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.

Kraton Yogyakarta, The Center of The Universe

Yogyakarta Sultan Palace is an old building that was once damaged and restored. In general, it looks like other Kingdom buildings. When we understand the philosophy of them deeper, however, we will understand the symbolical meaning of life philosophy, human nature, how the nature works and human beings live their lives and various symbols of life existence in them.

Kraton (or Keraton, or Karaton) Yogyakarta lies between Tugu as the north border and Panggung Krapyak as the south border, between Code River in the east and Winongo River in the west; between the Merapi Mountain and the South Sea. In the mind of the Javanese community, kraton is defined as center of the world that is described as center of the universe.

Karaton, Keraton or Kraton, derived from the word ke-ratu-an, meaning the place where the queen resides. It also has a broader meaning that says that all structures and buildings in the Kraton area have significant meaning related to essential Javanese philosophy of life, Sangkan Paraning Dumadi, that means the origin and the destination of human being.

After the Giyanti Agreeement, Yogyakarta territory was given to Pangeran Mangkubumi. He then built a palace in 1755 in Hutan Beringan area, in order to run his government. The place was flanked by two rivers that protect it from being flooded. The first king of Yogyakarta Palace was Pangeran Mangkubumi with the title Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono I (HB I).

In general, the Kraton area stretches 5 kilometers southwards to Krapyak village and 2 kilometers northwards until the Tugu monument. Just like Plato's philosophy, there is a reversed dualism linear line that tells symbolical philosophy: the direction from south to north symbolizes the birth of human being from the high place to the perishable world, and the opposite direction symbolizes the return of human being to the Dumadi (God in Javanese philosophy). Kraton is physical symbol and the King is the symbol of the real soul that presents into the physical body.

Tugu monument and Manguntur Tangkil hall or Bangsal Kencana (where the king is seated), are straight in a line. This means that while sitting on his throne and looking toward the Tugu monument, he will always remember his people.

The direction from the Palace to the Tugu monument represents the road of life that is full of temptations. Beringharjo market symbolizes women temptation and temptation of power is symbolized by Kepatihan building. The straight street connecting the Palace to Tugu monument symbolizes close relationship between human being and the Creator (Sangkan Paraning Dumadi).

In short, Tugu monument is a symbol of male sex organ (called lingga) and Krapyak symbolizes female sex organ (called yoni) and kraton is physical blend of the two.

Hit by the earthquake in 1867, the Sultan Palace was severely damaged. During the reign of HB VII in 1889, the building was renovated. The lay out being retained, the shape of the building was changed to the current look.

In general, the space arrangement of the current Sultan Palace is similar to the one of Mataram Dynasty. The center of the Palace is the so called Bangsal Kencana that is adjacent to Bangsal Prabayeksa as the place to keep sacred weapons (in this room, there is an oil lamp called Kyai Wiji that is kept lit by the Palace servants). This hall is surrounded by Kedhaton yard so that people must go through layers of the yard that seem like waves in order to reach the center.

This special arrangement of the Palace looks similar to constellation of mountain and Jambu Dwipa land that is considered to be central archipelago of the universe.

From north part to west part of the Palace area, there are North Square, North Siti Hinggil, North Kemandhungan, Srimanganti, Kedhaton, Kemagangan, South Kemandungan, South Siti Hinggil and South Square (the yard that is protected by high walls).

In order to reach all of the places, there are nine gates (called regol) that must be passed through, namely: gerbang, pangurukan, tarub agung, brajanala, srimanganti, kamagangan, gadhung mlati, kemandhungan and gading.

Brongtodiningrat sees the significance of this number, as the highest number to describe excellence. This is related to nine holes in human beings, commonly called babahan hawa sanga.

The sacredness of each Palace building is indicated by the frequency and intensity of Sultan activities in the location.

Sultan only visits the Square, Pagelaran, and Siti Hinggil three times a year, namely during the events of Pisowan Ageng Grebeg Maulud, Sawal and Besar and other very special, incidental events such as coronation of the Sultan and the crown prince or Pangeran Adipati Anom.

Belitung: Magical Granite on Magical Beach

Belitung, or formerly known as Belitong (or Billiton), is an island on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. The island is famous for its tin. It's also known for its pepper. It was in the possession of the British from 1812 until the British ceded control of the island to the Dutch in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. Its main town is Tanjung Pandan. Now I will tell you why Belitung is one of the must-see island in Indonesia:

• Pasir Putih, or white sand. The sand there is as white as sugar. It's really beautiful. If you want a comparasion, all the beaches in Bali have brownish sand. Enough said.
• Granite. Yes, those beautiful rocks. It's really unique. Usually you can find granites on mountains, but in Belitung you can see those magnificent rocks scattered around the beach to the sea. It's like somebody's work has got to do with this, placing the rocks there as if it's an artistry. But, then again, those rocks are really huge. You will need huge excavator or things like that to place just one rock there, but just getting your equipment there will already jeopardize the place. And if it's not magical enough for you, go to Tanjung Kelayang in Belitung, and you will see those rocks are gathered in a shape of a bird known as burung kelayang (kelayang bird).
• Small islands. There are at least 189 small islands around Belitung and most of them are surrounded by white sand. You can choose one island and go there by using a boat for about 30 minutes. There's this one island called Lengkuas island, and you can see an old lighthouse, built by Nederlands back in the 19th century. There are other interesting island too, such as Burung island, Babi island, Pengadaran island, Lutung island, Kera island, and Jenang island
• Easy to reach. Yes, it's only 45 minute flight from Jakarta. You can either choose Sriwijaya Air or Batavia Air. There are other popular sites near Jakarta, but you'll have to spend more time on the road. Anyer and Carita beach for example, it's 2-3 hours journey by car.
• Cheap. The flight rate is only 450,000 IDR (it's 45 in USD). Standard three star hotel 450,000. And the food, it's really cheap. You can get grilled fish, fried shrimps, fish soup, 2 kinds of vegetable, rice, all in the size for 8 people, only for 400,000 IDR.

Umang Island, The Tropical Sensation

When Umang Island is on your sight, it's as if all your fatigue are gone. This green island with spreading white sand and clean blue sea, completed with clear sky makes it even more beautiful. The 4 hour trip from Indonesia's capital city, Jakarta, is worth it.

Umang Island is a part of Banten province, and you can reach this island by boat just for 5 minutes from a small town called Sumur. You can also use transportation provided by Umang island management. It's a motorized boat for 25 people, standing by 24 hours.

When you arrive on the island, first thing you will have is a warm greet and a wet and cold towel with diligent aroma. That towel is indeed effective to sweep away the hot weather you feel outside your body. While for the inside you may choose a tropical fruit juice, like guava or pineapple juice.

Umang island is only 5 hectares wide. Its full of green trees and grasses although as you might notice that plants don't usually grow when the soil is filled with salt water. You can walk around the island only for 15 minutes and you'll reach the point where you start.

If you think it's not enough and you still want some fun, then try the jet ski, banana boat, and the speed boat. The sea is calm and easy. Enjoy the nature and be relaxed.

Not far from Umang island there's Oar island. It's only five minutes from Umang using a boat. Its sight is really splendid. Lots of photographers enjoying sunset here.

Now here's for you to remember: it is not advised to go direct to Umang island because you will have to use a shuttle bus provided by Umang island management and it will cost you IDR 250,000 each. You can actually go there without a reservation by taking an AKAP bus that travels from Kalideres to Labuan for IDR 25,000 and continue by taking a Labuan to Sumur bus for only IDR 15,000.