Indonesia Trip Report Part 1: Yogyakarta (Mar 2024)

First trip out since Chiang Mai in October last year. We had an empty slot in our bunny boarding calendar in March, so I decided to book a two-parter: 3 days in Yogyakarta then another 3 in Bali for Nyepi. Ok, I realise they are the two most touristed parts of Indonesia, but an Indo-newbie (apart from Bali and Batam) has got to start somewhere right?

Jogja airport felt a copy of Changi Airport. Huge and modern and well-signposted. It's far from Jogja city but an integrated train takes you there in half an hour for only IDR 20K ($2 ish). The big difference from SG was how many of the staff were just slacking. One guy at the baggage X-ray was straight up sleeping while the others were scrolling through their phones. I love it. 

I was pretty excited to try Jogja's food, but they were disappointing. We ate at famous places like Raminten, Jejamuran, Gudeg Yu Djum, Pastel Kauman etc. and they were all letdowns. So were the random street food (lumpia, bakso) stalls we sampled. The lack of veggies was a concern. That was my first lesson in Indonesian regional cuisine: that Central Java isn't such a fan of veggie-forward dishes like lalapan (Sundanese) and gado gado (West Java).

(I love jamu, though. The Indonesian repertoire of hot drinks is fabulous.)

Raminten (pictured above) is worth visiting though because of the Javanese-style seating and there are horses stabled near the toilets. Horse carriages are commonplace in central Jogja, along with the becak (pedicab). Both are traditional forms of transport used by "normal people" as much as by domestic tourists, it seems. 

As for us, we went about Jogja on foot and by bus. The main strip Jalan Malioboro has proper pedestrian footpaths and was very walkable, but I preferred walking through Kampong Kali Code. Most people were watching TV or chilling in their homes; we rarely saw closed doors or gates even though it was night. They were obviously poor but the place was tidy, clean-smelling and cosy. I was surprised to see a CNA video describing it as a slum. It isn't. It's more civilised than some of the atas landed housing estates here.

After some confusion we managed to get on bus 1A to Gembira Loka Zoo and Prambanan Temple. 

The zoo... mixed feelings. Some of the animals looked very happy (elephants and otters especially) but the ones that will stay with me are the orangutan and chimpanzee, each imprisoned in its island. They behaved exactly like human prisoners, full of misery and defilement. The chimp held his hand out for food, ran around aggressively. The orangutan stayed in its cave, depressed, looking at nothing. The siamang and black macaques were similarly eerie, but at least they weren't solitary. I am now borderline obsessed with primates.

Continued the bus trip to Prambanan. No intention of going in, but wanted to see it from afar. Found a restaurant there serving a buffet dinner. Perfect! The dinner was IDR 180K but how often do you get to eat sate right next to a 9th century Hindu temple?

After seeing Prambanan it felt weird not to visit Borobudur. Plus we had nothing to do after walking around and looking at the 12409812 bakpia and batik shops along Malioboro. So we took a Go-Car there in the afternoon. We just about made it for the last tour, starting at 3.30pm. (Borobudur closes at 5pm.) They made us join a guided tour, which I didn't mind because our guide (who's been there for 37 years) was insanely knowledgeable.

But, but, but... the way the tour was structured was to maximise photo ops. In fact more than half the guide's time was spent taking photos of the group participants. Which was really stupid, to me. You have the chance to see one of the coolest temple complexes in SEA and you choose to squander it looking at the camera? WTF. The heavy rain cleared up and there was a heavy mystical vibe on the upper levels of Borobudur as we looked out into the mountains. 

To exit Borobudur, you're forced to walk through a seemingly endless, cramped maze of souvenir stalls. Now that looked like a slum. I was so disturbed by the experience of going from Paradiso to Inferno and convinced that this feature must be universally hated by other tourists. 

But when I went to the Google Maps listing I found mostly positive comments from Indonesian tourists. They were glad of the opportunity to buy lots of souvenirs and also that the locals have a chance to make some money. Huh. First confrontation of Indonesian vs international (though really Western-driven) tourism culture right there. This would be a theme in the coming days as we went to Bali for Nyepi... see part 2 of our trip here.