Jogjakarta Trip 3

This time around I’ll try to finish blogging this trip for once and for all!

Day 3, 21/12/09

My mum set the day today to be free from any sort of activities as she said she needed time to recover from yesterday’s tiring journey. Lol.

So I took the opportunity to hang out with Syazwan :). We decided to watch Avatar at 21 Cinema in Amplaz mall.

I was very excited. Both for the movie and us. This was our second movie together! In a foreign country some more! Haha..sorry, I can’t help myself being too overjoyed by that fact :).

As well as for the movie itself, I was looking forward to its premier actually when I watched the trailer. I heard, it took them 15 years to make the movie and from what I’ve watched, it was fantastic! Though I find those blue natives quite distracting.

Not to mention, the cinema theatre was awesome too!! The ceiling was high, in fact, higher than those we have in Malaysia, the seats were comfortable and big (Unlike those in TGV) and the best part of all, I could stretch out my legs!! Oh yea! The sound system was fantastic as well, I could reaaaaaaaallllllyyyyyyyy feel the impact of the sound effects. Cool.

Haaa, I missed 1 part there. Actually before we watched Avatar, we did some warm up  by playing at the arcade! We finished all of our coins on Time Crisis 3!! Haha, thanks to Nadia Khamis, because since the day she taught me how to play it, I’ve become addicted to that game. It’s a shooting game where you have to shoot bad people. Syazwan too, I think, now a fan of that game. Lol.

After the movie, we had our lunch which was at 4 something! Syazwan brought me to this one restaurant selling Mie Ayam. It was superb! It basically consists  of noodles, something like Maggi noodles except thicker, with small pieces of chicken sautéed with mushrooms, vegetables, fried bakso (meatball), something like keropok and on top of it all, is the soup. I really enjoyed the meal!plus with a lot of spicy sambal I added myself until I realized my lips became numb because of it. Lol. I am, indeed, a big fan of spicy food :).

Happy lepas dapat makan…hoho

Then, we decided to go back to the hotel as the day was getting darker. But on our way back, we decided to stop by at Syazwan’s hostel, you know, just to look around the place he lives and plus, he wanted to get his phone charger in his room.

Well, all I can say is, the road to his hostel was kind of eerie…because before reaching his hostel, we had to pass this abandoned building. It looked like an empty hostel..urrghhh. But other than that, the place looked just fine.

While waiting for him to get his charger in his room, I hang around at the lobby. There were 3 wardens and unlike what I had in mind, you know, cold, unfriendly and fierce, they were actually nice and chatty!! We had a quick chitchat before Syazwan returned with his charger.

Before reaching the hotel, we, once again, had a pit stop by going to the Roti Bakar stall and ordered it to bring back. I really like the roti bakar. It’s something different and cheap and very filling too!

The stall

Roti bakar with chocolate and strawberry filling..nyumm…

And some random photos…lol

Later that night, around 8.30 pm like that, me and Syazwan went out again to buy burgers at Mister Burger and had dinner with the whole family at the hotel cafe. After that, we lepak-lepak at the lobby, watching TV before went off to our respective rooms and dozed off, until the next day arrived….I was excited and looking forward for tomorrow’s adventure but at the same time, I was pretty upset because I was going to leave the place soon. Very soon, in fact.

Day 4, 22/12/09

Hello Jogja again! :)

Today my parents planned to go to one of the beaches here. Our driver, Yoniva, suggested us to go Parangtritis Beach.

It is located quite far from town and when we reached there, the weather was really hot!! Once I stepped out of the car, I could already feel my skin burning hot. According to Yoniva, the temperature there would normally be around 38 degree celcius!!! It’s like as hot as Hawaii!!!

However the scenery was beautiful..blue sky with white clouds which looked like cotton candies, the sparkling brown sand, the blue turquoise seawater and the sea breeze, it was almost perfect! It would have been better if there were trees though.

We went for a horse carriage ride to go-see as walking would burn us to death. Lol. As usual, I had my ride with Syazwan.

