A Trip to Yogyakarta

I haven't been to Java in a few years. Actually, I haven't been off the island for a few years – and that sounds amazing as I write it because it's the longest time that I've ever spent on Bali without at the least going to another island – so I was ready to go. My daughters would call it refreshing, meaning that the trip will refresh me. It's a curious Indonesian phrasing using English.

As usual when I take trips, I get anxious worrying about missing a flight, the hotel not having a reservation, suddenly getting ill and the like. I am definitely not a good tourist despite all the international travel that I've done over the past 25 years. On the one hand, I do miss traveling around the world, on the other hand it can be such a hassle.

One of the downsides to living in the north of Bali is the distance to the airport. Now if the flight leaves late in the morning or early in the evening that's ok because I can leave here at a decent hour. But, on flights like the one we'll be taking on Sunday, the 07:00 departure time means check-in at 06:00 and therefore leaving home around 03:00. That's always been the problem during the years that the family and I were living in Papua. We'd have to get the kids up around 2 to get them dressed and do last minute packing of the car. When they were little, there were always tears being woken up in the middle of the night, but once they got to the airport, they'd be excited about the trip. They loved traveling.

Yogyakarta is one of Indonesia's favorite tourist destinations. Located in Central Java, it is considered to be the center of Javanese culture and is known for its batik, puppets, dance and music. Additionally, the city was once the capital of the Indonesian Republic during the revolution against Dutch colonial rule. Yogyakarta's uniqueness also extends to its status as a Special Administrative Region and has the Sultan Hamengkubuwono X as its ruler. He is also the area's governor. And to add to all this, Yogyakarta is a relatively short distance to Borobudur and Prambanan. Oh, I almost forgot. Yogya is one of Indonesia educational centers as well with many universities, colleges and other institutes of higher education. My eldest daughter is in a nursing college, and my second daughter is considering going to school there as well.

So, Jogya is a cool place to visit. On my previous two visits to the city, I did some of the required sight-seeing like Borobudur, Prmabanan, batik factories and puppet-making workshops. However, I never got around to visiting the Kraton, the Sultan's palace. This trip my main plan, other than to see Mercedes and check on a school for Rebecca, was to visit the Kraton.

I arrived early and wasn't able to check in to my homestay until afternoon, so I wandered down the street and had breakfast at an interesting little restaurant. After I finished, I took a becek to the Kraton. Despite it being an early Sunday morning, there were streams of people flooding into the Kraton – many of them were students and there were a fair amount of foreigners as well. I spend a pleasant morning talking with one group of students after another – they were all studying English and they loved the opportunity to practice with a retired teacher who speaks Indonesian. It was a morning well spent.

It poured for most of the time that I was in Yogyakarta so I only managed to do a few of the things that I had planned on. All in all, it was a good trip, especially spending some time with my daughter. Yogyakarta is definitely worth a visit – a few days isn't enough time to really explore the city and the surrounding area, but I have a feeling I'll be back again a few more times.