REFLECTIONS: Absolutely Djokdja*

* The old spelling for Yogyakarta

I was in Java during the weekend. This trip was planned and arranged back in December – there were some serious ticket bargains then - and I only learnt about the crisis between Malaysia and Indonesia on Wednesday (I haven’t been following the news since Ramadan commenced). I left the office for KLIA on Friday evening and boarded the national carrier for Jakarta, landing at 10.40 pm local time (flight out was re-scheduled to depart half an hour later enabling me to perform tarawikh prayers at the airport). I ignored the pestering cabbies and went in search of restrooms (only found one in working condition at the departure level!) before settling down to wait for Andrea – her flight from Manila only landed at midnight and we then took a cab to Sofyan Hotel. Traffic was kind to us, well, it was after midnight after all and we reached the hotel after 30 minutes. However, I had told the cabbie to drive us to Sofyan Cikini (when it had in fact closed down for quite a while) not realising that we should have headed to Sofyan Betawi. And the blinking cabbie wanted a tip %#^*&*)

I woke up early on Saturday to partake my pre-dawn meal. We only left the hotel after 10 am and, after a detour to a nearby shopping centre where Andrea had some meal, took the bajaj to Sarinah Department Store. There’s even a prayer room there – how convenient! We spent a few hours there (Andrea doing most of the purchasing) before taking another bajaj to Plaza Indonesia. It was here when I discovered that tourists cannot claim the 10% sales tax though you can do that at Sarinah if you spend more than Rp5 million (if my memory serves me right) because Sarinah sells local products, namely batik.We had our break fast/dinner at Grand Indonesia before returning back to the hotel by bajaj to rest.

We had an Easy Like Sunday Morning before leaving Jakarta for our flight in the afternoon (which was re-scheduled a few times – typical of AirAsia). The domestic terminal, Terminal 3, looked really modern and new. Our bags had both exceeded 7 kg but thankfully we managed to bring them onboard. I was so happy with this that I went further and bought a batik sarong and a pouch at Batik Keris (well, there was an offer). Oh by the way, there’s a Rp30,000 domestic travel airport charge.

We landed at Jogjakarta at 3.50 pm and were already in the cab before 4 pm. We headed for Hotel Merbabu (the very same hotel I stayed at in January 2009). I had booked and paid a deposit for a room when I came in end-July so the check-in was very fast. After dumping our bags, we went out to Jalan Malioboro. I broke fast at a restaurant in Malioboro Mall. As the hotel did not provide any pre-dawn meal (boo hoo) I had to go out again to find some meal.

Because we were supposed to arrive into Jogja later, we had asked the hotel the help arrange a tour for us with Sosro Tour & Travel for a day-trip to Borobudur, Prambanan and Kraton (palace). The cost is Rp100,000 exclusive of entrance fees at Borobudur (USD15), Prambanan (USD13) and Kraton. You can pay the entrance fees in either Rupiah or USD. However, when we went to Sosro office on Monday morning, we were told that while the hotel did make a booking for us, it did not confirm our tour (this despite me asking the hotel staff numerous times). The travel agent tried to help us but could not manage to locate any of the company’s drivers. Finally she suggested we take Trans Jogja, the local bus, to Prambanan (17 km away) and then take a 2 pm tour to Borobudur for Rp65,000; this would mean there would be no trip to kraton for us but the palace closes at 12 noon in Ramadan anyway. She reasoned that the trip would take equally long had we gone on a tour and besides Trans Jogja is very safe and reliable. So we agreed and she showed us the bus stop. We paid Rp3000 each (so cheap!) and the #1A bus came almost immediately. It took us only 45 minutes to reach Prambanan. The best part was the bus also goes to the airport and Andrea and I agreed we would take it when we return to the airport the following day. The airport bus stop is across the railway track from the airport and you need to go down and up the ramps to reach the terminal building. Not to worry, it’s all very modern and convenient with walkalators.

It was already hot, hot, hot when we reached the bus terminal at Prambanan – and it was only 8.30 am! We had to walk about 15 minutes in the morning heat to reach the ticket office but fear not if you dislike walking as there are a lot of trishaws waiting to bring you there. Because of the depreciating greenback, I opted to pay in USD. If you opt to pay in the local currency, the ticket is Rp117,000 (USD13.29). We decided to take a guide and he was much, much better than the one I had last year.

We returned back to the bus terminal for our bus back to Jogja at 10.45 am and stopped at the Malioboro Mall. I bought some food while Andrea had some lunch. Then we walked back to the hotel to rest.

We set off at 1.45 pm and walked to Sosro office for our 2 pm tour to Borobudur. There were Andrea and I and a bloke from Australia in the whole MPV. Borobudur is only about 37 km away and yet it took us close to an hour to get there. We didn’t hire a guide this time and were happy with our decision to change our plans to visit Borobudur and Prambanan in that order to Prambanan followed by Borobudur. There were noticeably less people in the afternoon compared to the morning crowd when I went there last year. So it was a really good decision after all. The driver had told us we could stay until 5.30 pm but we were already back at the MPV by 4.45 pm. We reached Jogja at 5.45 pm, just in time for me to break fast.

I woke up early on Tuesday and went to a local convenience store to purchase some instant noodles-in-a-cup. Yes, a very simple pre-dawn meal (I am also fine with simple break fast meals). There were quite a few people about all buying food and pushing their food-carts, and trishaw drivers asking you to ride with them (wherever to at 3.15 am?). It rained during the night and the ground was wet and the air pleasantly cool.

We went out for a short trishaw ride around the city (but the driver then demanded double what he agreed on %#@)~). I rushed back to the hotel at 9.45 am and picked my bag and hurried over to the bus stop for my bus to the airport. As luck would have it, the bus pulled up just as I arrived and Andrea and I had a quick farewell before I paid for my ticket and boarded the bus. It was a 35-minute ride to the airport and despite reaching the check-in counter 65 minutes before departure, I managed to get seat 5A. We landed at 2.50 pm and I reached home just after 5 pm.

So that was my Merdeka weekend; hope you had a good one too!

~~~~~~~~

Arsenal visited Ewood Park on Saturday and managed to come away with three points. Kudos to Theo. Alan-yse that Alan Hansen! Love this chant line, thanks to YoungGunsBlog.