Apparently from what the coach said, this beach was highly hazardous. This year it had killed 16 people and just last Friday, 2 people died, only 1 found on Sunday and the other one still missing.

Oh boy, judging by the look of those waves, I knew it already, it must be really dangerous because the waves were quite high and fierce.

The beach, apparently, according to him, is a place for spiritual retreat. In Safar month, people from Kraton will come, along with flower petals, bathe in the seawater. It’s their custom and culture to do that.

 

 

Mamat baju pink tu suke kat ika

After the ride, Yoniva brought us to another beach where we could eat fresh seafood! And man, it was hotter there! But thank God, the food was awesome!!

Terus hitam muke ika lepas balik.

On our way back to the hotel, I asked mum to stop me and Syazwan at Malioboro to find Joanna’s Starbucks t-shirt.

Before that, we hit Fun World and played a shooting game again but it wasn’t Time Crisis. The gun was heavy but in the end, Syazwan lost the game and I won!! :P

We walked around the place and did some shopping. Lol. I couldn’t find that Starbucks T-shirt, sorry Joanna, so we went to Sapphire mall, konon-konon nak pegi urut kaki and main bowling but we did none of it! Instead we walked, by foot to Amplaz mall! Well, halfway to Amplaz because I couldn’t stand walking some more and it was freaking hot, so we took a rickshaw.

Over there, we continued playing at its arcade, Time Crisis 3 but this time around, Syazwan won the game. Haha, he’s getting better at it. Dah terer ;P

Then, we had teatime at A&W. We had a waffle and rootbeer float. It was cooling and refreshing! It’d been ages since I had my last rootbeer float, man, if only they still have onion rings…

Haaa…makan makan..

After that, we went back to the hotel only to find out, my family wasn’t there! They went out somewhere. So since I wanted a massage so much, I went for leg and hand massage at the hotel spa for 1 hour while Syazwan waited at the lobby. Haha, sorry I left you alone.

Even after 1 hour, my family was still missing, so me and Syazwan went out again at Suka-Suka for dinner. We had our usual food, Ayam Bakar and Kangkung Goreng. Superb.

Yeaa, it was so superb until something stuck on my tooth and took Syazwan to notice it and tell me. Greaaatttt….

That was actually the first rule in my dating list,

1) Thou shall not have any food stuck on thou teeth

And it happened. Perfect.

Though, I was really tired to feel embarrassed about it so I just got up to the sink and got rid of it. Haaihh.

After my family came back from somewhere, suddenly it struck upon me, that, tomorrow was the end of it.

And if only by letting something stuck on my teeth could make everything back to the beginning, I am willing to have something stuck on my teeth, no matter how embarrassing it is.

Later that night, I lepak-lepak with Syazwan. I made him a hot drink. He was utterly delighted even though the drink I made for him was Kopi Luak (Coffee beans extracted from feces). Well, the taste was nice though. Have it a try!

Other than that, I don’t know how to say it, I was very happy but at the same time sad too. I couldn’t bring myself to think about tomorrow. So I just left it for tomorrow and seized every moment I had that night…by…snapping a lot of pictures! Hahahaha!

Day 5, 23/12/09

My last day in Jogja :)

I was really happy for the last few days here.

Surely, it is one of my greatest moments being here. Lol.

In the morning, we woke up at 4 am to leave the hotel at 6 am. Our flight was at 8.20 am.

I woke up and did the usual stuff, taking shower, packing and blablabla…

I saw Syazwan when I went out for breakfast. I still felt okay that time. I could still laugh and joke around when eating breakfast with him and my whole family.

Even when I saw him looking at me at the corridor of my room, I still felt okay. Sad, of course but I could still smile :)

However I suddenly felt a pang of great sadness when I started to get into the car and Yoniva asked me why Syazwan did not follow us but I still could control myself not to shed a tear.

But then, when the car started moving, leaving the hotel compound and I couldn’t see any sight of him anymore, and suddenly really really realized with the fact that I can’t see him anymore, I lost it.

Haaaihhh. I guess that was normal, right?

Lol.

