ah yes. i know i haven't updated for a while. although i am currently not doing anything in particular.. i find myself not able to stay in front of the computer that long. kenapa ya? gue juga bingung sih.
and soo.. daripada gue stress for being so unproductive, i finally encouraged myself to get my ass off of jakarta and travel around, with or without a friend. kebetulan a good friend asked me to join him on his work-related trip to yogyakarta. thinking that i've always wanted to take pictures of the temples around yogya, i took the chance regardless i know the risk that i might have to go around the places by myself. so here's my 3 days photo journal of the trip.
by 10.30am on thursday, i arrived in yogya and checked in to the sheraton hotel as my friend instructed. i was confused whether to go and start traveling around or should i just wait for him. he was supposed to get there earlier but due to all night partying (?), he missed his 6am flight and i ended up in yogya a lot faster than he was. so i kinda accustomed to the area while having my head down in the "da vince code" i was reading. i know it's a late read.. but my excuse is valid. while i bought the book a while ago, it was accidentally packed in the container that shipped my stuff from new york to jakarta. the thing is, the package didn't come until about 2 weeks ago. and i still couldn't figure out which box the book is located and i have 8 boxes filled only with books! .. so i ended up borrowing a copy from a friend, right before i left to yogya. so now.. yes.. i am still reading it. :D
anyways.. back to the yogya trip. as soon as my friend arrived we were off to have late lunch near "galleria" and then while he was off doing his work i took pictures around the intersection. waktu di hotel sempet sms2an ama
killy yang ngasih no hp anak2 di yogya. on his last sms, dia minta gue naro foto2 kota nya dia.. hehe.. so of course lah.. back to galleria intersection, i found nice graffiti along the way and took many picture of them. (1) pic is one of the graffity i took and i thought the writing is funny. it says,
tidur beralas rupiah sungguh!!.. pulasnya tiada terkira..ra..ra.." whatever the hell that means. heheh..
abis dari persimpangan jalan solo itu.. kita balik ke hotel. tadinya kita mau ke borobudur. we were already inside the cab that will take us there.. tapi pas tengah jalan.. ujan!! jadilah kita rethink it through and canceled till tomorrow, knowing that we might just rent a car instead.
balik ke hotel, i went to the spa and had jacuzzi. gila.. relax abis!! sampe ga mau kemana2 lagi. but we had to have dinner first, cuz i was starving after a day under the sun. so off we went to "gadjah wong" restaurant and sat next to mas garin nugroho. due to his high profile.. i could not show his picture.. but he's somewhere around the (2) pic. heheh.. abis itu sempet muter2 di malioboro then headed back to the hotel.
the next day, kita akhirnya dapet mobil sewaan. for 10ribu per hour.. it sure as hell is cheap and worth it banget. so akhirnya kita ke solo dulu. on the way, mampir dulu ke candi prambanan on pic (3). spent around an hour disitu. gila.. panas nya deh amit2!! but i took about close to 100 pics disana. took many of the reliefs along the temple. keren2 banget relief nya. the most amazing one is the relief of two birds with the head of a man.
dari prambanan, off we went to solo. temen gue kebetulan mesti ke solo karena ada urusan kantor. so while he was doing something with a client, i asked the driver to drop me off at the kraton solo. eeh.. sampe sana, ternyata kraton nya tutup! so instead i just took the picture outside the kraton -- seen on pic (4). trus ketemuan lagi ama temen gue.. had nasi liwet for our late lunch. yummeh deh.. trus kita back to yogya. rencananya again.. kita mau mampir ke borobudur. tapi ternyata on the way to yogya, ujan deres. though we insisted to go there anyways, hoping the rain would stop once we get there. beneran brenti sih ujannya pas disana.. tapi.. ya ampuuunn.. udah kesorean, jadinya TUTUP!!! another wasteless trip. ya udah.. kita akhirnya jalan2 ke malioboro. had gudeg di tugu. trus balik ke rumah sodara temen gue since we already checked out from the hotel. i phoned around to find a rental car that would take me to borobudur the next day since my friend would leave me by myself di yogya. he had to leave early in the morning to catch his class in jakarta.
