See Simi Travel Blog

Kraton, the royal residence built by the first sultan of Yogyakarta, was where I decided to spend my first Saturday in this uni town. The complex has three separate sites, each that you have to pay for, and the prices for tourists were of course increased since it’s the high season. So 22.000 rupiah ($2.44 CAD), a bottle of water and some mie goreng (fried noodles) later, I was able to see all that it had to offer.

The first stop was a break from the sun to watch a wayung, a traditional shadow puppet show. The gamelan musicians were equally as entertaining, especially since I couldn’t really follow the story. Still happy I got to see it though! Although I can’t really prove it (yet!) I’m almost certain that locals were taking my picture as I watched the performance. Maybe I will end up on some promotional material for the city! (I’m trying to be positive here…)

I then moved on to the second section, to see the male and female dragon entrance (the dragons looked the exact same to me), and to take a peak at the gift shop. Now I’m sure the nurse practitioner from the travel clinic would cringe if she found out that I went to a BIRD MARKET in an Asian country, but I generally do whatever Lonely Planet tells me. The experience was creepy. There were cages of more than just birds! Mongoose type animals, cages with millions of termites (to sell as bird feed), snakes and roosters. After politely refusing an offer to see a cock fight (I’m sure gambling is illegal in Muslim countries????), I finally went to spend some quality time at the water palace.

The Taman Sari, or water palace mentioned before, is where the Sultan used to hang out. It has (well, had) high towers that over looks large swimming pools. This was convenient for him since he was able to check out his concubines as they swam, inspiring him to take his pick. By this point in the day the sun was brutal, so I cut the visit short and went home to get ready for the gamelan festival that night.

Although gamelan isn’t my thing, it was nice to take part in a festival in such a cultural city. There was an act from Solo (a city near by) that was amazing! Worth mentionning however, was the fusion performance from a Californian group. It was a mix of traditional gamelan, with a chorus, and some operatic acting…. BUT then the dancers came. They did an interpretive dance symbolising Matohari‘s sensual effect on men. The dance, infront of a conservative audience, involved a woman (Matohari) in a backless, high slit dress (that showed her underwear) touching herself while “cave-men” dressed in thongs grabbed at themselves. I’ll end here.

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