by one fell a sleep peacefully. This was my first time taking a train because there is no train in my home town, Aceh. I felt rather annoyed in the train because there were so many illegal passengers; those who buy ticket through the agents, and it is commonly happens in the weekend or holiday when all the tickets sold off. The illegal passengers lay down near passengers’ chairs and stretched their legs forward freely on the floor. The corridor of the train was full of the illegal passengers sitting, sleeping, talking, eating, and even smoking.
Beside the illegal passengers, there were also many hawkers walked around the full corridor. They just stepped through the passengers freely without thinking other feelings as if they own the corridor. I tried to enjoy traveling by watching the hawkers one by one which was better than blowing up my anger. The first one was a drink-hawker who brought many kinds of drinking on his shoulder. They were tied together with a rope and put in a small box. The hawker yelled “Air, Air – Aqua, Aqua – Mijon, Mijon – Dingin, Dingin.” When the hawker yelling the word “Mijon”, I thought it was a kind of food, but finally I found out that was a kind of drink “Mizone.” The hawker was yelling a Javanese pronunciation. The second one was a food-hawker who brought food in many single plastics and yelled “Nasi, Nasi – Rames, Rames – Enak, Enak.” The third ones were kind of instant-food-drink-hawkers. One of them that interested me much was a hawker who brought thermos bottle and many kinds of instant food and drink tied surrounding. She yelled “Kopi, Kopi – Pop Mi, Pop Mi – Enak, Enak – Murah, Murah.” The four ones were kind of flying-hawkers who yelled nothing except putting many kinds of products on every passenger’s chair, such as a small hand-fan, a toy, a story book, a souvenir, a hat, a baby dress, etc. They just put them without saying a word from corridor to corridor and then collect them back; the transaction was only happened if the passenger was interested to buy.
Another kind of hawkers was those who offer certain services. There was a man who swept rubbish step by step from chair to chair in order to get a drop of money. His tool was only a small sweep and a miserable face. There was a man wearing green uniform who offer a pillow for Rp. 3000,- each. I thought it was including in train service, but none of the services were free. There was a man who brought a bottle of fragrance and sprayed it under passengers’ chair. There were men and women who sang confidently in shrill voices, and also there were many beggars in many styles, from those who move crawled on his buttock on the floor, those who used a stick and walk slowly because he was blind, until those who just wore tatters cloth and asked some money. I think all of the above mentioned occupations need to be considered if you want to live in Jakarta.
During the vacation in Yogyakarta, we stayed at a small hotel namely Prasthajayaa Losmen near Tugu Station in Pasar Kembang street. When we arrived at Tugu Station Yogyakarta at 07.00 am, the rain greeted us, but we continue visited many hotels, like Asia Africa Hotel which has a swimming pool, but unfortunately all hotels were full and some were not but we were not interested in because the room was not suitable for us. After moving turn and round like an active iron, we met a man who showed us the small hotel where we finally decided to stay. I thanked God for didn’t let me stay in a hotel with a swimming pool because I could not swim. We took two rooms at the hotel for Rp. 90.000,- each per day and added Rp. 30.000,- more for one extra bed because there were five of us while the bed provided in each room was only for two persons. The rooms were comfortable and had an advanced electricity system. To turn on the lamp and the fan we had to put on a tool like a slot, which was tied up with the key room, in an electric socket provided on the wall.
We started our journey in Yogyakarta by visiting Vredeburg Museum after taking a bath and having breakfast around 09.30 am on Saturday 24 January 2009 walking on foot. On the way to the museum we passed a lot of shops and street vendors. We stopped by one of spectacle vendors and tried many spectacles and didn’t forget taking pictures, but only the two of us decided to buy the spectacle for Rp.10.000,- to Rp.15.000,- each. One of our friends gave us tip for shopping in Yogyakarta that you must dare to ask the lowest price down to the half origin prices offered. At the museum, we paid Rp.750 each person for entrance ticket and luckily we had three pretty tour guide girls wearing orange and black uniform. They were in traineeship at the museum. The tour guides explained that Vredeburg named from a Holland man who had much contribution to the building. The building itself means Gedung Perjuangan (Building of Fight). There are four major rooms at the museum presented many historical tools and pictures from the past when Holland colonized our beloved country Indonesia and Indonesia freedom fighting moment illustrations. As always we have done, there were no spaces and moments passed by except we have pictures on them.
