On my final day in Yogyakarta i had planned to go to the cigar factory as it had closed at 2:00 pm the day before and i missed it…but as it turns out it is also closed Saturday and Sunday. Dammit. So i had the day at leisure. Honestly there isn’t much to report. I hung out at this cool hipster cafe for a couple of hours where i had a jack fruit burger, which was a revelation. So good. And some excellent coffee.
I then walked to find a cigar store i read about…only to find it had closed. Fuck. But the walk was interesting and i passed markets, paintings, and had fresh soursop juice.
After that i decided to walk out of the downtown area to this other area i had seen when i drove in from the airport where there was a ton of street art and some public sculpture. The walk wasn’t too long but in the heat and humidity it felt like a grand trek.
It didn’t disappoint. There was an array of murals, from the great to the sucky, but all were enjoyable to look at. There has been such an impressive amount of street art here, and one artist in particular whose works i started to seek out: multicoloured figures often with heads replaced with flowers or birds. Cool stuff.
So that was my day. It was good and fairly relaxing and totally unstructured. The next day i was flying to Bali.
I arrived in Jakarta from Taipei. A 5ish hour flight. Hit with heat and humidity. Glorious. Caught a taxi to Kota aka Old Batavia aka the old city. It seemed like the most interesting area, with now shabby colonial architecture, canals, and a big square. The city is large and populous; 10+ million people. I am only here for a day and a half and i didn’t have any particular sites or activities in mind. Much of what i read about Jakarta said “skip it”, but how could i? I’m glad i didn’t.
The street led to the square which was positively teeming with people. Sitting on the ground, eating and drinking, walking, and riding neon colored bicycles while wearing fancy hats that matched the bicycles. I thought there must be a festival, but have since found out it was just the weekend. It was great. I walked and had dinner on the square (vegetarian food is available but not in abundance). And i smoked a cigar on a patio.
