Welcome to << MK:BLoG >> - v.10 - |
posted : Sunday, February 20, 2011
title : The Bird Market, Kraton & Tamansari
The morning today began with a visit to PASTY (Pasar Satwa & Tanaman Hias, Dongkelan). This market became one of landmarks of Yogyakarta and the place is better known to the locals as Pasar Ngasem. Pasar Satwa is an ornamental Animals and Plants Market, or known here as “The bird market”, now located on Jl. Bantul Km 1, Dongkelan in Yogyakarta.
    A weasel Pasar Satwa/Ngasem is really an unusual place unlike anywhere I’ve really been too, it’s like a haphazard and loosely organized zoo, except that all the animals here are for sale and not just for display. There are literally birds of every kind! Some of the birds that I could recognize being sold here in this noisy menagerie include the turtledove, bulbuls, minas, parakeets, starlings, pigeons, cockerels, strangely cowered pigeons, ravens and even owls! An owl is expensive and can cost you around 60,000 Rupiah.  Too bad, I can't buy her.. next!  But the market doesn’t only sell birds; there are a wide variety of other animals from the usual domestic pets to the downright wild. It’s about as diverse as you can imagine, there are cats, dogs, chickens, gerbils, hamsters, ducks, chicks, ducklings, rabbits, squirrels, weasels and even snakes (a full grown python), turtles, geckos, exotic reptiles and lizards were being sold. I jokingly asked if I could buy a tiger or a lion cub. Now I really wouldn’t be surprised if I could buy a cub here. With numerous birds, the entire ambiance is colorful and chirpy and because of the numerous animals, there is a mild tolerable pungent smell in the air, though that definitely wouldn’t put off any animal lover. Next visit, the famous “must-visit” Kraton palace (Sultan’s Palace) that has been touted time and time again in traveler logs and the tourism board here in Jogja. The place was a joke though! Wide expanse of empty space with nothing to see and it costs 5,000rp (S$0.72) per entry. But later we were told that there was a special occasion going on and the main grounds were closed to visitors. Another bummer, that didn’t help me from crossing this off my list of “notable visits”. Bad dissemination and management of information, well the Sultan doesn’t really administer his powers or influence to help the people in Jogja at all, it’s just “cool” to have a palace or a sultan to visit when you come to Jogja. The Sultan doesn’t really have any constitutional nor judiciary rights.               After the rather disappointing visit to the Kraton, we wandered around and a local introduced us to a Batik shop to take a look at the various batik paintings, they were nice though, very pretty to look at but unfortunately a little too steep in price for a student.      Next we wandered around looking for a place to have lunch, and that’s when we stumbled on The Gadri Resto. The place is located at JL. Rotowijayan no.5 Kraton, Yogyakarta, near the west gate of Kraton in Jogjakarta. About Gadri Resto: Gadri Resto Gadri Resto is the “Sultan’s restaurant”! Gadri Resto is a one of a kind restaurant and the restaurant serves the Royal secret cuisine of food which is passed down the Royal generations and is only specially served here. The restaurant is actually the Sultan’s brother’s home and the décor as well as the photographs on the walls of the Sultans gives a very classic traditional Javanese style and ambience.      This is one of unique restaurants in Indonesia. The recipes are the heritage of the Sultans and the recipes are only known by close relatives of the Sultan. Gadri Resto was built in 1917, when Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX ruled. Gadri Resto serves traditional Javanese cuisines such as nasi blawong (blawong rice) with a choice of daging lombok kethok (chili beef), ayam goreng laos (galingale fried chicken), telor pindang goreng (fried pindang egg). Other tantalizing dishes include the sate sanggar, pudding manuk nom, perawan kenes (steamed kepok banana which is tied with pandanus leaf and clipped with bamboo stick). Those simple and traditional cuisines give unique experience for the tongue and it can only be enjoyed at the resto. It was a very nice meal, the drinks were exotic itself and the service was very courteous and pleasant. Tamansari   Next we visited Tamansari or (Water Castle) near the kraton off Jalan Let Sen S. Parman / Jalan Polowijan. Tamansari was a royal retreat was designed and built in the middle of the 18th century as a private pleasure area for the Sultan, his large family and extensive entourage only. It is no longer used by the Sultan but is now a popular visit by tourists. Tamansari is listed as a tentative World Heritage Site since 1995 and is open daily from 08:00 to 14:00 and tickets cost 7,000rp (~S$1).            Tamansari is a spacious park, comprising a mixture of grand structures, waterways, large ponds and bathing pools. The place provided multiple functions for the royal family, comprising of four distinct areas: a large artificial lake with islands and pavilions, a bathing complex in the centre, a complex of pavilions and pools in the south, and a smaller lake in the east. Today only the central bathing complex is well preserved.  Vantage point for the Sultan The Bathing Pool was formerly a pleasure place for the royal family and comprises of two bathing pools that are separated with a 2-storey building. From this building the Sultan can watch all the women swimming in the outer pool. Then he might ask some of them to accompany him into the inner pool.   The sultan's inner pool Compared to the Kraton itself, Tamansari didn’t disappoint particularly and the place reflects some of the few existing ancient buildings in Jogja’s cultural history. After that we took an Angung or a horse carriage to travel to our next destination.       The Sonobudoyo Museum is a museum of history and culture of Java, including the building of classical Javanese architecture. The museum is a collection of Javanese culture and history that are considered the most complete after the National Museum of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta. In addition to ceramics at the time of Neolithic and bronze sculpture from the 8th century, this museum also displays wayang kulit , a variety of ancient weapons and the mask of Java. |