The journey continued by visiting Keraton Sultan Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta Palace). It was midday and the palace was quite far, so we decided to take three pedicabs for the five of us for Rp.5000,- each. At the palace, we paid the entrance ticket Rp.28.000,- for all of us including the ticket for camera. We entered the first gate which has a big colorful mask with two fangs on it and walked to the right. There was a Javanese traditional puppet show (wayang) and some tourists were watching it on the chairs provided in front of the stage. We participated in sitting on the chairs but not to watch the show; it was just to take a rest before continuing the journey. We entered the second gate which has two big statues on the left and on the right holding a cudgel on their right hands. There were many buildings and objects inside and most of them have a sign written “no enter and sit on it.” We entered the permitted buildings one by one and seen many pictures and tools related to Yogyakarta Palace tradition for centuries. I observed a unique behavior of all palace servants, called Abdi Dalem. They wore no sleeper and always respect sacred buildings when they enter and exit through the door by respectful greeting with palms put together to show the deepest respect. I pitied of them because most of them are old men and women. On the other hand, I felt surprised that some of them could speak English and Dutch well even though with strong Javanese accent, so they could explain the surrounding situation and condition to foreigners. We ended our visit in Keraton by sitting under a tree outside the palace and drank cendol and coconut water.
The next activity after visiting Keraton was sightseeing and shopping in Malioboro Street. It was rather far from Keraton to Malioboro to walk and we didn’t know the way; but because of our over confident were very strong, we walked and walked along the street until we realized that we were back again proceeding to Keraton. Finally we decided to take Andong, a horse cart, for Rp.15.000,- and stopped at Mirota Batik shop, a big central of souvenir shop in Yogyakarta. At Mirota Batik shop we bought nothing actually except checking the price for various souvenirs so we could ask for a very cheap price at the street vendor along Malioboro Street. There were many kinds of souvenirs along the street, such as tapeworms, necklaces, bags, wallets, spectacles, pens, Batik cloth for all ages, shoes, slippers, and many others. I wanted to buy all if I had much money, but I decided not buying anything because I already had some from my friends. The rest of us bought many things so when we came back to the hotel at the afternoon, they brought one schoolbag on the back, one bag on the right side, many tapeworms on the hand, many necklaces on the neck, one spectacle, one new slipper, and a full of plastic bag.
Around 08.30 pm. we went out to have dinner after discussing the plan for tomorrow activities with Mas Nur who visited us at the hotel with his lovely wife and daughter. We wanted to try the well known Nasi Kucing from Yogyakarta. The free translation for that word is the Cat-food, and I thought at the first time that how greedy we are to eat our pet’s allocation. Finally, I knew that Nasi Kucing was only the normal rice cook wrapped in a small leaf with a certain side dish. We could find it easily during the night time along the street at a small shop, and one of the famous ones is near Tugu Station. The term for using the word is used to refer the quantity of the food that is normally cat’s portion. Another problem then occurred, we normally eat a big portion of food, how could we be satisfied with the small portion? There was no way except eating many portions of Nasi Kucing until we felt full enough. I didn’t know the precise price for one portion of Nasi Kucing, because unlike the past, the present Nasi Kucing separates the side dish from the food. I assumed it was between Rp.1000 – Rp.2000 each. Besides Nasi Kucing, another interesting thing to know is Kopi Bara. All of us were ordering a glass of tea for drink when a man ordered a glass of coffee. The seller put coffee and sugar into a big glass, and then poured hot water. Suddenly, our eyes were open widely; the seller put a live hot coal onto the glass and a hiss voice was heard. We looked at each other and then decided to order one; it was normal and very sweet.