However, the whole trip was really enjoyable and I had so much fun! :))

Well, that’s the end of this journal. Looking forward to Kuching, Sarawak trip with Auw and Jixs now! :D

Jogjakarta Trip 2

Day 2, 20/12/2009
Today abah rented a car along with a driver named Yoniva to bring us go sight-seeing around Jogja.
I woke up at 6.30 am and gosh, the sun was already shining bright!

I went to take my shower first before I sent a good morning sms to Syazwan :)

He joined us for breakfast. Our first breakfast together :) Hahahaha. The hotel buffet wasn’t bad. Normally they served either Nasi Goreng or Bakmie Goreng and of course other usual hotel food was served as well.
We started our journey at 8 am and our first destination was Borobudur.Well, if you still remember history (which I don’t and had to google to find info), Borobudur is an ancient Mahayana Buddhist monument.

It comprises of 6 square platforms and the last three platforms represent 3 levels of Buddhist cosmology, namely, Kamadhatu (the world of desire), Rupadhatu (the world of forms) and Arupadhatu (the world of formlessness).

It is quite high and has a lot of stairs, you know, like Batu Caves.

And at each level, they have sort of like perforated bells? (I think) and inside each one of it, has a headless statue as though meditating. Kind of creepy…


 

Soon, after finishing our visit at Borobudur, we went to Gunung Merapi. This is where volcano eruptions usually occur and the last eruption happened was in 2006!

The weather there was quite nice. Chilly and breezy. Simple huts at the lower edge of the hill, selling local products like dried flowers, souvenirs and coffee. And yes, they sell kopi luak too which I heard,  is the finest coffee beans in the world. The coffee beans are extracted from feces of this some kind of animal. And yes, my dad bought it.

After Gunung Merapi, we had our lunch at Nasi Padang Sederhana. The food was awesome. Then, we went to Kraton. Kraton is a place where all the royals live.

We took a ride on rickshaw to go-see. I had my ride with Syazwan. It was hilarious.
All I can say is, it was totally once in a lifetime experience. Right Syazwan? Lol :P

First, we headed to the horse carriage  museum. There’s one thing I noticed about the people here. They seem to have this horse carriage madness going on.

Well, the royals here since I don’t know what century, they liked horse carriage. It’s like something symbolic for them.

At the museum, there were a lot of horse carriages owned by all the Kings since King I until the tenth king which is the current king.If you want to know which horse carriage belonged to which king, you just have to look at the number of wings on the door.

All of the horse cars over there are not just for kings to go sight-seeing, they also have their own funeral horse carriage with an 18-carat gold crown on it. Whoaa..

Besides that, they have horse carriage for  princesses, princes, dancers and blablabla. Basically, they just like horse carriage so much.


After the horse carriage museum, we went for a little shopping spree. I bought a batik silk to go along with my Uluwatu kebaya. And it’s very cheap, only around Rm70+!! In Malaysia, you can only get that for Rm159!
Then, we headed back to the hotel but this time around, Syazwan stayed at the hotel too. He shared his room with my brother, Danial. Lol.

Well, that sums up everything on the 2nd day in Jogja and here are more pictures to look at! :)
  
Abah

Syazwan and me


Above : Ika, Mama and Dan
Below :Ika, pissed off at the never-give-up-seller

View from the top of Borobudur

Abah

Pipi sangat tembam. Huehehuehe.

Jogjakarta Trip :)

Day 1   19/12/2009
We had to wake up early in the morning. In fact, very early! Around 2.30 a.m. like that because our check-in was at 4 something a.m. so we had to be there at least 2 hours earlier before boarding which was at 6.15 a.m.!!

I felt very groggy that time . Even worse for my sister, Eyka as she didn't sleep at all throughout the night!
But the day was getting a lot better after we had our caffeine dosage at this one very expensive coffee shop! 2 teh tarik, 1 nescafe and 2 iced milo cost around Rm40!!!


At the LCCT, waiting for boarding
However, after boarding, the flight was delayed for 1 hour as 16 passengers were found to be missing  so the whole 1 hour was completely wasted on removing their luggage out!

