Ngasem: The Infamous Bird Market of Yogyakarta

Ngasem located only 400 meters west of the Sultan Palace. In Yogyakarta, birds are on the third position in social status measurement, right after horses (as means of transportation) and keris as a weapon. Ngasem has various kinds of birds for you to see or buy.

Ngasem market's main commodity is birds, and it's proved photographically it has been operating since 1809. Its location that is not far from the Kingdom was meant for the noblemen to access it easily. In around 1960s, this market was increasingly identical to birds when birds sellers from Beringharjo were moved to this place. Birds sellers occupy one third of the market width, so it's no wonder that many tourists call this market a bird market.

The area for birds trading is on the left side of the entrance. One of the main commodities here is the turtledove, since many noblemen in the past often keep it as a pet. Other best sellers are bulbuls, orioles, starlings and minas, parakeet and small local birds such as emprit and prenjak. An interesting bird that people rarely buy is owl of which child is sold at 35,000 IDR. One of the bird shops had even recently sold an eagle at 350,000 IDR. The shops also provide care equipments such as cage and feeds.

Ngasem market is arguably has different kind of atmosphere than other regular markets. Here, visitors do not only enjoy the beautiness of birds but also animal show performed by birds lovers, for example demonstration of doves that return to its cage from distant flight and birds chirp contest. Sometimes, the visitors decided to spend some amount of money to buy birds by listening to the chirp in the contest first. The sellers use the event to train the birds to chirp or just to discuss about the technique of taking care of birds.

What's even funnier is that you can also find people selling snakes there. Yes. The snakes range from water snake to cobra and python. If you really need to have a good look at those snakes, you can just ask the shop vendor to let the snake out of the cage. It's okay, but still you need to be careful. In addition to snakes, they also sells various reptiles such as iguana and turtle.

Are reptiles and birds enough for you? If not, you can walk westwards of the market, and you will see many kiosks selling ornamental fish. Small fish that live in a colony like neon fish is sold 1,000 each. Other ornamental fish are arwana, lou han, sold at hundreds thousand. There are also the infamous betta fishes. If you want to know more about betta fish you can look for betta fish info here. The kiosks also sell equipments for taking care of fish such as aquarium of various shapes, coral reefs, ornamental plants to be put in the aquarium and fish feeds. Some kiosks provide services for setting up sea fish cultivation.

They also sell cats, dogs, and hamsters, and other common pets, though it's not their main commodity.

Now if you feel tired or hungry, Ngasem also provides you with traditional snacks (just like other traditional markets do). I suggest you try Jenang Gempol (made from rice flour with rich flavor combined with coconut milk sauce and sweet palm sugar syrup, round in shape) that is usually sold in front of the market. Other traditional snacks are Getuk, Lupis, Thiwul, and Gatot that all of which are made of cassava. Yes, you will have a lot of fun here and satisfy your explorer soul.