At 09.30 we were walking along the Malioboro Street enjoying Yogyakarta at night when a street performance from Papua attracted us to stop and watch. They presented two traditional dances called Tari Yaspon and Tari Perang to collect fund for the earthquake victims in Papua happened recently. The fisrt dance, Tari Yaspon, was an energetic romantic youth dance played by five men and five women. Five music players accompanied the dance by playing two guitars, one small guitar, one percussion, and one long traditional guitar played with a leg stamp on it. The dancers danced impressively by stamping their feet to the ground, raising hands up, and dancing happily in pairs. It took about fifteen minutes for the dance and they ended it by reducing the pairs one by one until one pair left and closed the dance. The second dance, Tari Perang, was a fight dance played by six women and around twelve men brought artificial swords, arrows and bows, and spears. They wore traditional Papua cloth; men just covering the bottom area and women wear sarong. The dance was like a fighting story between two tribes; problem appeared because of killing tragedy, problem solving between two tribes in peace way, and happy ending for both side by putting hand in hand men and women. The only instrument accompanied the dance was only one percussion, and the rest was the loud sound and feet stamp of the dancers. The night was crawling slowly when we realized the clock struck 11.30 pm. so we decided to go back to the hotel.
Sunday morning, 25 January 2009, we went to University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) around 06.30 am with Mas Nurwanto. It took about ten minutes from the hotel to reach the site. There were a lot of people exercising at campus arena; some were jogging, playing badminton, doing gymnastics, playing volley ball, jumping rope, etc. Along the campus street, from the entrance to the exit gate, on the right and the left sides, there were many people selling food and souvenir. We walked along the street and had something for breakfast after we felt tired. While we were having breakfast, many kinds of people came to show their attractions in order to get a drop of money, such as pantomime, singing beggar, beggar, etc. Not much to say about UGM except I imagined that if I studied at UGM, I would be one of those people and got much money. When we decided to go home, there was a mass of dogs, around 30 – 50 dogs I assumed, with their masters filling the field at UGM. Thanked God, I don’t like dog.
Our next agenda was visiting Borobudur Temple. We had arranged an Innova car including a driver with a kind help of Mas Nurwanto, and proceeded to the site around 10.00 am. It took about one hour to Borobudur, in Central Java, from Yogyakarta. We entered the Borobudur area and sent one volunteer to stand in line to have the entrance ticket for the seven of us. The entrance ticket was Rp.15.000 per person and Rp.1000 for one camera; where actually we paid for one camera and brought in three cameras. There we were; stood in front of one of among the seven phenomenon things in the world, pretended as expert archeologists who wanted to survey the site. There were no staircases, corners, statues, and holes passed by except we took the pictures of them which were focused mainly to ourselves, not to these objects mentioned. While we were in action, I heard the official announced for many times not to climb and to write on the walls and the statues of Borobudur, but Indonesians have already held tightly the statement “the rule is made in order to be broken.” As the result, there were many people just climbed and sit comfortably where they wanted to take a picture, and that included us to be honest. The cameras were almost full when we decided to stop at 01.30 pm.
We proceeded to Parangtritis beach for the last destination of our vacation. It took a long way, almost two hours, to reach the site from Borobudur. Because of exhaust of styles at Borobudur, all of us fell asleep in the car except the driver. Those who woke up first then took any pictures of us in sleep style so we could know what style we used in sleep. We stopped for lunch before arriving Parangtritis and chit-chat along the way. The time was already noon, around 05.00 pm., when we entered Parangtritis beach. We played with water, played with sand, felt the soft wind of the beach, watched people in many actions, eat corn, and not to forget took lot of pictures. We waited for the sunset before we decided to go home and enjoy the beach for the last time. Parangtritis is almost the same like other beaches in any part of Indonesia, not so clean. The journey home passed in silent while the night was already showed up itself.
