Deliciously Me

The journey from the Adisucipto Airport to our accommodation at Delta Homestay, Jl. Prawirotaman took about 25-30 minutes. Despite being so tired due to lack of sleep, my eyes were widely open, scanning the buildings, the graffiti walls, the cars – especially the pink Toyota Altis taxi, and the people! Just 10 minutes later, I saw something interesting at one of the busy crossroads which I put in my list of ‘Interesting Fact’ and that incident was the first in the list.

There were 2 guys sitting at the middle road pavement playing nobat (traditional music instrument). Also seen were 2 masked guys in traditional costume did a traditional dance in front of the stopped vehicles, hoping to draw attention from them before going around asking for ‘entertainment fee’.

Then we crossed a bridge. I was surprised to see graffiti drawn along the bridge wall. The first time I saw beautiful graffiti displays (since it’s prohibited in Malaysia) was in Europe. I never expect to see one in Yogyakarta, as I thought the place would be like Cambodia – little shabby, graffiti-less, timeless city.

Traffic in Yogyakarta is much better than Cambodia, but still as chaotic! Oh well, at least they adhere to the rules of traffic light.

Cyclist are seen plenty on the road. But then, the cyclists there are like the motorcyclists in Penang where they love to hog the entire road by cycling slowly in the middle of the road. They couldn’t care less if people are honking at them; they would just cycle at their own pace.

Interesting Fact number 2!

Our van turned countless of left turns and driving further; and finally the road sign Jl. Prawirotaman is seen. Our van took left turn again into a very narrow road. As the van driver was unsure on the location of our accommodation, he asked for our help to look for the ‘Delta Homestay’ signboard. Somewhere in the middle, we found the sister’s hotel, the Duta GuestHouse.

Done scanning the buildings on the both side of the road but still, there’s no sign of Delta Homestay. The van driver then drove out to the main road, drove a little and turned right into another narrow road. He stopped at the entrance. There’s an arch, with the names of the accommodation on the right. We spotted our hotel’s name; and the van driver drove in. Few miles into driving, we saw the hotel’s signboard and the van driver parked in the hotel’s porch, which drew many frantic looks and gasps from us.

He’s one skill van driver for able to park into the small porch with verandah at the side!

We took out bags out of the van, sat in the humble lobby while waiting for Sat to sort out our registration. The lobby consists of a front desk, a small coca-cola fridge, and a long wooden bench with wooden coffee table decorated with a money plant and an antique cabinet turned into bench. Upon our heads was a fan spinning at full speed to cool us down.

A small TV on the bar top, showed the local drama, but we weren’t interested in it. Few were busy snapping pictures of the place; just to kill time as checking in was a bit longer.

Then Sat spoke. He asked us to write our details on the paper beside the hotel room number before taking the room keys when he called out the names. Like school kids, we obeyed. Two by two went up to get the keys. I was amused, and wanted to giggle; but I stopped myself knowing that the atmosphere was rather intense and quiet apart from the sound coming from the TV. Probably, everyone was too tired and hungry. The time showed 12 noon and I was already hungry.

The outer look of the hotel maybe look normal, but once you walk past the lobby and the 3 rooms facing the stone decorated wall; you’ll find a hidden paradise in it. The place is so beautiful and I seriously can’t believe my eyes that we’re paying so little for paradise!

Excitedly we checked in the room. Mine was the cheapest room ever got at 85.000 Rupiah (about RM31 per night) with no air conditional and shared bathroom. Shared bathroom means there’s no attached bathroom in our room and we need to use the bathroom at the corner like dormitory! True backpacking style yo!

The rest got rooms with air-cond and private bathroom for 150.000 Rupiah (~RM54) per night.

A quick refresh and off we went to the lobby half an hour later.

Then our journey to Borobudur started. But before that we made a pit stop to get my battery and phone prepaid cards. We walked into this blue building at Jl. Kaliurang, where the camera shop, Artha Digital is situated. We walked in, asking for the D60 battery. He asked us to wait while he went in the store to check. Nervously waiting, I hope for a battery at affordable price so I could get one instantly.

The guy returned, telling me that they only have the 3^rd party battery left. When I asked how much they’re selling, he told me 247.000 Rupiah (~RM90). Unsure if that’s expensive or not, but I know that it’s within the amount that I willing to pay (under RM100), I told him, “ok.”

