Yogyakarta, or as the locals say, Jog-ja, is a fantastic small Indonesian city. Known as the cultural heart of Indonesia, Jogja is a place thats easy to like. Friendly people, great food, and history, Jogja takes care of the old and embraces the new. "We call them murals" a local said to me as I admired a graffiti wall. " So do we!". Never have I seen a city with more graffiti, harmoniously blending in with the equally prolific number of Batik galleries and traditional Javanese leather puppet makers. Having spent almost a week in Jogja, leaving, I had a feeling we should have stayed longer. Much longer. Jogja is also a great base for the many temples surrounding the city, some of which date back more than a thousand years. More on that, later. For now, I thought I would just treat this post as a bit of a photo essay. Enjoy.
Jogja's "Bird Market" is insane. Huge pythons, cute monkeys, baby owls, squirrels, bowls of maggots and ant larvae, bats, lizards, and more. Some inside cages, some roaming free. Many, unidentifiable, but more than likely, tasty.
Moogi was our Becak driver for the day. A becak is like a rickshaw bicycle. Nice bloke, we took him and his mate out for a bowl of "Bakso" Indonesian noodle soup and some tea, after a long day carting us whiteys around town.
Yes, thats a monkey staring down a cage full of hamsters.
Public toilet, Jogja style.
This little guy is a guard of the Sultans Place, or "Kraton". I could take that guy out for sure, then what would the Sultan do? HUH? Whats that little man? You talkin' to me? BRING IT ON MOTHER FUCKAAA!
Main street, Yogyakarta. Motor-bikes are the wheels of choice.
The central market in Jogja. Chilli's and dried fish, two of my favourite things. That, and dried monkey brain.
Affandi was a famous Indonesian artist. We visited his gallery, riding out there on our rent-a-scooter. Phillipa is only just recovering from that ride. There are no roads crazier than Indonesian roads. An amazing artist, Affandi also designed and built his brutalist concrete gallery and home...and now, its his eternal resting place.
Easily the best fun to be had in Yogjakarta is renting a few bicycles, and then racing them with the local kids. At one point, there were five on my bike. I seriously considered throwing another small child in the flimsy basket over the front wheel. We had a blast, until, inevitably, CRASH! Kids went flying and bouncing all over the place, we were understandably worried. It really was a harsh prang, with one small girl in particular slamming straight to the ground. She was worried too - about our bikes. Fuck the bikes, what about that gash on your arm???
Next post "Temples of Doom". Can you really take a Nikon SLR into a torrential down-pour on top of Borobudur with a two dollar umbrella, and expect it to survive??? Hmmm.
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