Yogyakarta trip – 23 Apr 11

Today is the only day which we don't have to wake up extremely early. We gathered at the common area before strolling to the restaurant for breakfast. While waiting for breakfast to be served, I walked around the compound to take photos.

As there are only 11 rooms in Rumah Mertua, it gives me an intimate feel due to the more personal touch from the staff. The compound is decorated with lots of greenery which makes the environment very relax.

Spa room

Pathway leading to the common area and our rooms

Pathway leading to the standard rooms

 Deluxe rooms facing the swimming pool

Swimming pool

Monkey peeing

Flowers and plants creeping around the wooden poles

Lots of greenary

Signboard at the gate entrance

Road leading to Rumah Mertua

Facade of Rumah Mertua

Lobby

Pond with fishes inside

Hallway leading to the restaurant

Decorations in the restaurant

There are 8 choices in the breakfast menu. All of us ordered American Breakfast which comes with bread, 3 choices of egg, fruit, coffee or tea.

Breakfast menu

Omlette, sunny side up and scramble egg

Kuehs

Jams, butter & toasted bread

Fruits

Herman reached at around 8.30am and we head to our first destination - Kraton Yogyakarta. It took us about 1/2hr from Rumah Mertua to Kraton.

Busker on the road

MacDonalds

Becak (Trishaw)

Police station

Graffiti on the road

Stalls outside Kraton compound

Kraton compound

The Kraton is open from 8.30am - 2pm daily and closed at 11am on Friday. The admission fee is IDR12,500 ~ S$1.80 and there is a camera fee of IDR1,000 ~ S$0.10. Guide is included but beware that some guide may bring tourist to Batik shops. We did not encounter this with our guide.

Admission ticket office

Camera permit

Traditional mask symbol in Kraton

Wayang Kulit

Good & evil guardian at the left and right

Pavilion

Antique clock

The lions and mirrors were imported from Europe

Beyond this part is out of bound as the Sultan lives inside there

Who is stronger?

Another traditional mask symbol

Water dispenser

Such a huge kettle

Umbrella used to shelter the Sultan

The sultan chair

Carriages for the Sultan families

Treasury department

Pigeons

These are real 24K gold!

Work desk of the Sultan

Medals given to the Sultan

Toys played by the Sultan when he was young

Camera used by the Sultan

Different packaging of Aji-no-moto

Military uniform of the Sultan

Tuxedo of the Sultan

Symbol of Kraton

Glasswares

Clocks

Ivory

A wooden drum used to warn danger

Drum made of jackfruit bark

The Kraton lies between Mount Merapi and South Sea. In the mind of the Javanese community, kraton is defined as center of the world that is described as center of the universe.

This painting explain it all

Batik

An interesting that I saw is a photo of a large cage. The guide explain that the child will sit inside this cage to choose what he wants to be in the future. Ain't this similar to the Chinese traditional when an infant turns one year old?

Such a huge cage

The tour around Kraton took about an hour. In my opinion, the display items in Kraton are poorly maintain. They should hire a better curator to attact more visitors.

We continued to our next destination - Taman Sari Water Castle. It is open from 9am - 3pm daily and admission fee is IDR7,000 ~ S$1 and camera fee is IDR1,000 ~ S$0.10. Entrance fee does not come with a guide. 

Entrance of Taman Sari Water Castle - Gedhong Gapura Panggung

 The pools which the Sultan concubines used to occupy

Bed occupied by the Sultan and fires are burnt under the bed during cold weather

Steep stairs to the tower

The Sultan observe his concubines bathing from here

Gedhong Gapura Hageng

Cendol stall

As I have done research that there is an underground mosque in Taman Sari Water Castle, I couldnt find it after walking around the compound. Then YQ approach a thin guy and the guy told us that he know where it is but we have to pay him IDR3,000 ~ S$0.40 per pax. I thought why not since it's not expensive. He walked through a lot of alleys before we reached the underground mosque. In the end, we exited at the right side of the Taman Sari Water Castle. He make us walked through such a big detour which I'm not very pleased with.

Alley leading to the underground mosque

Entrance to Sumur Gumuling

Walking down the steps to the Sumur Gumantung

What's attracted me is the four stairs which meet in the center. It's really very unique and I told myself that I must visit this place.

Sumur Gumantung

Entrance to another underground mosque

I like the unique dome shaped ceiling

Right side of Taman Seri Water Castle leading to the underground mosque

We have our lunch at Gudeg Wijilan Yu Djum which is near Kraton. It is located at Jalan Wijilan and opening hours is from 6am – 10pm. Gudeg is a curry of jackfruit, chicken and egg served with rice, and is the most famous local dish in Yogyakarta.

As usual, Herman went for prayer while we are having our lunch. Then when he came back, he takeaway Gudeg and have it when we visit the next attraction. He doesnt hold up our time at all.

Gudeg Wijilan Yu Djum

Menu 

Sitting on the floor and having our lunch

Gudeg

Black or white?

Our driver, Herman

Dual railway tracks

KFC

Our next destination is Affandi museum. It is located at Jl. Laksda Adi Sucipto 167 which is about 30min ride from Kraton. Opening hours: Mon - Sat 9am - 4pm, closed on public holidays. Admission fee: IDR20,000 ~ S$3. A pencil souvenir and a free drink is given to everyone of us. Photographs are not allowed inside the museum but I secretly took some photos. =p

I'm not those who will appreciate art hence my pupose of visiting Affandi museum is to look at the unique buildings. When I was doing my research for Yogyakarta trip, I saw bloggers visiting some unique buildings and I discovered that these buildings are in Affandi museum.

