It’s fun isn’t it when life is not all about beating hearts or bundles of alveoli. This post will cover half of what I did in Jogjakarta, right after I went back from Solo. There will be a mouthwatering gudeg and magnificent mountains (5 of them!).
We arrived in Jogja at around 4 PM, stuffed and happy from the Tambak Segaran satay. My dad and my brother yielded to their primal desires to sleep after having such a big meal; on the other hand, my mom and I were too excited to stop moving. Thus, we headed to Pathuk Street. If you know Jogja, you get what I mean.
Pathuk Street, which is now called KS Tubun Street, is a little patch of heaven for hungry tourists. It is home to numerous bakpia shops, selling their famous bakpia along with countless variety of traditional delicacies. Bakpia itself is a small round pastry filled with paste, originally of mung beans, but in recent years also of cheese and chocolate. If people know you are going to Jogja, surely they will ask you to bring home these bite-size snacks. We nearly looted the store and went out with a huge box of snacks.
When we got back to the guest house, it was almost time for dinner and we were clueless. Fortunately, when I was in Palembang a couple of weeks ago, I met some UGM students and so I consulted them about the best place to have a Jogja dinner. One of them recommended Gudeg Sagan near UGM campus. It is near the place where I stay and, hey, gudeg is more Jogja than the Sultan of Jogja is. Hence, to Gudeg Sagan we went. If I must be frank, I don’t like gudeg, the sweet boiled young jackfuit. I do like gudeg’s friends on the plate like the chicken, brown boiled egg, and krecek; yet, gudeg is somewhat yuck to me. However, I wonderfully tolerated Gudeg Sagan. In fact, this might be the first time that I truly enjoyed gudeg.
Back from Gudeg Sagan, we retired early because we had something special waiting for us. We were going to see the sunrise in Ketep Pass near Magelang, surrounded by 5 big mountains. We also planned to go to Borobudur before going back to Jogja. This, I’m warning you, is the best part of my trip.
We shot off from the guest house at 4.30 AM, an unknown territory for me and most of you. I wish I could tell you about the road trip to Ketep Pass, but I kinda ofell asleep in the car. I do remember glimpses of thick fog blocking the view. I was so terrified, I dozed off again. After a forgettable dream, I was woken up when we reached Ketep Pass in (or near) Magelang.
Ketep Pass is basically a vantage point surrounded by 5 mountains: Merapi, Merbabu, Sumbing, Sindoro, and Slamet. The first two are much closer to Ketep, compared to the last three. Heck, I could only see their faint outlines. When we arrived, everything was covered by thick fog, something that our driver had warned us about. Since it was too early anyway, we simply waited. Voila, in less than an hour, Merapi and Merbabu teased us by revealing their bodies strip by strip. The fog faded away and there we stood guarded by two supposedly mythical mountains. (In the myth field, I’m more sure about Merapi, though). The fog never left the base of the mountains, so they looked as if they peaked above the clouds. I could look up a synonim for majestic in the thesaurus, but none of the result would suffice to describe the view, and the feeling, there.
There was nothing to do but to enjoy the magnificent panorama and try to immortalize it through camera. My photography-crazy dad had a blast capturing the sensual curves of Merapi and Merbabu. Only occasionally was he frustrated by the random fog. And if you are wondering why I haven’t mentioned the sun in this sunrise trip narration: the sun rose for sure, but it was hiding behind the mountains, giving us red streaks across the sky. We could only see the sun after 8 AM.
That is the end of the second part – because it’s 12 o’clock, the dark one, and I have to get up early tomorrow. Or this morning. Please look forward to the last part where I climb a colossal monument and ate something legendary.
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