Satisfied, I walked out of the shop, grinning from end to end. Then we turned left, walking to a small food warong, with a small prepaid warong at the side. There were guys talking in very strong Indonesian dialects which we can’t really understand. Then one of the guys in blue called the owner of the phone stall. An old lady came out, and negotiation began. Lol.

I didn’t participate in that because I couldn’t ‘afford’ to have one after buying camera battery. So, I just looked around, talking and camwhoring with the rest, until the blue shirt guy spoke to me. I found it very hard to understand him that I had to “huh?” at him few times. I could see the frustration in his face, and I eventually said “ya, nak pergi Borobudur”, which I wasn’t sure if the answer was relevant. But he just smiled.

We then walked back to the van opposite the road after they bought prepaid sim packs. The road was busy at noon, with motorbikes just zooming past us. Sat quickly held my hand and led me cross the road safely. I felt so pampered. Keke.

Then we continued our journey to Borobudur. Before that, Sat told Daniel to ask the van driver for recommendation on good and cheap Indonesian food. Daniel then spoke in his ‘half-plus-six-Indonesian-slang’ and then van driver nodded.

The van then drove out of the city, towards the outskirt along Jl. Magelang. The simple, smaller size of houses signifies that we were no longer in the city. Soon we were no longer in Yogyakarta, but in Jawa Tengah.

Somewhere in the middle, which I don’t know where since I already fall asleep by then, the van went off the main road, into some small road with paddy fields on both sides and kampong houses which are situated quite a distance from each other.

Further into the road, the van took a left turn and pulled a stop at a big white building. Shocked, I woke up and looked around. I saw the local grinning back at me – which was quite scary as I thought we would have been sold like the saying, “mai chu chai”. I only felt relief after spotting few angmohs walking around. Sat then said, ok guys, we’ll have lunch here.

I thought, hopefully this place is cheap. But once crossing the Balinese gate, I was astonished to find a beautiful restaurant hiding behind the white building. The restaurant has so much of Balinese essence in it that I thought for a moment, I was in Bali already. Haha.

Interesting list number 3 : Beautiful restaurant well-hidden behind a factory-looking building!

The very friendly, ever-smiling, beautiful ladies ushered us in, to a long table. There was wayang kulit show going on when we reached, but surprising it ended by the time we sat down. Then the ladies with big smiles came back with menu.

I knew the moment I stepped over the Balinese gate, eating at this restaurant wouldn’t be cheap. I don’t mind spending, but not on the first day of the trip gua. Moreover I just spent more than 200.000 on battery! *Sob sob*

So, I chose the affordable and fulfilling dish in the meal. After conversion, we realised the price stated on the menu is equivalent to the price in Chilis! But the atmosphere in the restaurant is definitely better than Chilis! Haha.

The smiling lady repeated our orders one by one in clear English after jotting down. Then few ladies came with jugs of water and started pouring water onto our glasses. I was quite potongstim as if I knew that they would give free flow of water, I wouldn’t have order drink! Very good tactics! Hmph!

While waiting for the food to come, I took opportunity to take pictures of the place using Sat’s DSLR. The battery I’ve just got has only 1 bar – need to save it for greater thing like Borobudur temple. Moreover, Sat wasn’t in the mood for photography, so I kidnapped his! Muahaha!

Little did I know the 1 bar of the battery’s actually lasted quite long! *Gasp! – Interesting fact 3!

The food came while we were busy snapping the area. And I got poisoned by Aaron’s D700! The pictures taken with his camera are simply amazing! Furthermore, his 3-inch LCD shows pictures better than my D60. Ahh… Why D700 so expensive!

Nevermind, I shall be contented with my D60. Bleks.

Did I mention that beside free-flowing water, there’s also big bowls of free-flowing crackers with sweet, spicy sauce? Yums!

If you’re wondering what restaurant we ate at – it’s called Sekar Kedhaton which means Flower Village in Java, as explained by the friendly lady waitress. The one we went to is not the one in the town of Yogyakarta (Kotagede), but the branch in Mungkid, Magelang, Jawa Tengah.

After the fulfilling and satiated meal, we asked for bill. That’s the nail-biting moment. One by one the bill came as we asked to settle it separately. When mine came, it was 76.000 Rupiah (RM27.50). Sat’s came up to 80.000 Rupiah (~RM29) after adding the service tax of 17%!

No wonder all the smiles and the good and fast service and the “how’s the food, sir/madam?”. The service tax charged at 17% is very high as we were normally charged at 10% only back in Malaysia.

The 4^th fact of interestingness would be being charged 17% service tax in a small town of Mungkid.

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