Jogja 2020 (i): Flying in

Two weeks after my Hatyai Trip, I have another short trip.  This time around it's a 3-nighter to Yogyakarta. A friend from Indonesia keeps on frequenting to KL for work, so I told him that an Indonesian trip is way overdue. The Bali trip was 2 years ago.

I've actually bought the plane tickets back in December before the world was startled by the CoVid-19 virus outbreak. I have somewhat a reservation about the trip especially when I needed to tell my parents about the trip, go to the airport and board the plane, but hey, Indonesia has yet to post a single case of CoVid-19 😆.

Why Jogja? Well, my friend is from Bandung but when I asked him what's there in Bandung, he said and I'm quoting him "Nothing". LOL!. Nonetheless a combined Jakarta and Bandung trip could be in the cards some time later 😉. A colleague went on a Jogja trip last year and since he has lots of positive feedback, I guess I have to give a try.



At first I thought Bandung was close to Jogja, but it turned out my friend took a 10-hour train ride from Bandung to reach Jogja.  Oopsie. Dinner on me!

My flight arrived in Yogyakarta at 11:30 in the morning after a 2 and half hour uneventful flight. I even managed to catch a few winks. After clearing the health check (temperature scanner), immigration and customs, I found my friend who was already waiting for me outside.

There's some more space for the trip home

This is when I normally wake up on the weekdays :P :D

Mask on

Sila Masuk, Jangan Lari

Time to board the plane

Gloomy day

A selfie before my neighbours sat next to me

Hopefully the rain won't follow me. But weather forecast called for occasional rain showers in Jogja. Booo
While waiting for the clearance to take off...


We have arrived people!


My friend told me to lose the mask :P :D

We walked to a phone shop outside of the terminals where I bought a local SIM card. Then we hailed a Grab car to go to our hotel - The 101, which is located near Tugu. On the way, my friend asked our driver for a favor to stop at a bakpia shop. He wanted to get some so that I could taste both Bakpia Pathok 25 and Kurniasari.

A short drive after that, we arrived at our hotel.
The airport is not that far, but we had to take some back roads after making a stop at the bakpia store

Pretty nice hotel

Garrett popcorn in exchange for Bakpias!

Bakpias!

My friend ordered these for his brother who claims this is the best drink ever! Hahaha

The view from the balcony included the Tugu monument and Merapi (on a clear day)
Tugu in the day

We had a late lunch or early dinner at Jejamuran. I learned that Jamur means cendawan in Malay or mushrooms in English. Most (if not all) of the dishes in the menu are mushrooms. We ordered mushroom fried rice, mushroom satay, a rendang-like mushroom dish and tempe & beancurds as sides.
The route to Jejamuran from our hotel

The entrance

Lots of people are here even for a late lunch/early dinner

I showed this to my mom and dad and they smiled at the mushrooms on the second last row and 2nd from right. The ones here in our village are not edible :D

I didn't know there's this many mushrooms

A more familiar mushrooms

Soda gembira and tamarind juice

Mushroom satay.. they're very chewy like meat

A rendang-like mushroom dish

A lot for 2 people, and I'm still waiting for my mushroom fried rice
Our Grab driver offered to wait for us until we are done with dinner. He even brought us to Rumah Batik and Bakpia Pathok 25. At Rumah Batik, I got my hands on a batik for myself and my dad. Now I have a batik to be worn to Borobudur and Prambanan. Yeay!

After we returned to the hotel and performed our prayers, we walked to Malioboro, a must for anybody who visits Jogja. We actually walked all the way to the Pasar Beringharjo and back. I was really impressed at how the entire street was bustling with activities, from shopping to food vendors, from street performers to becak and horse rides, or just plain walking around or people watching.

You could get some steps in walking on Malioboro Street alone

One of the few Jalan Malioboro signs

Here we go

Maliboro


Blending in with the locals :D

Maliboro: In front of the mall





Lesehan

Malioboro: food vendors


Pasar Beringharjo

Malioboro: near Pasar Beringharjo


Before retiring for the night, we stopped by at the Tugu monument for night shots. It was crazy that people were hanging around at the Tugu, which also served as a roundabout while cars zipping by. Me included! Only for a short while though 😀
Back at Tugu for a night shot

Hangout place



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