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..

First pic of 2014!!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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,

Gunung Kidul Tourism (Beaches in 1 Region)

Gunung Kidul is a part of Jogjakarta Province, with Wonosari as the state. It lies in the south east of Jogjakarta City. We spend usually 1 hour to reach Wonosari. They offer natural beaches as the main tourism destinations and also the other natural objects.

Baron beach is a main beach tourism object and the most crowded beach among the others. It is surrounded by limestone hills, with a path on it. On the west, there’s a mouth of underground river, so that there’s a place where salt-water and fresh-water meet. The hills are so pretty indeed. But the crowded are too much. Outside the beach there are many small restaurant that offer seafood and other foods, but it’s not recommended to eat there. The other beaches lay at the east of Baron beach.

- The lake where salt-water and fresh-water meet-

Kukup beach is a beautiful large white-sand beach, where we can find various kind of sea fishes sold by some traders along the beach. There’s also a coral isle with a viewpost to enjoy the sea.

Sepanjang beach is a natural conservation beach because in certain time turtles lay eggs. It lies about 1km of the east of Kukup beach.

Drini beach is a traditional fishermen harbor and a fish public center. There’s also a coral island and many Drini trees that can be used to avoid poisonous snake. Drini is my favorite beach among the other that i visited yesterday :)

Krakal Beach is the longest beach among the other beaches. The white sand sparkling along the beach is very ideal for tourists who want to enjoy the sea scenery.

Sundak beach is the other famous beach like Baron. It offers a place for camping ground. Not far from the beach, there’s a fresh-water source in a small cave and used by people to supply their drinking water. There are some villas and cottages not far from Sundak beach, check my previous post about Villa Crab.

Siung beach is located in Purwodadi village, about 35 km from Wonosari. Its typical character is the cliff surrounding the beach and very ideal for rock-climbing. The facilities to reach the beach is pretty good.

Wediombo beach is so so far from Sundak (my thoughts :P). Though it’s only 40 km from Wonosari. You can see the sea panorama from above the hills or from  the beach. I didnt go to the beach on my last visit, too tired to went down there.

Sadeng beach is lies on the east of the beach range in Gunung Kidul. Sadeng beach is potential with its lobsters and tuna fish exported abroad. In the journey before we reach Sadeng beach, we can also enjoy the view of Suling Lake, a valley believed as the down stream of the ancient Bengawan Solo River which is suitable for tracking.

There are other beaches i dont mention above, like Indrayanti beach, Ngrenehan beach, etc. Beside so many beaches in the same region, we can also enjoy the karst area of Pegunungan Sewu (Sewu mountain) and i really2 excited to go there on my next trip, enjoying the cave and lake. Below is Gunung Kidul map and tourism spot. Enjoy!!

xoxo,

Food Journal : Yo Cafe

Back with food journal.. I tried new cafe in my town, named Yo Cafe. It is placed in the new Graha Natasha Skin Care, at Jalan Kaliurang Yogyakarta. Basically, they provide light meals, like snacks, beverages, pastries, and lot of desserts!! :D

I ordered lots of dessert yesterday, but my favorite is chocolate truffle!! It’s sooo chocolate :) the cake is more like mousse, because really2 soft. But i loveeee this one..

Eclair, with pisthacios at the top.

American Chocolate Cake, tastes almost like chocolate truffle.

Orange Charlotte, tastes fresh. The cake is a bit sour.

Mango Pudding, the pudding is more like mousse, with slices of mango at the top.  

Black Russian, this cake consist of vodka, so i dont really like eating this too much. But if u like something different, u should try this.

Spinach beef Quiche, tastes really good!! My favorite for the pastries!!