 Yea…we took AirAsia. LOL.
Upon arriving, I wasn’t surprised looking at the airport condition. It actually looked exactly like the one in Bandung. It’s very small, compact and cute :) Just think of a bus station then, you’ll get the idea. Lol.
But I must say, even though Jogjakarta is no near comparison to Malaysia in terms of hi-tech facilities, the people in Jogjakarta are 10 times nicer than us. Seriously. No kidding.

They are very polite and friendly. For example, taxi drivers. In Jogjakarta, whenever you need a taxi, you’ll get one immediately. The taxi drivers over there are somehow have a different mentality. It doesn’t matter where you want to go, they will drive you there without any hesitation. They are nice people and warm too. Usually they will try to chat with you, give you some information about the locals and all the interesting places over there etc etc.

Even when they are carrying passengers, they wouldn’t just drive away, ignoring you when you are calling  out for them, normally, they would raise their hand, indicating that they are occupied.

Most Malaysian taxi drivers, on the other hand, they just want to cheat you. Just like the experience I had with Joanna at DU. The taxi driver tried to charge us Rm15 to get to OU from LRT Kelana Jaya!! The actual cost to get to OU, according to Yasmin’s dad was actually around Rm6-7 only!

So, after the taxi driver dropped us at the Cakri Kusuma Hotel, I went to the restroom for awhile to freshen myself up. When I came out of the restroom, my sister told me Syazwan was there just now.
So I went out, looking for him everywhere but he was nowhere to be found.

But then, when I was sitting at the lobby, wondering where the heck he was, I saw him walking in..you know, if you’ve watched romantic movies, you can see how the time has slowed down, the world is suddenly moving in a slow motion when the hero and heroin finally lock their eyes together…after ages being separated…

WELL, SCRAP THAT OUT because that, actually, did not happen! HAHA!
But only God knows how happy and relieved I was, to finally be able to see him again, in person, right in front of my eyes and talk to him face to face not via webcam or cell phone anymore. The moment was priceless. Lol.

After leaving our stuff at the hotel, we went to Amplaz mall to find a travel agency but to no avail. Instead, some of us did some shopping!!

Syazwan brought me to the shop where he bought a ukulele (It’s like a small guitar, you know, that Mexican guitar). I find it kind of funny when I saw him holding it, trying to tune it. He looked like a teddy bear with a tiny guitar. HAhahahaha…sorry, if you happen to read this..but I meant it in a good way :)
Syazwan told me the guitars over there were very cheap and indeed, it is!!

Like my Yamaha F310 guitar, here in Malaysia, it costs around Rm420 but in Jogja it is only Rm200+!!! Meanwhile for Yamaha FX310 is only Rm 400+!!! while in Malaysia it is normally around Rm 900!!!
So, if you happen to be in Indonesia and you want to buy a guitar, then, it is a good place to buy it!
I bought a guitar capo around Rm20 and drum sticks for my sister.

We had our lunch at the foodcourt and after that we headed back to the hotel to get some rest before hitting Malioboro in the evening.

Malioboro according to the locals, is actually derived from a  Sanskrit word which means “Bouquet of Flowers” (karangan bunga) because last time, every time they had royal (kraton) celebrations or events, the place would be well-decorated with flowers.

The first thought conjured up in my mind when I first arrived at Malioboro was, ‘man…that is a lot of horse cars!’
Horse cars were like everywhere and rickshaw too!!

The place was crowded but it’s a good place for you to buy souvenirs as they sell nice tshirts, batiks and other local stuff.

As for dinner, Syazwan recommended us to eat at Rumah Makan Suka-Suka. The food was delicious and cheap!

The Lele and Ayam Bakar was totally fantastic it was marinated with something tasted like sate and the Gurameh Goreng was well-  fried and crispy. We ate that with white rice and 3 different kinds of sambal. AWESOME!

Well, that’s for day 1 in Jogja. Here are some of the pictures :)

 At one of the streets there.

Hotel compound.

Syazwan, dah macam muke local =P
To be continued….