The time struck 08.45 pm. when we arrived back at Malioboro Street, and we walked around again to search any souvenirs for our beloved friends in Jakarta. With droopy eyes, we searched suitable souvenirs along the street and jostled with other people who had the same ambition like we did. Tiring of walking, we had dinner around 09.45 and then decided to go back to the hotel. We counted all unfinished works and debts among us, took a bath, and felt asleep with a sunshine dream. This was the last night in Yogyakarta during our vacation where we enjoyed it by sleeping. In the morning, we packed our belongings and ready to proceed to Jakarta. We took business Fajar Utama train at 08.00 am. and almost missed the train because one of our friends hold the tickets and she came late. Fortunately we didn’t have to sleep one more night in Yogyakarta, and there we enjoyed for the second time all shouting of hawkers and passengers chit-chat.
Even though our holiday was short, spending vacation in Yogyakarta was very interesting. We could see many kinds of people in the train, stay at a cheap hotel, visit museum, visit Keraton, walk and shop in Malioboro for many kind of souvenirs, have a cheap food and drink, visit University of Gadjah Mada, visit Borobudur Temple, visit Parangtritis Beach, and many other places and things. If you want to spend your holiday, you can put Yogyakarta as one of your destinations.
Finished;
Lab UI, Monday; 02.02.2009 (05.47 pm)
Started;
Keramat Lontar, Thursday; 29.01.2009
Jogja, Yogyakarta
(Based on Trip to Yogyakarta on 23 – 26 January 2009)
I have been in Jakarta for almost four months since October 2008. As one of persons who come from outside Java Island, there are many sites I would like to visit in Java. Last holiday, I had a chance to join my friends (P’The, Tante Anna, Om Rudhi, Om Ewin, Mas Nur, Tante Inda, and Tante Kiki) spending time in Yogyakarta. Having vacation in Yogyakarta was very exciting because we could have many interesting experiences, such as traveling by train, staying at cheap hotel, visiting museum, visiting Keraton, walking around and shopping in Malioboro, eating and drinking Nasi Kucing and Kopi Bara, watching street performance, visiting University of Gajah Mada, visiting Borobudur Temple, and visiting Parangtritis Beach.
The holiday began after the class end on Friday 23 January 2009. We took a taxi to Senen station and traveled with Senja Utama business train around 08.30 pm. The return tickets was around Rp.220.000,-. It takes quite long time to reach Yogyakarta by train; it is for about eight to ten hours depending on situation on the road. We started to enjoy our journey by taking photos of ourselves in the train and having a long chit-chat through the night until one by one fell a sleep peacefully. This was my first time taking a train because there is no train in my home town, Aceh. I felt rather annoyed in the train because there were so many illegal passengers; those who buy ticket through the agents, and it is commonly happens in the weekend or holiday when all the tickets sold off. The illegal passengers lay down near passengers’ chairs and stretched their legs forward freely on the floor. The corridor of the train was full of the illegal passengers sitting, sleeping, talking, eating, and even smoking.
Beside the illegal passengers, there were also many hawkers walked around the full corridor. They just stepped through the passengers freely without thinking other feelings as if they own the corridor. I tried to enjoy traveling by watching the hawkers one by one which was better than blowing up my anger. The first one was a drink-hawker who brought many kinds of drinking on his shoulder. They were tied together with a rope and put in a small box. The hawker yelled “Air, Air – Aqua, Aqua – Mijon, Mijon – Dingin, Dingin.” When the hawker yelling the word “Mijon”, I thought it was a kind of food, but finally I found out that was a kind of drink “Mizone.” The hawker was yelling a Javanese pronunciation. The second one was a food-hawker who brought food in many single plastics and yelled “Nasi, Nasi – Rames, Rames – Enak, Enak.” The third ones were kind of instant-food-drink-hawkers. One of them that interested me much was a hawker who brought thermos bottle and many kinds of instant food and drink tied surrounding. She yelled “Kopi, Kopi – Pop Mi, Pop Mi – Enak, Enak – Murah, Murah.” The four ones were kind of flying-hawkers who yelled nothing except putting many kinds of products on every passenger’s chair, such as a small hand-fan, a toy, a story book, a souvenir, a hat, a baby dress, etc. They just put them without saying a word from corridor to corridor and then collect them back; the transaction was only happened if the passenger was interested to buy.
