MORNING AT YOGYAKARTA

We woke up at 7, and after taking a bath, we went to the biggest Vihara at Jogja. That day was the celebration day for Merciful Goddess or also known as Kwan Im Po Sat, so we prayed there and we also donated to release living animals that day. Then, we visited Keraton Yogyakarta, the palace of Sultan Jogja. Keraton is the real centre of Jogja town. If we observe, from keraton to mount Merapi, it will pass Tugu Jogja (monument of Jogja), which is the symbol of Jogja,in a a straight line. In the past, Yogyakarta was part of Mataram Kingdom. The Dutch government divided the kingdom into 2 kingdoms based on Gianty agreement, then it became Kasultanan Ngayogyakarta or Jogja with Hamengkubuwono as the king, and Kasunanan Surakarta or Solo with Pakubuwono as the king. Outside the keraton, Van bought some key chains for souvenir. Actually, I didn't like visiting keraton Jogja because it's to dirty dan dusty for me and the weather was so hot, so it made us melting. But, I just want to show Van and Ray the history of Jogja and its uniqueness, so they know about it. We also visited the museum of Sultan's horse carriages. One of the carriage, named Nyai Djimat, is very unique and special. Before taking picture with it, the guide there, knelled down first to asked for permission, so the picture will be OK. If not, the carriage can't be seen in the photo, will be just all black. Believe it or not, but every little things in Jogja, is magical and sacred, so we'd better not violate their rule. Every year when the month of Suro (javanese month), all of the carriages and other keraton's heritage items, will be washed with the water that already mixed with 7 kinds of flowers. The people, believe that the used water has blessings to heal illness or give prosperity, so they will fetch that water and bring it home to drink or take a bath . Actually there are others palaces, but we didn't go there because Van was already hungry. So, we tried to find Mang Engking Castle Restaurant. It's located at Jalan Soragan no 13. Phone (0274) 622972. Wow, it's a unique and beautiful place. It's like an old castle with european style. The wind blew from the windows and doors, so they don't need the air conditioner. So cozy and cool. They also had saung, a hut made of bamboo sticks and hay for its roof, at the outside of the castle, so if you want to experience eating in the middle of the rice field, it's the best choice. We can choose where do we want to eat, in the castle or in the hut. We preferred the castle. We ordered their specialties menu, and the taste were good. Our hunt was not in vain. After taking pictures a while, we left to buy pia, a unique dry cake from Jogja with green beans, durian, chocolate, cheese etc on it. We bought it at Merlino, at jalan RE Martadinata no 24 B. Van bought 20 boxes to give for her friends and employees at Teo Chew Palace.