February 19

February  19

a common sign on every beach

Today is Saturday and we woke at 7.... Quite late for my habit.
We tried to sleep the night without airco, because Menno is having a nasty cough that seems to be getting worse, he suspects it maybe the air-conditioning. Personally, I feel that him smoking does nothing to soothe the cough issue. We agreed to turn off the airco when we would turn in, and see what happens, over the next few days.
We enjoyed our breakfast of eggs, toast, fruit and coffee and hailed down a couple of becaks and went off to the Sultan's Water Palace.

Te becaks cost us 100.000R so that's about 1 dollar. Poor drivers, this trip was up hill and I am sure they were hoping for a return fair from us, in the same direction, but downhill... As a rule, the locals would pack in 3 to 4 people, but I felt guilty enough "loading" his becak (peddle rickshaw) with my big body....

Entrance to the water palace

The water palace is part of the sultan's palace. The sultan of Yogya reigns over a large community, that lives immediately within the walls of his domain.
This sultan is responsible for the people in his domain as well and does take good care of them.
The sultan has about 4 wives, give or take and at least 40 official concubines again...give or take. 
The Water Palace is a large stone-walled compound with 3 large, natural-spring water-fed swimming pools. 50cm deep on one end and 2 meters deep on the other. 

Peek at the pools...

 
The two larger pools are divided by a bridge of sorts and the water is crystal clear.
Daily, the concubines would dress for their swim (or is it undress?) and frolic in the pools while that sneaky bugger, the Sultan of Swing observes them from a high vantage point. He chooses 1 by tossing her a flower and they, the sultan and his concubine-of-the-day, then swim in the 3rd, pool. This pool is just as large, but private and used exclusively by him and his flavor of the day. After their swim, they would retire to his quarters to play some checkers or chess or Yogya monopoly (right...you think??)
The water palace can be used by the loyal people that live in the Sultans "city" for weddings and such, and on Sunday, is free swimming for all. I guess the sultan, poor dear, needs 1 day of rest??
On Monday morning the pools get drained and scrubbed and refilled with spring water, so that the Sultan and the concubines can swim in a clean, fresh pool. Wow....another day of rest for the poor bugger. 

View of the pools and spying tower

 
There....., just now, was a knock on the door and 2 staff just walked in with some pastries and some coffee....gotta like this place, anyway....back to the Water Palace....
We walked around the palace grounds and it felt like a maze....but it was clean and there were lots of little stores (warung) that sold interesting things, like wayang kulit puppets and handmade Batiks.
There are 2 basic wayang dolls,,,,the ones made from buffalo skin, used for the classic shadow puppet plays...is wayang kulit. I saw a man punching out the very fine designs and learned to tell a cheap doll from a fine one. This artist had won the national carving contest and is now Indonesia's finest wayang kulit maker.

Wayang Golek

 
The second puppet is the wayang golek doll, a wooden puppet, with a finely carved face and some times elaborate dress. Any one wayang golek play may have more than 50 characters that compete for the attention of a large audience. Most of the plays are classics, and kids learn about the stories by repeatedly watching them. 

Wayang Kulit

 
I believe the shadow puppets characters have there origins in the Hindu religion, my favorite one is Vishna or Vishnu.... this character has fine features.
I am fortunate to have a lot of wayang kulit images at home, all named in western writing as well as ancient Javanese.

When we were done looking at all the beautiful crafts we went on to Jalan Malioboro, the main street of  Yogya, where we had a bowl of soup and a lumpia, both were okay, but I would not go back for more.
The street Maliobro is a very busy one, with stores lining both sides, and in front of the stores a vendors that sell any junk you can wish for. The next "layer" of businesses are the food vendors, the people that we would call hawkers. They sell some yummy things as long as you are not to stressed out about their health and sanitary practices.....when in Rome.....you know the rest, Dukoral be blessed, that wonderful anti cholera profylactic.
By this time both Menno and I were ready for a nice cold mandi, so we started to look for a becak home.....

I think these guys saw us coming....

 
We found a couple and agreed on the price, after a bit of bartering, we are talking about 5 cents Canadian, but it is all about the sport....

Aduh tuan...panas...kasian....

 
Yogya is very famous for Batiks, so I bought a batik shirt for brother Ray, because he asked me for it, I hope it fits him.
It is very hard to find any size larger than Canadian medium, and trying clothes on, when you're hot and sweaty, did not strike me as an option...so, Ray, I hope it fits.
Nothing ever gets returned here, once out the store......tooooo bad !!!!  

 http://www.expat.or.id/info/batik.html

Lumpia Semarang (Semarang Spring Roll)

Lumpia semarang is a kind of eggroll with bamboo shoots, chicken & prawn filling. It was created by Chinese immigrants and local people in the city of Semarang in central Java. But now it has become a well known traditional food from Semarang, it's a nice portrait of how cultures could blend together and create a new innovation :)

Ingredients:

• 3 carrots (thinly sliced like match sticks)
• 1 pack bamboo shoot (thinly sliced)
• 3 eggs (scrambled and chopped)
• 3 green onions (thinly sliced)
• 1 lb ground chicken
• ½ lb cooked baby shrimp
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• Black pepper and salt to taste
• 1 pack spring roll wrapper
• 1 tsp. sambal ulek
• Chili sauce
• Enough oil for frying

Preparation:

• Stir fry onion until translucent then add garlic.

• Add chicken, soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt and pepper.

• Cook until chicken is cooked.

• Add the vegetables and shrimp and s/fry for about 5 min, then add scrambled eggs

• Cool the filling

• Put one tablespoon onto a wrapper, wrap, then deep fry

Serve with chili sauce