Rabu, 01 Agustus 2012

Once Upon Time In Yogyakarta

I visited this town the first time in 1978 or 1979. Forget exactly. I met my old close friend who was nearly forgotten moreover I had known her for several years before the first visit this town. She was still in junior high meanwhile I was in senior high school. She was in Purwokerto, a small town in Central Java and I was in Palembang, separated with the channel of Sunda. Then she went to study at a famous state university in this town. She took the archaeological study. She went on her study in Canberra, Australia to take a specialist until she had her master. She is a successful lecture in the university where she has ever taken the choice of her study. She got her dream to be a teacher, because she said to me that she wanted to be as her father did. Her father was a teacher.

Tugu. 
I continue my story about this town. Someday, I stayed in a hotel in Jalan Sultan Agung. The hotel was bad, there was a theatre across the street. This was the first time I stayed in a bad hotel in this town. At night, I enjoyed a plate of gudeg rice near the crossing gate Tugu station railway station, crossing Jalan Mangkubumi and Malioboro. Something that made me better at this hotel was across from this hotel, there was a theatre, wich I said to you early, there was a good leisure place with its delicious gudeg. Yes, a good time and place for leisure. The opening time has been night only from 09.00 – 11.00 pm up to now. Maybe the word of lesehan comes from leisure then slanked to be lesehan. Gudeg indeed one of traditional foods, although I knew that this food has a little nutritional value. But sometimes a year it is no matter to spoil the mouth. Do you think that fried chicken and beef steak good for your healthy? No at all but as I said to you that sometimes a year only is never mind. Gudeg is already an icon of this town, so this town is called ‘The Town of Gudeg’. Yes, since it almost every year until I am married to a woman of Semarang, I always visit this town. She and I have been still a relationship via sms. Yes, we have 36 years of our relationship until now, and more than this I have known her father. She has been married one year early before I did to my anow wife. I know her husband and she knows my wife and daughter. My wife also has a cousin in this town.

For decades, the centre of the economic life of this town has been on Jalan Malioboro. Along this street there are many peopleselling souvenir items, shps selling batik clothing, and along the sidewalks do not exist anymore because of the space filled with street vendors. Pasar Beringharjo is located in this street. In front of this market a lot of people selling variety of traditional foods, such as pecel rice, geplak, pia, satay kikil, wajik, cenil, geruk lindri, fried chicken, tofu bacem, tempeh bacem, kue lapis, tiwul, and iced drink dawet. Crowded. Inside filled with people selling batik clothes and blouse materials. Notice about batik clothingsold in this market. Everything is manufactured and brought from Pekalongan, a small town on the north coast of Java island is also famous for its batik. Pekalongan batik has original style different from Yogyakarta. Pekalongan batik motive has pattern of colourful flowers on the contrary with unflashy oblique or symmetry motives of Yogyakarta. In this era globalization seem familiar, like a lot of denim pants made in Pasar Tanah Abang, Jakarta and brought in to Singapore, stamped Made in Singapore or Made in what was then sold again in Indonesia, The Indonesia people in general are always proud of the foreign branded.

Fort Vredeburg.
Walking further north towards the Palace of Yogyakarta there is the Fort of Vredeburg wich has been converted to be a Museum of Perjuangan. This fort was built by Dutch in 1675 to oversee the palace after the agreement of Gianti was signed. This agreement to end the Islamic Mataram Kingdom, making the kingdom splited into two, namely the Sultanate of Yogyakarta and Surakarta Kesunanan. This fort was extraordinary strong. The fortress was built with ancient construction technology. Teak balcony is also still authentically weathered and not eaten by termites. When earthquake struck Bantul and surrounding areas, the fort did not move much less crack while the building shook and around the cracks.

This town is known as a student town because there are many schools and universities here and all students come from anywhere in Indonesia and foreign. The State University of Gajah Mada is in this town. If you are tired going around, you can rent car, motor-bike, bicycle, or becak.

Between June and August this town visited with tourists from most of European people, for there is summer. At a time like this all the hotels of the class under the board until the high board of the town and and its surroundings must be full booked. Want to search for class hotels under the boards, try to go to Jalan Dagen, Sosrowijayan, or to Sultan Agung; to the middle boards, go to Jalan Parangteritis, Mangkubumi, or to Pugeran. Are you hungry? Go to Jalan Wijilan because many restaurants here that sell typical food of this town, is that gudeg. The difference with gudeg elsewhere, namely the gudeg is dry here, so you can take it to your home town for several days as the bringing of your hands. In this town there is a river wich divides the town, people here call it Kali Code. The river is real different compared to all the rivers that exist in many towns in Indonesia. Clean. Clean. Clean. There is no trash along this river. All terraces of house overlooking the river water that flows smoothly. There is a small lane just to walk along the this river between the house terraces and the river bank. The terrace is clean because all citizens have their own initiatives to sweep both of porch and lane. Environmental conditions that the Code is not neatly separated from interference of the late Romo Mangun, a clergyman who had been institutionalized the communities along this river.

In general, residents of this town friendly to the newcomers. Some restaurants of Minang cuisine are easy to find out here, this shows that there are also many migrants from other tribes. Its people lives in peace and harmony, there has never hit this town a horizontal conflict. In the middle of central issue of carbon emission reduction that echoed around the world, the town becomes one of good examples in Indonesia for carbon emission reduction campaign. In this July is the dry season in Indonesia, almost every day I come across a blue sky and bright clouds interspersed in this town. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. You do not expect a beautiful scenery in other towns in Indonesia such as Jakarta, Bandung, or Surabaya, despite or even in the dry season. Many things wich have to be seen in this town for the first time coming to this town. If you want to enjoy some sights of this town, you can see in my picture gallery, album title : The Town of Yogyakarta. Have a nice day, beautiful and romantic in this town.-


You may have many close friends anywhere you have had them, but a true close friend is like to find out a needle in straw. The Man of Nazareth is the right man bringing the truth for you because he is real the truth.



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