Another kind of hawkers was those who offer certain services. There was a man who swept rubbish step by step from chair to chair in order to get a drop of money. His tool was only a small sweep and a miserable face. There was a man wearing green uniform who offer a pillow for Rp. 3000,- each. I thought it was including in train service, but none of the services were free. There was a man who brought a bottle of fragrance and sprayed it under passengers’ chair. There were men and women who sang confidently in shrill voices, and also there were many beggars in many styles, from those who move crawled on his buttock on the floor, those who used a stick and walk slowly because he was blind, until those who just wore tatters cloth and asked some money. I think all of the above mentioned occupations need to be considered if you want to live in Jakarta.
During the vacation in Yogyakarta, we stayed at a small hotel namely Prasthajayaa Losmen near Tugu Station in Pasar Kembang street. When we arrived at Tugu Station Yogyakarta at 07.00 am, the rain greeted us, but we continue visited many hotels, like Asia Africa Hotel which has a swimming pool, but unfortunately all hotels were full and some were not but we were not interested in because the room was not suitable for us. After moving turn and round like an active iron, we met a man who showed us the small hotel where we finally decided to stay. I thanked God for didn’t let me stay in a hotel with a swimming pool because I could not swim. We took two rooms at the hotel for Rp. 90.000,- each per day and added Rp. 30.000,- more for one extra bed because there were five of us while the bed provided in each room was only for two persons. The rooms were comfortable and had an advanced electricity system. To turn on the lamp and the fan we had to put on a tool like a slot, which was tied up with the key room, in an electric socket provided on the wall.
We started our journey in Yogyakarta by visiting Vredeburg Museum after taking a bath and having breakfast around 09.30 am on Saturday 24 January 2009 walking on foot. On the way to the museum we passed a lot of shops and street vendors. We stopped by one of spectacle vendors and tried many spectacles and didn’t forget taking pictures, but only the two of us decided to buy the spectacle for Rp.10.000,- to Rp.15.000,- each. One of our friends gave us tip for shopping in Yogyakarta that you must dare to ask the lowest price down to the half origin prices offered. At the museum, we paid Rp.750 each person for entrance ticket and luckily we had three pretty tour guide girls wearing orange and black uniform. They were in traineeship at the museum. The tour guides explained that Vredeburg named from a Holland man who had much contribution to the building. The building itself means Gedung Perjuangan (Building of Fight). There are four major rooms at the museum presented many historical tools and pictures from the past when Holland colonized our beloved country Indonesia and Indonesia freedom fighting moment illustrations. As always we have done, there were no spaces and moments passed by except we have pictures on them.
The journey continued by visiting Keraton Sultan Yogyakarta (Yogyakarta Palace). It was midday and the palace was quite far, so we decided to take three pedicabs for the five of us for Rp.5000,- each. At the palace, we paid the entrance ticket Rp.28.000,- for all of us including the ticket for camera. We entered the first gate which has a big colorful mask with two fangs on it and walked to the right. There was a Javanese traditional puppet show (wayang) and some tourists were watching it on the chairs provided in front of the stage. We participated in sitting on the chairs but not to watch the show; it was just to take a rest before continuing the journey. We entered the second gate which has two big statues on the left and on the right holding a cudgel on their right hands. There were many buildings and objects inside and most of them have a sign written “no enter and sit on it.” We entered the permitted buildings one by one and seen many pictures and tools related to Yogyakarta Palace tradition for centuries. I observed a unique behavior of all palace servants, called Abdi Dalem. They wore no sleeper and always respect sacred buildings when they enter and exit through the door by respectful greeting with palms put together to show the deepest respect. I pitied of them because most of them are old men and women. On the other hand, I felt surprised that some of them could speak English and Dutch well even though with strong Javanese accent, so they could explain the surrounding situation and condition to foreigners. We ended our visit in Keraton by sitting under a tree outside the palace and drank cendol and coconut water.
