Jogjakarta Indonesia Tour

After the successful Southeast Asia Summit with Google, a good number of Filipino delegates stayed in Jogja to see the rest of the city and what it has to offer. Thank God, Reymart has friends who are living in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Not only did they gave us a tour and drove us around the city (instead of hailing and waiting for a cab every time), they were our translator and had become our friends. Bella and Titis are our new friends from Jogja! Both girls gave us (+Jomar, +Josan, +Reymart, +Ruben, +Reymart, +Keshan, and I) a tour around the city.

Gadjah Mada University

Our first stop for the day is the Sunday Market in UGM. Seriously, Indonesia is a lot like the Philippines. Humid weather, love for affordable market places - the Sunday Market is just like what we have in Makati in the Philippines. After sweating a lot and looking at the different items, we walked going back to the car and saw the beautiful mosque inside the campus. We don't have a lot of mosques in the Philippines, so we were so happy to see such a beautiful place.

Taman Sari Water Palace

After a few minutes cooling down under the trees in UGM, we headed off to the area where a good number of historical places are. Taman Sari Water Palace reminds me of Intramuros or the "Walled City" in Manila, Philippines. It used to be the residence of the Sultan of Jogja. We explored the Water Palace where the sultan could pick out the girl he wants and bring the chosen lady to a private pool and private area of the Palace. I am not sure how accurate this story though.

One view of the Taman Sari Water Palace
Photo by Keshan

Masjid Bawah Tanah Underground Mosque

After going through the castle and drinking lots of water, we went to the Masjid Bawah Tanah underground mosque on the other side of the compound. It was eerie. We went down a series of stairs that led to a place that looked something like the pictures below. I don't know how to describe it. It was dark and cold in contrast to the 1 PM heat outside the mosque.

House of Raminten

We're having our "lunch" at around 4 PM. We had to wait for nearly 30 minutes to be seated. Yes, there's still a lot of people eating at the House of Raminten. I was fascinated by the fact that we are seating on the floors to eat more Indonesian food. I was full, and the food was affordable! 152,000 Rupiah for a group of eight. I can't remember the food we ordered all I know was it was delicious. The boys were also laughing about the fact that on the way to the restroom you have to pass through live horses.

Shopping at Malioboro

Usual Southeast Asia scene: a market with affordable finds and many sweaty, sticky people. Malioboro is the best place to find souvenirs and things you could bring back home at affordable prices. Jomar and I purchased keychains for our friends in the Philippines. Jogja being one of the best places to get Batik in the world would mean lots and lots of Batik.

Dinner at Jimbaran

After a tiring long day, we went back to Hyatt to rest and pack our things. The boys stayed in one room while Josan and I shared the other. After settling down, we found out that it only comes with 30-minute free wifi. We were panicking (yes, the social being that we are needed the internet - #GottaShare). Then, I remember that +Uttam is still in Hyatt and we know his room number! Yes, evil. We all connected through Uttam's account and got access to the 2Mbps unlimited internet of Hyatt. After logging in and our Gmail now synced, we saw an email from Ms. Aileen about dinner with the other Filipino delegates. We took a cab and went their straight. Since we're still full from our late lunch, we just decided to have drinks. We joked around with +Hadi, +Yansen, and +Dan. It was a fun evening! We went back to the hotel more tired than ever.

Bye Jogja!

The past two nights I was in Hyatt all I did was swim in the pool with the rest of the GDG Managers. For my last night in Jogja, I decided to have some alone time and just relaxed in the bathtub. It was amazing. I thank God for all these opportunities. Shortly after my alone time, Josan and I decided to work on the DevFest discussion. I went to bed while she decided to do laps in the pool.

Beautiful Morning at Hyatt

I woke up the following morning at around 8:00 AM Indonesia time. We took our time eating breakfast and packing the last of our things before heading to the airport — AirAsia to Kuala Lumpur.

KLIA to NAIA

With whatever excess Indonesian Rupiah we have left, Jomar and I exchanged it to Malaysian Ringgit. We had dinner in Marry Brown and enjoyed the massage chairs at the departure lounge. Our flight left a little late, and we arrived in Manila at around 6:00 AM (Tuesday).

This blog post is the last of the series about my recent visit to Jogjakarta, Indonesia.