Friday, February 21, 2014

Playing Tourist in Jogjakarta

Been almost half a year since my last visit to Jogja, so my last visit this December-January was quite long. I took 5 days off from the office. Well anyway, it’s quite fun to come back home and playing tourist in my hometown, haha..

I spent my New Year’s eve on Ellen’s home with some old friends and new friends that I’ve first met. But the NYE night was started with a dinner with my family at Holycow steakhouse, our fave restaurant in Jakarta that newly opened in Jogja. Same taste, same price, but different atmosphere and class here. Holycow can be categorized as expensive and elegant dish here in Jogja. Maybe because the place is at a hotel, while it's more like 'warung' in Jakarta. But still, i enjoyed my food so so much. Yum! Happy tummy, happy me! :)

Back in Ellen’s house, we had a random talk and had a beer pong competition! Only saw it on TV series and always curious to do it, and i just did the game! So fun! And to be honest it's hard! Haha.. It looks easy but actually the ball just wouldn’t go to the glass easily. Geez. I paired up with Denis. Won in round 1 but lost in round 2. I ended up drinking 3 glasses and i got hot and red already lol. I really cant drink. :p

I also had a grilled marshmallow. Also a new thing i tried and only saw it in TV series before. Haha. Well actually so many foods provided by Ellen but i couldn’t eat anything more since i got so full in Holycow but i managed to eat a grilled gindara and some marshmallows. Lol. It was such a great night! Basically it’s a night where we allowed to get drunk by the beer pong, and another beer round for the losers of other game. Haha..

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First pic of 2014!!!

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Did I get skinnier? People said I lost some kgs, and I thought so too. Haha.. I need to get more skinnier this year.

Rain was falling along the first day of 2014! Crazy! So we went to my dad's cemetary at noon. Been exactly 18 years and i feel that it was super long time ago. I don’t really feel dad's existence in my life, i don’t even have any precious memories with him. So yeah, i can say that my mom builds my life, she's the superhero who taught me everything and made me the woman i am today. Maybe we don’t look close to each other but we’re definitely close in our own way. A weird way, haha.

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2014 is such a great year to start a new thing and a new experience. Beside the beer pong and grilled marshmallow, I went to Ullen Sentalu Museum for the first time in my life. I stayed in Jogja for more than 10 years but I never visited this museum. So one day I played tourist with my friend, Meme. Too bad she already went there before so I took the tour inside the museum alone. Alone! Between the real tourist group inside. Lol. The admission fee is 30K and the tour takes approx 50 minutes. They also give us a traditional drink for our health.

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Inside the museum, it's all about Javanese culture and history specially Jogja and Solo history. Inside there are lots of batik, sculpture, painting and also the portrait of the king, queen, princess and the prince many years ago. There are also many letters from friends and relatives to the brokenhearted princess, and there was one letter that caught my eyes. It said :

“How happy i am to see that light only comes from the darkness and shadows. So does happiness.”

I think it’s a good quotes and also true!

We went to Jejamuran after that trip. I really love to eat there! Jejamuran sells everything mushroom! There are a lot of mushroom dishes they made, from satay, tongseng, crispy mushroom, rendang, soup. Ah, it’s a foodgasm! Not to forget it’s really cheap. It’s a MUST to go there if you’re visiting Jogja.

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In my last day in Jogja, I went to Mirota Batik, a place you should go when you're in Jogjakarta, the center of batik, souvenir, stuff, handgift, actually just everything related to Jogja. And today was also my first time to watch the Oyot Godhong cabaret show. It's quite fun and entertaining but the seat was horrible! They should make a proper stage and seat. I posted some videos of them on my dayre. Anyway, we don’t have to give them tip here. Haha. Not like in Thai where the ladyboys are super super materialistic. And also the ticket price is super cheap, 30K for VIP and the regular is 20K. You better get the VIP one or you'll end up sitting in the back with backache.
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Well, for me this is quite unique for a performance in Jogja, and maybe the only one in Indo. Never saw another one in Indo before. Haha. So it's kinda nice. Just make sure to come earlier to the venue before you run out of the ticket because every show they only sell 40-50 tickets (if I’m not mistaken). It’s so limited.

I actually love my last visit to Jogja since I tried so many new stuff. I look forward for another exciting new thing and experience in this new year. :)

May everything goes well as His will.

 

xoxo,

asn