Jogjakarta...here we come

I am so excited that I finally could drag my husband and my son to visit Jogjakarta. Though I wasn't born in this city but before I moved overseas, I have spent almost most of my vacation time in this city because this is where all my uncles, my unties, and my cousins live. My grandparents were buried there too. So, yeah...I will always have reason to visit Jogjakarta.

Jogjakarta is in the southern part of central of Java province. It is a province by itself. Jogjakarta is a very special province in Indonesia. Not only because it is a kingdom and lead by a loved-by-people King instead of a governor, it is also because the city is famous for the nickname of the "student city". Being a student city, this city has quite a number of good schools and universities. The famous university is University of Gajah Mada which is the best university in Indonesia. It is very difficult to get admitted into this university. Many of its students are also from other countries. The lectures are conducted both in English and in Bahasa Indonesia.

The standard living cost in Jogjakarta is very cheap especially for food. The famous local dish is gudeg. Many people, including my husband, say that this dish is extra sweet but then that how gudeg taste is. If it's not sweet, then it's not gudeg... :D

It was a 4-day trip. We flew on Friday from Kuala Lumpur to Solo City (Surakarta) then from Surakarta, my cousin picked us up and we drove about 2 hours to Jogjakarta because there is no highway and it is a 2-way road full of big intercity buses and trucks. It was a very good offer from the famous budget airline, Air Asia, to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Solo city (Surakarta) for only RM49.99 (about USD14) one way per person.

I was very excited because I would love to introduce my husband and my son to all my family in Jogjakarta who have been longing to meet them since I got married about 6 years ago.
My husband was also very excited about this trip because he has planned to visit all the famous temples and tourist attractions.
At first I was in doubt as to how I can schedule the time properly so that we can visit every one and also visit every tourist attraction in 4 days.

Before our trip to Jogjakarta, my husband and I were busy checking out the websites about this city and the one stands out is http://www.gudeg.net. Actually, I know this website from one of my cousins who used to live in Jogjakarta. Thanks cousin!
So, if you plan to visit Jogjakarta, you may want to check out that website.

I'm glad that God has helped me to arrange our schedule and we managed to visit Prambanan and Borobudur temples. We also visited Kraton Jogjakarta where the King lives and also, we did visit all the people we need to visit. In the morning, we would have breakfast in Mirota Bakery at Jalan FM.Noto, No. 7, Kotabaru. In Mirota, you can find any kinds of breads, cookies, desserts, local finger food or kuih-muih in Bahasa Malaysia which are sooooooooooo delicious. I mean it! They are delicious!! If possible, I would love to sit there and taste all the food one by one from morning till nite...:P For those who have to eat rice for breakfast, Mirota also sells steam rice with many kinds of local dishes. My favourite is the grilled chicken. And for lunch, oh man, I don't know what to say. There are so many choices and they are all cheap and delicious. I took my whole family to a gudeg restaurant which is soooooooo delicious and cheap. I only paid less than USD10 for 10 people eating there. This place is very famous and it is always full of people. If you are lucky, you can get a table and enjoy your gudeg soon and that happened with me. I was lucky enough to get a big table for my whole family when we went there. This gudeg join doesn't accept any reservations. First come first serve basis. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of this famous gudeg joint. If you plan to go there, you can email me and I'll find out for you.

If you choose to go to a fancy restaurant where the menu is written in English, you can go to Gadjah Wong Garden restaurant. This restaurant sells local and western dishes. But mind you, this place is not cheap. There is another restaurant that we would really love to go but unfortunately, we weren't lucky this time because this place is fully booked. The restaurant name is Boyong Kalegan. This restaurant sells seafood and local dishes. The ambiance is very suitable for the whole family because in this restaurant, you can do fishing or take a small bamboo raft to enjoy the view. This is an open air restaurant where you have to sit with no chair or in local language called 'lesehan' and you eat with your fingers...hmmm...yummi..

Though we didn't have a chance to go to Malioboro, the famous street in Jogjakarta, we still think that our trip is a successful trip and we would love to go back there again. If God didn't help me to arrange my schedule, we wouldn't be able to accomodate my hubby's wish and my wish during our short trip to Jogjakarta. Thank you, God!