More on Indonesia...

I wrote up a pretty big post on some time I spent in Jakarta. Although it is not as good as BKK or HK it was a good time and I value the investigations. However this trip was going to be more cultural and spent in hopes of seeing what central Java had in the way to offer a seasoned SE Asia explorer. No laughing…

Hopped a flight from Jakarta toYogyakarta to cut out as much car time as I could. I will call it Yogya from here on out. At Yogya I stayed at the Hotel Istana Batik (+62274589853). From the entry in the Lonely Planet(LP), it sounded like a centrally located place with a decent atmosphere. I can’t say the book was wrong but I found the place to be not as cheap as the LP alluded to – even with some bargaining and I also found the rooms to be a little weak. The sagging bed could sure use some attention for one and the TV would not be a reason to choose this place. However the pool was great and would be one plus for staying there if what you wanted was a clean dip. I enjoyed it. I think the most bothersome thing about this place was the noise. It was hard to fall asleep and I was always woken up early to the prayer call(something you just have to get used to) and the sound of all the children playing in the courtyard and the street outside. Coupled with the bed this was not a good place to expect any real rest. Apart from that it is not a bad choice and the food was pretty good and affordable.

 Bedhots!

Generally I am not a fan of the one man industry when it comes to tourist places in SE Asia but this guy is cool and he pulls it off well. First off he has a restaurant on Gang II located between JL Pasar Kembang and JL Sosrowijayan called Bedhot’s Resto(+62274512452). Good food, cool people and they have real cocktails. This is a plus since most of the places just have beer which I am not a big fan of.

If you leave his resto and walk left from the exit you will run into another part of his establishments. His tattoo palour, gallery and homestay. This is the same number you use to reach his resto – must be his handphone. He has some seriously cool paintings and I am still thinking about picking one up. The homestay is simple rooms, with breakfast at a pretty decent price. No aircon though and not a lot of space but if you want a cheap place to crash with an awesome décor – this is it. His pad is painted wall to wall and filled with some great oils.

The coolest part of Bedhot the industry for me though is his skill as a tattoo artist. I have been looking to add some more ink to my collection and some from Indo seemed right. I had been looking at some of the Javanese patterns and during this fell in love with the Wayang. Wayang are fictional puppet characters based on a Javanese form of Hinduism. Each character has a particular look, name and meaning. I chose Arjuna which is a male Wayang representing the noble Javanese class. He is based on Krishna, an incarnation of the god Vishnu. Arjuna has a lot of meanings but generally the Javanese appreciate the virtues, nobility and his abilities as a shrewd politician. To top it off he looks cool and Bedhot worked his magic on the right front part of my left leg. Deep black with some graying _ this is one of my best tattoos. The detail and the boldness are striking. Thanks Bedhot.

Bedhot’s emails is pretty simple: bedhots@hotmail.com. Tell him I said hey and get some fresh ink.

The other place I stayed at is Hotel Batik Yogyakarta II – (+62274561828. This is not a bad place to hang in the upper mid-level price ranges. First off I have found the latest Edition of the LP book(2003) to be mostly out of date when it comes to prices of places to stay in Indonesia. Not sure if there has been an sudden increase, that this time of the year is high season or if the LP people always seem to get a better discount than us mere mortals. I got one of the basic bungalows which with a discount was still 410,000 rupiah. Which to me is a little high but this is not a bad spot - decent TV, shower, air, pool and peace and quiet. Although the silence is always broken by the obligatory call to prayer which apart from Jakarta is something that you can never escape in Indonesia. As pretty much every place I have stayed at in Yogya – the mattress needs replacing.

On to the cultural reasons for being in Yogya. This being the old center of Java and still having a sultan – Yogya hosts the Kraton which is the old center of the city and is basically the palace of the Sultan. I did tour the place and was not sure if I was seeing the whole palace or if the place is still in use. It was an okay experience but not amazing. I guess I am spoiled by the sites in Laos and Thailand which are both breathtaking and kept in pretty amazing shape. I am sure this is due to the royalty and the relative affluence of these tow countries. It is very hard to top sites like the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

For starters let me mention that renting a motorcycle is pretty cheap in Yogya and I found the place confusing at first but it turned out to be pretty easy to get around by motorbike. There are plenty of secure places to park, very cheap, and the roads were quite tame compared to some of my riding in places like Vietnam and India. So I rate this a pretty easy place to cruise around by motorbike but all this is based on the fact that riding a motorcycle in SE Asia is for seasoned motorcycle riders. Don’t learn how to ride in SE Asia because most likely you will live to regret it.

The rest of the time besides lounging and eating in Yogya was spent using Yogya as a base to see the famed temples of Borobudur and Prambanan. These are both pretty amazing tourist sites around Yogya and draw a fairly healthy amount of both local and foreign tourists. Part of this is pretty simple. Indonesia is generally considered to be a Muslim region but yet Prambanan is clearly a Hindu temple and Borodudur is one of the best SE Asian Buddhist temples I have seen. If you go to Yogya I cannot imagine missing either one of these spots. Sure you have to put up with other tourists and Borobudur in particular is full of people trying to sell you anything they have, but being in SE Asia you should already be accustomed to this behavior while easily tuning it out. My only complaint, I also share this opinion about the Taj Mahal, is the dual pricing strategy of these type of sites. The Indonesians pay a very small entrance fee and anyone else pays about 10 USD per person to get in. In principal I have no issue with this and realize my tourist dollars are subsidizing the locals to see the place but the problem this creates has to do with the attitude of the locals when they pay next to nothing to see these amazing sites. They throw trash around, climb on things you should not climb and in general appear to treat the site like their own personal property. I think something should be done to enforce the integrity of the sites and the behavior of the visitors – foreign or domestic.

All in all. Good trip. Good sites. Good eating.

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