Yogyakarta is Jakarta’s smaller sibling, touted as less crowded, less dirty and overall more pleasent than Indonesia’s capital. Impossible to pronounce, yet still, this much-talked about city in Indonesia’s central Java region. It is hyped up as a rad place to visit, which was strange because it wasn’t that amazing and there were not many foreign tourists there. But as this post is about Yoga, we shall not start off on a negative note! My sister and I decided to visit it instead of Jakarta (which I wound up visiting on my second trip to Indonesia and liking way better).
A Slightly-Odd Experience In Yogyakarta
When you go to Yo (yea yea rhyming), there are, of course, many tourist sights to see. But why follow the masses when you could instead wander around a slightly-terrifying bird market, stumble into a primative coffin-making factory, or attempt to enter an old sugar production plant and be stopped by police? Obviously, I did some weird stuff in Yoguyakarta. But some more “normal” stuff too. Here are the highlights.
Pasthy Love Bird Market
I love markets of all sorts, so when I read about the Yogakarta bird market I was beyond excited to check it out. I was a bit concenred about animal cruelty (I mean, when is this not a concern), but set my qualms aside in pursuit of the photos and a unique experience. My sister and I had gotten into some sort of ridiculous travel-fueled fight, and so I set out on foot alone for the market with camera in hand, visitions of exotic birds in my mind. Obviously, a tuk tuk was not in budget, so I set off on foot navigating the side of busy and less-busy highways and getting some very weird looks as usual. by the time I made it to the bird market i was tired and sweaty, but reinvigorated by the exotic, literaly, sights.
There were cages upon cages upon cages of birds of all sorts, big, small, dyed neon pink. there were owls, ducks, tropical varieites. the market aslo incldued some animals, including cages packed wall-to-wall with bats (eek). There wer esquirrels, flying squirrels, exotic-looking spotted lizards, even some small critters like bunnies. It was both fascinating and horrific. and horrific in this fascinating kind of way.
Coffin Factory
While walking on the side of a rural road, after visiting an abandoned railway loading dock outside a sugar factory (more about that later), I spotted a small building with people inside building coffins. Fascinated, I walked closer and peered inside to see planks of wood propped up against the wall and men hammering them together into basic wooden coffins.
I clearly went closer and pointed to my camera to ask the people working there if I might capture a photo. They gave me very weird looks, understandbly, as i was a random white person covered in sweat appraoching the “factory” aloen on foot in the middle of a rice paddy. But it was quite interesting (and another reason outside saving the budget why I always advocate going on foot).
Sugar Mill
I read up about this cool sugar factory and set out to see it. As I approached, I saw this dilapidated back area with some metal structures in yellow and green. Upon closer inspection, and tresspassing, I realzied it was an old loading dock for a train, where they’d put presumably the sugar proiducts into rial cars to distribute. it was certianly defunct, but the massive chain pulleys were there and I sepnt a good deal of time wandering around. Excited by this pre-sugar-mill sighting, I set forth towards the mill. Allegedly you could smell sugar, hwoever I smelled nothing. maybe my nose was clogged with pollution from trekking 5 miles on the side of the highway who knows.
In any case, I eventually found the entrance to the factory, after being stopped by some locals of course who tried to make me drink botleg liquor from a weird waterbottle behind a truck. I declined this generous offer, but was delayed in my pursuits. As I approached the sugar factory I saw a desk-like area iwth a security-like man. I decided it might be a good time to “act dumb,” so I walked ahead right in feighning I didn’t see him. obviously, he stopped me, and asked me what I wasd oing. I tried to explain i wanted to take a photo fo the “beautiful building” and he explained to me that I would have needed to call and make an appointment in advance to go inside. actualy i knew this, i’d read it online but neglected to do it, hence trying to act dumb. Long story short I was not allowed to enter. Determined give I;d walked for several hours, literally, to arrive, I decided to seek a viewpoint from the back. This diddn’t go so well as there was a high cement wlal encasing the entire facotry. i decided to follow it and maybe see fromt he back.
[30 minutes later…]
I am still walking the perimeter, have been stopped by a line of factory workers eating lunch all of whom wanted to shakk my hand. I am inside a random walled neighborhood, still trying to glimpse a peek. I eventually determined this was a failed endeaver and started my 5 mile walk back…
In conclusion, maybe don’t go to the sugar mill.
[Slightly More Normal]
The Batik Scam
Let’s talk about the batik scam. No post about Yogajakarta would be complete without it, as I doubt no visit to Yoga is completed without it. of course on the road we’d expeirence dour fair share of swindles, but this Batik Scam was really something else.
Batik is a style of cloth dying native to Indonesia. The scam is widespread, and involves being sold fake versions of batik at absoltely insane prices. Here’s what happened…
We begin our first day with a casual wander, at which time a random man approached us and told us excitedly about an “art demonstration” happening at a local studio. Thinking he was friendly, we followed him down an alley to a dilapidated art spot with a man excitedly waiting outside and some decoy people (actors) dying “authentic” batik. After this, the man let us browse. He was super nice and attentive, pulling pieces for us, offering us coffee. For some reason we were being dumb (derebged from overnight transit) and didn’t recognize the scam right away! when he offered the refreshments, however, and then listed prices that were 10x more than anything we’d seen in Indoneisa, the flags started going off. When we said it was too expensive, he then asked how much money we had on person. We stated some low sum and he became aggressive, asking when we are coming back “in ten minutes?” Nope. After this, we read up online about a batik scam, and realized it was a thing. We were approached repeatedly (like 20+ times) by other men on the street offering art shows or demonstrations and special viewings of the batik. Everyone started nice, used the Obama pickup line, and then suddenly segued to the batik. We remained vigilent and didn;t go with anyone, feeling ab it bad about it, but probably saving ourselves a hassle. On our final day we must have been mentally weak however, as a man sold us on a “student art exhibit” “just down there” which we idiotically went looking for. Low and behold it didn’t exist but guess what did — batik. So the pro tip here: If you hear the word batik in Indoneisa, run.
Marlioboro Road
A highlight of Yoga, MAlioboro road is packed with people – and not the foreign tourist kinds! We sauntered around on a holiday, which was fortunate as it was uber-crowded and offered some amazing people-watching. Stalls line the street with food to buy, cheap as can be, eaten outside on tables. There are clothing and batik stores abounding, street carts, and a general hustle and bustle. Of course, a hoard of Indonesian teenagers approached us in a flurry and began snapping selfies. Sarah and I got lost from each other in the shuffle, and when all was said and done were featured in a whirlwind of 100+ selfies each. The street was very authentic and full of life, though, and worth a wander even if it is listed in tourist books.
Alun-Alun Selatan/Southern City Park
There is a park in Yoga, surrounded by light-up golf carts offering rides with music and songs (kind of like those we saw in Malacca). they are super neon and super annoying but also kind of intruging. At center of the park, two trees where some sort of tradition occurs in which you walk through blindfolded and attempt to make it without smashing into the trees. IDK. It was fun watching people try; there are vendors renting out the blindfolds for like .50 cents. Additionally, vendors sell toys and bubbles and light up delights. I got some bubbles (A cup of soap and wood wand, to be clear, but I guess that is what bubbles generally are), took them to an overpass, and “spread joy and happiness” by blowing bubbles down onto the traffic. Maybe the cars idn’t feel joy and happiness but I did.