Yogyakarta – Cradle of Javanese Culture

Yogyakarta or locally known as Yogja (often spelt and referred to in different ways such as Jogjakarta or Jogja) is located at the very heart of the premier tourist island of Java, Indonesia. This old city keeps a lot of charm in it and has a fantastic taste of Javanese cultures and traditions. Unlike the other heads of regions in Indonesia, The Sultan of Yogyakarta serves as the elected Governor of the province.

Yogyakarta is renowned for its cultural heritage and a popular tourist destination in Indonesia. There are beautiful ancient temples that will make you gape with awe like Prambanan, Borobudur, Ratu Boko, Kalasan and many more. There are museums and markets as well where you can get some flavor of traditions, cultures and customs of the place.

 

Prambanan

Borubudor

Ratu Boku

I was lucky enough that I was in Yogyakarta when the Javan celebrated the wedding ceremony of their princess and the annual Yogyakarta festival which was both held at Jalan Malioboro (Jalan means street). Moments like these are the reason why I love travelling. There is no doubt that traveling allows me to interact with the real world and real people in real situations. A piece of advice, don't forget to get a worldwide travel insurance to fully enjoy a worry-free holiday. It provides coverage for unexpected problems which you might encounter on the road like illness and accident.

 

Celebrating Royal Wedding

Celebrating Royal Wedding

Jogja Java Carnival

One of the busiest and famous street in downtown Yogyakarta is the Malioboro where you can find a lots of horse with cart, caf'??s, markets and shops selling 'batik'.

 

Batik

Batik traditionally designates a cloth decorated with the batik technique – the cloth is soaked with wax, hot irons with motives are applied regularly on the cloth, melting away the wax, then, the cloth is dipped in a dye where the dye occupies the wax-free areas. That is the very basic technique; then it can be done with several colours, one after the other, protecting the already coloured areas with wax… ??The other technique and in modern workshops, what is called 'batik' is painting on silk (batik lukis or 'written batik' traditional technique where the wax is 'written' on the cloth, with a thin hollow needle tool bearing a molten wax container), or other cloth type. On Jalan Malioboro, you certainly will be approached by people offering you to visit batik museums and workshops.

Batik Lukis

The 'kraton' or the Sultan's palace is located at the center of Yogyakarta. Around the palace are the densely populated areas. These places were at first the Royalty's domain and the place does bear evidence of the fact. The entire place is ruins aside from 'water castle' or locally known as Tamansari which reflects its former glory. This place is no longer used by the Royal family and now being used for residential purposes.

Kraton

Tamansari (Water Caste)

Yogya is referred to as the soul of Java because it balances life from the past and present with relative ease and it has long been known as the cradle of Javanese culture. While in Yogyakarta, I noticed that the residents here lives in harmony and shows typical Javanese hospitality which makes it a wonderful city to visit. It might be rustic and backwards at times compared to the other place in Indonesia, but it's also welcoming and more than a little enchanting.