Yogyakarta, The City and People

We liked the folks in Yogyakarta. The bus drivers and conductors were helpful and friendly. The hotel staff always seemed to be smiling. The area gets many local, regional, and international tourists yet it still seems quintessential Indonesian.

We made two trips to Tugu Staion to by onward tickets. Both times we were helped by Customer Service and both times the ladies at the ticket counter were professional.


Beautiful facade to the train station.


Of course it's nice to relax every afternoon at the hotel pool.


Almost everyday we bought gorengan (deep fried bananas, tofu, and tempeh) from this gentleman.

It's the rainy season now in Indonesia. Most afternoons there are showers or drizzle for a few hours and the rare thunderstorm. Occasionally it rains at night.


The horse cart (dokar) and pedicab (becak) are still used by the locals to get around. And used by tourists in city center.


Cruising south on Malioboro.


And farther south towards the Sultan's Palace; the main in-town tourist site.


We've found folks in restaurants to be particularly patient and we're learning how to order vegetarian Indonesian food like nasi telor (rice with a fried egg and sides).


There's always a pleasing volcano in sight in Yogya. This is Mount Merapi (right) as seen from our hotel window. I think it's smoking. SL disagrees. I read online that it smokes about 300 days of the year.


The few Dutch Colonial buildings in city center are in pretty good shape.




The Sultan's Palace (Kraton) marks the center of Yogyakarta. There are in fact 2 kratons as competing royal factions have split the palace in two parts. We visited both.

The first.


And the much more prosperous second with expansive grounds and exhibits, scores of sarong-clad guards, and free daily performances.




These guards (check out their short swords) are also puppeteers.






We were impressed by the restored royal water gardens (Taman Sari Water Castle).










Equally impressive was the nearby circular, multilevel, escheresque underground mosque - not in service these days but popular as a photo shoot location by the younger crowd.


I count four photo shoots in progress in this shot. ;-)


And more here.






We ate lunch several times at a Loving Hut Vegan restaurant near our hotel.




And we provisioned several times in the modest mall down the street.