The next activity after visiting Keraton was sightseeing and shopping in Malioboro Street. It was rather far from Keraton to Malioboro to walk and we didn’t know the way; but because of our over confident were very strong, we walked and walked along the street until we realized that we were back again proceeding to Keraton. Finally we decided to take Andong, a horse cart, for Rp.15.000,- and stopped at Mirota Batik shop, a big central of souvenir shop in Yogyakarta. At Mirota Batik shop we bought nothing actually except checking the price for various souvenirs so we could ask for a very cheap price at the street vendor along Malioboro Street. There were many kinds of souvenirs along the street, such as tapeworms, necklaces, bags, wallets, spectacles, pens, Batik cloth for all ages, shoes, slippers, and many others. I wanted to buy all if I had much money, but I decided not buying anything because I already had some from my friends. The rest of us bought many things so when we came back to the hotel at the afternoon, they brought one schoolbag on the back, one bag on the right side, many tapeworms on the hand, many necklaces on the neck, one spectacle, one new slipper, and a full of plastic bag.
Around 08.30 pm. we went out to have dinner after discussing the plan for tomorrow activities with Mas Nur who visited us at the hotel with his lovely wife and daughter. We wanted to try the well known Nasi Kucing from Yogyakarta. The free translation for that word is the Cat-food, and I thought at the first time that how greedy we are to eat our pet’s allocation. Finally, I knew that Nasi Kucing was only the normal rice cook wrapped in a small leaf with a certain side dish. We could find it easily during the night time along the street at a small shop, and one of the famous ones is near Tugu Station. The term for using the word is used to refer the quantity of the food that is normally cat’s portion. Another problem then occurred, we normally eat a big portion of food, how could we be satisfied with the small portion? There was no way except eating many portions of Nasi Kucing until we felt full enough. I didn’t know the precise price for one portion of Nasi Kucing, because unlike the past, the present Nasi Kucing separates the side dish from the food. I assumed it was between Rp.1000 – Rp.2000 each. Besides Nasi Kucing, another interesting thing to know is Kopi Bara. All of us were ordering a glass of tea for drink when a man ordered a glass of coffee. The seller put coffee and sugar into a big glass, and then poured hot water. Suddenly, our eyes were open widely; the seller put a live hot coal onto the glass and a hiss voice was heard. We looked at each other and then decided to order one; it was normal and very sweet.
At 09.30 we were walking along the Malioboro Street enjoying Yogyakarta at night when a street performance from Papua attracted us to stop and watch. They presented two traditional dances called Tari Yaspon and Tari Perang to collect fund for the earthquake victims in Papua happened recently. The fisrt dance, Tari Yaspon, was an energetic romantic youth dance played by five men and five women. Five music players accompanied the dance by playing two guitars, one small guitar, one percussion, and one long traditional guitar played with a leg stamp on it. The dancers danced impressively by stamping their feet to the ground, raising hands up, and dancing happily in pairs. It took about fifteen minutes for the dance and they ended it by reducing the pairs one by one until one pair left and closed the dance. The second dance, Tari Perang, was a fight dance played by six women and around twelve men brought artificial swords, arrows and bows, and spears. They wore traditional Papua cloth; men just covering the bottom area and women wear sarong. The dance was like a fighting story between two tribes; problem appeared because of killing tragedy, problem solving between two tribes in peace way, and happy ending for both side by putting hand in hand men and women. The only instrument accompanied the dance was only one percussion, and the rest was the loud sound and feet stamp of the dancers. The night was crawling slowly when we realized the clock struck 11.30 pm. so we decided to go back to the hotel.