the next day.. after my friend left, i waited for the rental car to come. pas dateng at exactly 8AM as i requested, the driver i thought looks very young. so i asked him questions, getting myself familiarize with him. abisan gue kan sendirian, and my mom keeps warning me to be careful. ya udahlah. though i thought ni orang lugu banget gitu tampangnya. ternyata dia masih anak kuliahan semester 5 dan berasal dari jambi. my first destination is of course.. candi borobudur. i seem to have bad luck coming to this place dari kemaren. pas sampe sana, ternyata the weather was nice. i see the blue sky for once since i get there. kayak turis (lah emang kan?) gue muter2 aja sendirian. finding nice spots for the picture and took as many as i can. di salah satu stupa nya.. ada yang kebuka, and revealed patung buddha yang ada di dalemnya. jadilah foto (5) ini. cerita lucu yang sebenernya menyedihkan adalah seeing the stones outside of the temples yang ditumpuk2in gitu. menurut guide, itu adalah stones yang waktu site nya ditemukan rencananya buat di restorasi gitu.. tapi they couldn't figure out how to put them back together, jadinya akhirnya ditaro di pinggir2 gitu. and the funny thing is i actually found a spot where they were trying to put the relief together.. tapi malah jadinya ga sinkron gitu. liat aja di pic (6). sad..
dari borobudur, sempet mampir dulu di candi mendut - pic (7). sempet masuk ke monk observatory yang ada di sebelah candi mendut. took nice pictures soalnya banyak patung2 dan ada patung buddha yang dilapisi emas .. baguuuss banget! waktu moto rada serem juga sih soalnya sepi banget. most tourists went straight to mendut, jadi ga ada yang masuk situ. besides it's a praying place.. jadi takut aja tiba2 ada monk nya keluar trus ngusir gue. tapi turns out mereka malah cuek2 aja.. and continue praying. ya udah..
abis dari mendut.. i stopped a few times buat moto2 sawah yang backdrop nya gunung merapi - pic (8). trus lanjut balik ke yogya dengan tujuan.. kraton yogya. but i had my luck with rain since i got to yogya. the clouds were very dark as we move toward the city.. and by the time we got to to kraton.. it rained so hard i had to rethink about going in with a camera on my back. akhirnya gue nunggu aja sampe ujannya brenti. alhamdulillah sih brenti.. so i jumped out of the car and went in the kraton - pic (9). sepi banget.. only few people passed by. and an old guy with friendly smile came toward me and showed me around, while explaining the history of the place. interesting! i learned a lot of stuff which i'm sure many of you.. yogyakartans don't even know.. heheh.. :) abisan ternyata banyak anak yogya yang belom pernah ke kraton. lah pegimana sih? well it figures sih.. just like me who's never been up to empire state building.. padahal i passed it for the past 7 years of my life or the fact i've never been up to monas either..
the nice old guy also showed me around the kraton area. ke museum kereta which is actually the parking garage for the sultan's carriages. bagus2 banget. the oldest even went back to the 1700s and many of them are still nice. pic (10) is one of the oldest carriages and it's still carrying the original parts. belom pernah diperbaiki dan masih dipake. keren banget ya? most of the carriages were built during the 8th sultan, and he put his logo in all of them - pic (11) is the logo and pic (12) is one of the carriages with that logo on the side. unfortunately, these carriages are made in netherlands as it still carries the logo on the wheel - pic (13).
dari museum, the old guy took me to the original dagadu t-shirt place. bought several for my brother and friends. trus juga gue diajak ke tempat pembuatan batik where a younger-looking guy explained to me the process of making a batik. and that's me posing to do the batik on pic (14).
at last, since time is running out and i have a plane to catch.. not to mention i've been sms-ing lala and thomas while walking around kraton and another childhood friend whom i just realized live and work in yogya.. akhirnya gue cabut dari kraton dan ketemuan ama lala and thomas di benteng vredeburg - pic (15) is me and lala, while the picture-shy thomas (??) took the picture. maaf kalo fotonya jadi kecil banget, abisan kan ini photo journal, jadi ga bisa gede2.. abis bandwith nya.. huehekhahh..
i also took some pics of the monument while they showed me around the place. sayang waktu ketemu nya cuma bentar banget yaa.. and i didn't get to see anak2 ankringan yang laen.. apalagi mas doneeh. pdahal udah sms2an dari kemaren2.. (psst.. don.. sms lo waktu itu gue bales ga sih? kalo enggak... maap, i thought i did soalnya udah sms2an ama lala juga yang katanya sekantor bukan?). after saying good bye to lala and thomas, i went to have late lunch with my childhood friend at nyonya suharti and she took me to the airport. sebelomnya sempet tuker2an info ama irga yang udah nyetirin gue kemana2 (if you read this.. how's the book? udah selse bacanya? if u need more reference, email2 gue aja .. ). temen gue yang ngajak temen2 kantornya 2 orang langsung rame waktu ngeliat the guy who drove me around yogya today. hehhe.. well, a nice looking dude with fair skin itu kan susah dicari bukan? not to mention, he looks pretty smart.
by 4pm, i was already at the airport, nunggu panggilan untuk boarding. exactly at 4.40, the plane took off and took me back to jakarta. along the way.. i thought about the richness of our culture, and happy to get to know more about the history, a bit at a time.. and then i buried my head back on the story of "da vinci code".
:: sLesTa
