My memory of Jogja are blurry, I went there 20 years ago and I'm sure a lot has changed. What I remembered of Jogja are only the Borobudur Temple and the sidewalk small restaurant usually called Angkringan. I can't even remember in which hotel I stayed 20 years ago.
So when I was sent for a business trip, I was so ecstatic. I
didn't browse in details what are the tourist destinations, I was only relying
on my friend's recommendation and several of their posts on local places and
delicacies.
The trip was only two days, the first day was spent doing
meeting and the next half day was spent exploring. I stayed at Hotel Royal Ambarrukmo,
Jogja. If you google the hotel's name, a lot of scary ghost stories were
related to the hotel. Hahaha but Thankfully I didn't experience any during my
stayed there. The hotel was 4 stars, the room is spacious and nice. The food is
also nice. It also have a big swimming pool and a kid's playground. Although I
didn't spot any kids club.
I had dinner on Bakmie Kadin, it said that this place is
one of the best mie Jawa in town. Whilst I'd prefer Mie Jawa from RSPI or Ranch
Market, but the fried noodle was delicious. I think the next time I visit this
place, I will order the fried noodle instead. The service took hours, so it's
probably not a very good idea to come on an empty stomach.
The next day, I visited the famous Malioboro. I have no
memory of the place but I was surprised by how neatly managed the place was. It
was clean, neat and well managed. There are plenty of local Batik shop along
Malioboro and some of them are very cheap but have good design and quality.
There are also semi-permanent kiosks that sell souvenirs and T-Shirts.
Because my colleagues went for Friday's prayer, so I get to
explore Malioboro alone. I wasn't that keen on Batik shopping, so I hop on to a
Becak and decided to visit the Vredeburg Fort Museum. I spent an hour
admiring the structure and architecture, old buildings always have that spooky
ambience, but not this one.
Did I mention how hot the weather is? Well it was, it was a
good sunny day but it was just too hot for our Jakartans, so our next stop was Ill Tempo Gelato. If you had the chance to visit this local gelato, go for the
Caramel flavor, it was super delish!
The next time I visit Jogja, my list would be staying at Yat’sColony, re-visit the Ill Tempo Gelato, visit the Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu
Boko temple and probably this time, Batik shopping at Malioboro.
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