Sunday morning, 25 January 2009, we went to University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) around 06.30 am with Mas Nurwanto. It took about ten minutes from the hotel to reach the site. There were a lot of people exercising at campus arena; some were jogging, playing badminton, doing gymnastics, playing volley ball, jumping rope, etc. Along the campus street, from the entrance to the exit gate, on the right and the left sides, there were many people selling food and souvenir. We walked along the street and had something for breakfast after we felt tired. While we were having breakfast, many kinds of people came to show their attractions in order to get a drop of money, such as pantomime, singing beggar, beggar, etc. Not much to say about UGM except I imagined that if I studied at UGM, I would be one of those people and got much money. When we decided to go home, there was a mass of dogs, around 30 – 50 dogs I assumed, with their masters filling the field at UGM. Thanked God, I don’t like dog.
Our next agenda was visiting Borobudur Temple. We had arranged an Innova car including a driver with a kind help of Mas Nurwanto, and proceeded to the site around 10.00 am. It took about one hour to Borobudur, in Central Java, from Yogyakarta. We entered the Borobudur area and sent one volunteer to stand in line to have the entrance ticket for the seven of us. The entrance ticket was Rp.15.000 per person and Rp.1000 for one camera; where actually we paid for one camera and brought in three cameras. There we were; stood in front of one of among the seven phenomenon things in the world, pretended as expert archeologists who wanted to survey the site. There were no staircases, corners, statues, and holes passed by except we took the pictures of them which were focused mainly to ourselves, not to these objects mentioned. While we were in action, I heard the official announced for many times not to climb and to write on the walls and the statues of Borobudur, but Indonesians have already held tightly the statement “the rule is made in order to be broken.” As the result, there were many people just climbed and sit comfortably where they wanted to take a picture, and that included us to be honest. The cameras were almost full when we decided to stop at 01.30 pm.
We proceeded to Parangtritis beach for the last destination of our vacation. It took a long way, almost two hours, to reach the site from Borobudur. Because of exhaust of styles at Borobudur, all of us fell asleep in the car except the driver. Those who woke up first then took any pictures of us in sleep style so we could know what style we used in sleep. We stopped for lunch before arriving Parangtritis and chit-chat along the way. The time was already noon, around 05.00 pm., when we entered Parangtritis beach. We played with water, played with sand, felt the soft wind of the beach, watched people in many actions, eat corn, and not to forget took lot of pictures. We waited for the sunset before we decided to go home and enjoy the beach for the last time. Parangtritis is almost the same like other beaches in any part of Indonesia, not so clean. The journey home passed in silent while the night was already showed up itself.
The time struck 08.45 pm. when we arrived back at Malioboro Street, and we walked around again to search any souvenirs for our beloved friends in Jakarta. With droopy eyes, we searched suitable souvenirs along the street and jostled with other people who had the same ambition like we did. Tiring of walking, we had dinner around 09.45 and then decided to go back to the hotel. We counted all unfinished works and debts among us, took a bath, and felt asleep with a sunshine dream. This was the last night in Yogyakarta during our vacation where we enjoyed it by sleeping. In the morning, we packed our belongings and ready to proceed to Jakarta. We took business Fajar Utama train at 08.00 am. and almost missed the train because one of our friends hold the tickets and she came late. Fortunately we didn’t have to sleep one more night in Yogyakarta, and there we enjoyed for the second time all shouting of hawkers and passengers chit-chat.
Even though our holiday was short, spending vacation in Yogyakarta was very interesting. We could see many kinds of people in the train, stay at a cheap hotel, visit museum, visit Keraton, walk and shop in Malioboro for many kind of souvenirs, have a cheap food and drink, visit University of Gadjah Mada, visit Borobudur Temple, visit Parangtritis Beach, and many other places and things. If you want to spend your holiday, you can put Yogyakarta as one of your destinations.
Finished;
Lab UI, Monday; 02.02.2009 (05.47 pm)
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