The Saga Continues : Part 3 : Food-Hunting in Jogjakarta

This round, let us venture around Jogjakarta for some local delicacies to excite our taste buds!

1. Gudeg Yogya
This is a dish where the locals eat as staple food. Gudeg Yogya is similarly as famous as Nasi Kandar to Penang. To be exact, it’s a plate of white rice, served with some specially cooked young nangka (jackfruit) slices in herbs & coconut milk, some stew chicken meat and eggs. Some even add-on some beancurds and vegetable to do some extra bits for their customers.

2. Nasi Langgi
Here’s another rice dish. Served on banana leaf (to enhance the aroma), with some fried beef (locally known as ‘empal’), preserved beef (‘abon’), potato cakes (‘perdekel’), stew egg and ‘sambal’. To me, it’s a ‘nasi lemak look-alike’ except for the ‘abon’ which we don’t get it here in Malaysia.

3. Ayam Goreng Kalasan
Yummy crispy golden fried chicken! Marinated with garlic, coriander and other herbs for taste and aroma. Must try!

4. Bakpia Pathuk
A snack most of us would like to get as souvenirs for our family or friends. Actually, it is rather similar to the “Tambun Pneah” from Penang. I like the original green bean type most. There are also some other taste like chocolate and cheese.

5. Wedang Ronde
Reminds me so much of ‘tangyuen’ (glutinous rice balls). A bowl of ‘wedang’ is served in warm ginger soup along with some peanuts. You can usually get them from push-cart vendor at night. The taste? Love it!

I bet most of us would not know that we have so much in common with Jogjakarta food. Well, can we say we are really neighbours or what? Grab a taste of Jogja’s best food and keep the food-hunting spirit continues with PYO Travel.

Dabble in the True Colours of Jogjakarta City

Known as the gateway to Central Java, this city located at the smallest province of Indonesia is also proudly recognized as the City of Art and Culture not only by the locals, but also internationally. With the testimony of seeing several passing reigns of ancient kingdoms, Jogjakarta City had absorbed the rich variety of cultures left by each these kingdom, making it the place to truly immerse oneself in learning about olden civilization, traditions, heritage, ethnicity, customs, ceremonies, and the ways of life in a totally new dimension.

Mystical temples at Borobudur

So when one visits this colourful vibrant city of culture, it is simply a not a choice to avoid seeing magnificent temples, palace ruins, crumbling monasteries, and other unique architecture of the past. There’s the Borobudur, Sewu Temple, Prambanam Temple, and the list goes on. Just head on to a tourism centre and grab a map; it’ll lead you on a time-traveling journey into the past of the ancient kingdoms at these places.

However, today I’m not going to go on a long-winded story telling session with you on the historical tales of 16th and 17th centuries Javanese empire of Mataram, the 8th-10th centuries era of ancient Mataram Kingdom, nor the Sultanate Ngayogyokarto from the mid of 18th Century until now. We’re skipping this cultural aspect of these famous landmarks, and explore one of the true colours that made Jogjakarta City known as the City of Art and Culture- Batik.

Traditional Handmade Batik -by Peter Loud

The beautiful batik prints has captivated me since long ago. From my own understanding, batik has a long history in recording the art style of one culture, interpreting and incorporating these elements into beautiful patterns, creating a whole new plane in the art culture. Batik is created by painting on plain fabrics such as cotton or silk, using paraffin. Several techniques can be used to create these fine-looking cloth pieces such as handwrite, stamping, painting, or a combination of these techniques.

Traditional 'becak' (rickshaws) at Malioboro Street

If you just want to buy one or more of these fabrics as a souveniers, Malioboro Street is just the place to go with rows and batik shops and stalls filled with neat stacks of these fabrics. Just remember that they are priced to be bargained. However, to see how batik is traditionally made, Taman Sari Complex will be your destination.

The stacks of mass-produced batik prints

It is an amazing experience as you study how these works of art are made. Batik painters do not really make a very good living as many of them have to struggle to pay for the expensive fabric and paraffin (the good quality ones). But the ones who are left at Taman Sari Complex, preserves the skilled craft of handmade batik rather than the factory mass-produced ones. A batik painter would first sketch out the design in pencil, then trace over the lines by using hot paraffin. Natural colour dye would then be filled into the design to form the colourful picture. When everything is dried, the washing process will follow to melt away the paraffin on the cloth. Many of these batik painters have proof of their experience shown on their permanently dyed hands, showing you how real traditional batik is suppose to be made.

Jogja Batik Designs

Seeing how Batik is made can get more interesting and hands-on as quite a few shops at Taman Sari offer Batik making lessons. You can choose to learn the classical batik designs or apply some of your own art ideas to create modern batik through batik painting. It will be an unforgettable experience as nothing can beat the creative thrill of art creation combining your own ideas using traditional art applications. And at the end of it, you would get an authentic piece of handmade souvenir to take home to show off. Have fun and do share your work of art with us when you’ve done it!

Canting drawing technique using melted paraffin

To book your trip to this City of Art and Culture and experience Batik making, check out the deals here.

Mesmerizing Jogjakarta!

Borobudur Temple in the dawn

The first thing that came to my mind when I hear the name, Jogjakarta is BOROBUDUR TEMPLE! The temple is so synonym to Jogjakarta like how Eiffel Tower to Paris, KLCC to Kuala Lumpur and Great Wall of China to China is! Never miss Borobudur when you are exploring Jogjakarta. I am very sure that you would be mesmerized with the structure of this ancient building as well as its fine and refined sculptures on it.

An impromptu suggestion : Why don’t you share with us your photography skill by taking some photos of the domes of Borobudur Temple just like the photo above? I’m sure it would be fun if your picture matches ours! Haha!

Another place that would mesmerize you would be the Taman Sari Water Castle! It would be another “photogenic” venue especially the pool area. Anyway, when you are here, be sure to take note of these 4 main attractions :

1) The palace of the King of Jogjakarta
2) The underwater tunnel
3) The underwater circular mosque
4) The swimming pool

The 4 elements are the unique points which merge the whole Taman Sari Water Castle, becoming how it was yesterday and what it is today!


The mesmerizing Kraton Jogjakarta is the palace of Sultan. It is the “home” for the Sultans and Sultanahs, princes and princesses of Jogjakarta where the grandeur building itself shows the strong monarchy of the Javanese rulers. It delicately shows the luxurious lifestyle of Jogjakarta's highest royal family, completed with strong heritage and tradition. There are several galleries in the Kraton itself which feature history of Jogjakarta, the family tree of the Jogjakarta monarchy, art and craft work, interesting local musical instruments called ‘gamelan’, batik and others. You can also try out the food served here which happen to be the Sultan’s favourite dishes!

Gamelan

Not far from Kraton Jogjakarta, you will find the Bird Market. Many types of fowls can be found here as well as bird cages in various shapes and sizes. Be mesmerized by the chirpings of colourful birds, welcoming guests and tourists from all over the world. Get a closer look at the beautiful ‘ayam serama’ here. Besides that, other types of household birds like canaries, mynahs, pigeons, parrots and many more can be found here. Just when you feel hungry and thirsty, look out for the nearest food stalls to try out some local delicacies and snacks.

Capture more of the mesmerizing Jogjakarta HERE!