Affandi is a famous artist and he was given a lot of awards by many universities including a Doctorate degree by NUS.

 These are roots of the tree

Entrance to the museum

Space car lookalike

Bicycle used by Affandi

Honours by NUS

Inside the gallery

Does this painting resemble 关羽?

Giant model size of Affandi

Swimming pool

Banana leaf shape roof

Another building in Affandi museum

Gajah Wong river

Spiral tower

Carriage

Hand print steps

Lizard dustbin

Affandi sculpture

The chairs and tables are made of tyres

We spent about 40min in Affandi museum including consuming our free drinks before we left for Malioboro.

It's not a 3 lanes road but 1 lane for driving & 2 lanes for parking

Bus stop in Yogyakarta 

Bank Indonesia

Kantor Pos Besar (Central Post Office)

BNI '46 building

Anyone know what does this symbol represent?

Monumen Serangan Umum 1 Maret 

Becaks

Andong

Parking for Andong

Beringharjo market

Jalan Malioboro

Herman parked his car at Hotel Garuda and Malioboro mall is 5min walk away. Malioboro mall is an airconditioned mall with shops that we can also find in Singapore.

Malioboro mall

Today is my sis birthday so we bought a cake from Breadtalk for her.

Breaktalk

The poles are of the shelf is moving and yet the items remained unbroken

Inside Malioboro mall

After browsing the shops, we decided to have a break at a cafe. My sis ordered Kopi Luwak while I and YQ share Irish coffee. I dun find Kopi Luwak any difference from other coffee although it's expensive . All along I wanted to try Irish coffee after reading a love story about it. But it's not common to find Irish coffee in Singapore and when I found it, it's not at the suitable time for me to drink it.

There's a story that Irish Coffee is invented and conjured from a Bartender in Dublin's airport who fell in love with an air stewardess.

He fell in love the moment he was acquainted with the air stewardess. She's like Irish Whiskey, rich and frangant. But each time she walk into the bar, she would order different types of coffee according to her mood that day, but never a cocktail. Yet, the forte of the bartender is in mixing cocktails. To have the girl drink one of his specialties was his greatest wish. An idea was formed and he mixed Irish Whiskey and coffee together into perfection, thus inventing a new drink - Irish Coffee, adding it into the menu, hoping the girl will take notice.

However, the girl was not a person who take notices at small details, the bartender himself never once hinted at her, remaining doing his work behind the counter. Once, during her non-frequent visit, she discovered there's Irish Coffee and became the 1st person to have tasted it. The only reason why she was the 1st person to drink it was that the bartender had created two menus; 1 dark brown, 1 light brown specially for the girl.

It was a whole year from the day the bartender created the drink till the day the air stewardess ordered it. The bartender was very emotional when she ordered the drink, he cried. For fear of her seeing his tears, he wiped them away and use his fingers to run a circle around the glass tip. So it is said the 1st taste of Irish Coffee reminds one the thoughts of yearning for someone and suppressing it.

The girl fell in love with Irish Coffee and would order it each time she landed at the airport. As time goes by, both of them became good friends and she would tell him the sights and happenings of her trips. The bartender would teach her the secrets of making Irish Coffee. Then came one day, she decided to retire from air stewardess and came to say farewell, which is goodbye for good. The bartender made Irish Coffee for her one last time and addded, "Would you like tears to go with it?". He was hoping she could realise what the taste of fermentation represents.

The air stewardess went back to her home in San Francisco and one day she was looking for Irish Coffee in pubs around her area, but couldn't locate any, then she realised that the drink was specially created for her, but she never understood why the bartender asked her whether she want to add some tears to it.

She opened a coffee cafe soon after and began selling Irish Coffee. That is why although the origins of Irish Coffee began in Dublin, but it became popular in San Francisco. The bartender also made available the drink after the air stewardess left, which is why Irish Coffee is considered a cocktail in Dublin, but a coffee beverage in San Francisco.

Kopi Luwak

Irish coffee

Sandwiches

After the teabreak, we walked back to Hotel Garuda to look for Herman and told him that we wanted to go for massage. We went to quite a few massage salons and yet most are full so in the end, we told Herman to return back to Rumah Mertua and ended the day.

Buddha stone plaque at a massage salon

We have enquired about their massage in the morning but their female massuers are on leave today. This is why we decided to have our massage outside instead. But in the end, we still return back to Rumah Mertua for massage. Only the guys went for massage at Rumah Mertua.

We had our dinner Rumah Mertua and I ordered Nasi Goreng Rumah Mertua which cost IDR33,000 ~ S$5. It's tasty and the portion is huge. After our dinner, we celebrated my sis birthday and ate the tiramisu cake.

Nasi Goreng Rumah Mertua

Kwetiew goreng

Sis birthday

I asked the receptionist to give me the final bill tonight since we are checking out very early tomorrow. I also asked the receptionist whether our breakfast can be packed for us and she happily replied "no problem". The service here is top notch even though it's a small guesthouse.

>>Day 4: 24 Apr 11