KG takes off again! Day 1- Jogja

My last trip to India in January this year,  which was planned primarily for my bestie's wedding and to drop my mother back in Hyderabad, also had a liberal dose of Goan beaches. I decided to throw in a night in Bombay and 2 nights in Jaipur to this delicious holiday, all by myself. It marked the beginning of KG's solo holidays. Holidays with her camera, notebook and herself.  I wrote, rather,  tried writing a post on this milestone but the draft kept disappearing just when I wanted to publish it. I gave up eventually and a joke of a draft lies in my drafts folder, waiting to be completed and published. So, my Jaipur stories will have to wait.

I also realised, a better way to blog when I'm traveling is to blog on a daily basis during my journeys.  So here I am, again, trying to narrate what I did on the first day of my on-going 5 day holiday in Indonesia.

My Bulgarian friend, Krassi and I took off from Singapore yesterday morning after a melodramatic farewell to Mishmash and the Blackberry man (I've officially re-christened my man, the BBman- take note!) . After an hour's delay for technical problems (the loo door wouldn't open!!) we were on our way to Jogjakarta, which incidentally and interestingly has many other versions of it's name.  Take your pick-Yogyakarta, Djogdjkarta, Jogja, Yogya.  Krassi and I liked Jogja best.

All pics u see are from my phone. I'm yet to download my camera pictures.

When I stepped out of the Jogja airport (the arrival terminal of which was smaller than the Goan one), I thought I was in India. An eastern small town in India, to be precise. Banana plants, green stretches, roads dotted with street vendors selling the ubiquitous Indonesian tea and fried somethings. I was home! Though Jogja looked a tad cleaner than most towns I've been to in India and a lot less chaotic too. To be fair, I think most towns in Odisha ,WB and Kerela  are pretty clean too. 

After checking in to Phoenix, a gorgeous colonial style hotel, we immediately set out to check out the town. We were starving (the best part of traveling with Krassi -- we are always starving and need food. I cannot imagine having a fellow traveller on a diet, or even worse, a 'Diva' fellow traveller who ate only at 5 star hotels). So we went scourging for local food and stopped by 'Kedai Tiga Nonya' and had our first Indonesian meal with the quintessential dried fish, chilli and shrimp paste smeared curry in rice and the much heard of Gado-gado salad. 

Heavy with Indonesian calories and armed with maps and tips from Lonely planet we decided to walk  to Jogja's busiest market called the Malioboro street.' .  We passed by locals who seemed rather  amused by tourists (one would think they are used to them! ).  Krassi got a lot of 'where are you from? Where are you going? Go my tuk-tuk? Sultan palace only 20 thousand' .  ( Oh, the currency needs a mention here. We are millionaires for 5 days!! Never thought i'd be one). In a quintessentially Indian style, I even got hooted at by a smart ass. But who wants to take on these guys in a foreign country?  

Krassi was trying every possible edible item available on the streets of Jogja! I was a tad weary of the fish but was game with the vegetarian options. I did have meat, but only for tasting purposes :D.

The market was one long street dotted with Batik sellers.  On a tip off by a local (who for all we know know got tipped to tip us off) we went to a little exhibition of paintings by local artists in an obscure place. The work on display was a burst of colors representing the essence of Indonesia. I bought a piece with Borneo masks that apparently 'took in the evil '. We also got offered some tea - 'free of charge'. The man at the exhibition  had a funny bone. Krassi tried convincing him that I was a world famous photographer but  my out of production D-60 gave it away, I'm sure. I wasn't allowed to take pictures but he eventually agreed and even posed for a few after I bought a piece. 

Yes, we haggled. Krassi displayed some serious haggling talents- she can put an Indian or even a Chinese to shame with her very suave and smart haggling techniques. 

We walked a lot - at least 4 kms. Then on our way back took a tuk-tuk. Cold breeze blowing on our faces, the driver (rider?) gave us mini-sized heart attacks maneuvering through the busy street of Jogja. He hummed a lovely tune and I was in some kind of Indonesian heaven.

Back in the hotel, we headed straight to the pool with local beer and street bought tapioca and spinach chips. I ended the day with a traditional javanese massage. 

Who the hell said life was unfair? 

:D