For the beverages, we ordered Orange Peach juice and Tropical Tea. The orange in orange peach juice isnt really tasty, only slice of orange at the top. And the tropical tea is more like passion fruit for me :D

 

Beside the order, they also offer beverage like coffee or latte, and also pasta for eat. Quite good for a new cafe.

xoxo,

Mount Merapi Eruption

It's been 4 days since the first eruption of Merapi, and I just felt the effects this morning. The vulcanic ashes hit the town, reached my home.. Caused by another big eruption last night, around 1 am, a really big eruption and about 3,5 km 'wedhus gembel'. The ashes rain reached the distance of 20 km.

I was preparing for my graduation day, I woke up and opened my twitter and found people tweeting about the ashes. I went out of my room and found the street was covered by the ashes, also cars, roof, everything. And the ashes rain was still falling. I was like panicking, thinking about my makeup and hairdo later!! Hahaha..

It was really horrible, cos the first time Merapi erupted, the ashes didn't get to the town, even they went further to West Java. This is how it looked this morning.

I hope everything goes well with Indonesia, specially Jogjakarta. God bless us.

Sent from my AXIS Worry Free BlackBerry® smartphone

Food Journal : Musiro

I’ve been lacked of post, cos i got no internet. My modem has reached its active time. So yeah, i must fill a credit in order to use it again.

Back to the food journal, i just visited a Korean Fusion Restaurant called, MUSIRO. It’s new I guess, about a month.. And the owner is a real Korean woman. The place is quite small, with a minimalist interior, full of Korean band posters. They also play Korean songs inside. And the utensils are really like the real one in Korea.

Well, i was trying UDONG, korean noodle with a crab stick. A lil bit tasteless, because no chili there, so i must added lots of chili and blackpepper for some taste. We also ordered TOPPOKI and CHEESE TOPPOKI, i just felt it was like flour u know, with Korean sauce, taste lil bit spicy, but the toppoki itself is tasteless too. Not my favorite one. There’s MINI GIMBAB, a lil look like sushi, with egg wraps it. The last menu i tried was BULLDAK BBQ, korean fried rice wraped with egg, and also Korean sauce with slice of chickens. Taste good. I’m interested on trying bulgogi steak and la galbi on my next visit. Haha.. Well, u can see the price list at the pic above.

MUSIRO is at : Jalan Gejayan Yogyakarta (beside Swiss House Bakery), open daily from 10 am to 10 pm.

xoxo,

Food Journal : Nagoya Japanese Cuisine

If you think you are okay to pay a lot for foods, try go to Nagoya Japanese Cuisine. Placed in Grand Quality Hotel Jogjakarta, this is a restaurant inside the hotel with full of Japanese menus like Sushi, Sashimi, Bento, Teppanyaki.

There’s also Chinese Restaurant named Serayu Chinese Restaurant inside the hotel, and the foods are good. They have a promotion for all dimsum menus, 50% off, and the best thing is they open for 24 hours. Dimsum menus in Serayu always become the favorite among peoples. Yeah, we love it!

Back to Nagoya, so I was going with my besties, to spend the voucher she has, IDR 540K. It is huge, right? That’s why we went to Nagoya. We didnt order the teppanyaki set, we chose to eat sashimi and sushi. Shabu-shabu, a japanese fried noodle, japanese fried rice, and two boxes of salmon teriyaki bento, and ocha for the drink. I’m not a big fan of raw food actually, so today was my first time trying these raw sushi and sashimi. They were so chewy! I tried the raw salmon and tuna sashimi, and salmon sushi and the roll sushi. Still tasted really weird, although i ate that with the sauce. Ewww… Still not a big fan ;p I totally prefer the ripe one. I love the teriyaki bento, but it’s expensive. Only got a small salmon. Hufhh.. The shabu2 and japanese fried noodle tasted so-so.. I like the fried rice, but i think it tastes like Indonesian food instead. Though they put nori at the fried rice, with prawns, eggs, and satay. Fyi, the fried rice is the cheapest food there, IDR 28K.

We spent around IDR 700K for seven persons, thank God we had the voucher!! Hahaha.. So eating those things for IDR 25K is really worth enough! :D

xoxo,