Yogyakarta Was About Shopping, Spa, and Food!

Totally the 3 things girls love: Shopping, Spa, and Food!

DAY # 2
SHOPPING – BERINGHARJO MARKET

10.30 AM we took becak to Malioboro st, but we stopped by at a batik store on Ahmad Dahlan st. It’s called Batik Yogya Kembali, named after a historical incident in Yogyakarta involving the Dutch in 1948.
Since the rest of the gang had a mission to shop for batiks for their quilt business, we visited Beringharjo Market, a 3-story market on Malioboro st.

The market hall holds maybe thousands of stalls that sell batik, food, raw materials for cooking, modern clothes, and so many others.

Variety of batik - as raw material and as ready-to-wears

Kania & Mia at the more modern part of the market

On my way to Gado-Gado Bu Hadi, passing through stalls of spices

I myself purchased a brown tie-dye dress for Rp 25,000, a brown batik dress for a friend also Rp 25,000, and a tie-dye t-shirt for another friend for Rp 15,000, while the other girls were busy choosing patterns and haggling. Cheap? Yes, very. But remember, you’d have to wash the clothes separately from anything else in your laundry because the colors would fade and stain other clothes when washed together.

GADO-GADO BU HADI

I got this informative guide book dedicated for culinary stroll in Yogyakarta, and from there we found the info about Gado-gado Bu Hadi at the 2nd floor of Beringharjo Market.
The market hall turned out to be something really big, it stretches until maybe about 1 km to the back. We had to walk 500 metres from the main stairs to Gado-Gado Bu Hadi. There isn’t clear direction of where it is, neither of other shops, so we asked the security guard for direction.
Gado-gado is Indonesian salad consisted of variety of veggies with tofu or beancurd and potato and pestled peanut sauce. A portion cost Rp 7,000. You could eat it with rice or lontong for a little extra rupiah.

Honestly, we thought the gado-gado wasn’t special, tasted just like any other gado-gado in Indonesia. But it was okay.

SHOPPING - MIROTA BATIK SHOP

Loro Blonyo, the iconic Javanese bride and groom

Mirota Batik shop was our next destination. I always go there to shop whenever I’m in Jogja. I think they have a lot of great stuff, other than batik as well but mostly are Javanese specialties, with affordable prices. It’s located just across the Beringharjo Market on Malioboro st.
I purchased some incense cones and sticks, which later on in Jakarta I lighted them, but they didn’t really function well. Well, they only cost about Rp 6,000 – Rp 10,000 a pack of 5, so what do you expect…

SPA - MASSAGE

Then we decided to go for some massage at a salon/spa which we had googled in the morning at home. Because the area was quite unknown to us, taxi became our method of transporting. Rp 15,000 took us to Salon Siska at 56 Ki Mangunsarkoro street.
Mind you, not all cab drivers in Jogja are always willing to put the meter on, neither did this one. So the price was actually the result of us haggling. I’m not saying that this is always what happens, but usually foreign tourists – or just any foreign people – would get charged more than the locals. Oh, and it’s better if you have the written destined address, so that they know clearly where to take you.

So, Salon Siska is what I’d expect of a spa looks like. It’s got calm and quiet ambience with a lot of ethnical ornaments in the lobby, and white and brownish interior.

It kinda surprised us that the ornaments that decorated it wasn’t exclusively Javanese, they’ve also got Japanese and other ornaments. Turns out that they are often visited by groups of foreign tourists who like to give gifts from their countries. Nice!
The traditional massage costs Rp 75,000 / hr, Rp 100,000 / 1,5 hr, while the Stone massage – this is what I had – was rp 175,000 / 1,5 hr. But stone massage is from Sweden, why would I get it in Jogja? I know, I know, I just had been curious what a stone massage feels like, and since I rarely go for massages in Jakarta where I live, I thought I’d just have it here while I can. But guess what, the stones that they use for the massage are taken from the famous volcanic Merapi mountain at the border of D.I Yogyakarta and Central Java. At least that’s what the masseur told me.

Complimentary snack after the massage

LODGES ON PRAWIROTAMAN STREET

We were so thankful for the free lodging we got from Windy our friend. However, I was still curious to experience the Prawirotaman area, not only for hanging out at the cafes there, but also to stay at one of the hotels there. So I got my friends to agree on staying at Prawirotaman just one out of the 4 nights of our stay in the city :D

The pool that got us interested, but ended up not swimming in it

So we booked the Perwita Sari Hotel at 31 Prawirotaman, but only because our first choice, Delta Homestay was fully booked (you can check out www.dutagardenhotel.com or www.dutahotels.com ).

Taxi fare from Salon Siska to Prawirotaman was Rp 10,000 with the meter on.


LABA-LABA CAFE
We looked for the hotel by strolling down the streets of Prawirotaman, asking several hotels directly to the receptionists, not online. While walking, we saw a lot of cafes and restaurants along the streets. We picked one for having dinner, it’s called Laba-Laba Café.


‘Laba-laba’ literally means spider, I don’t know why they named it that. The food was just okay. An omelet costs Rp 16,000 and a jaffle is Rp 13,000. But business went kinda slow that night for Laba-Laba Café, only a few tables were occupied.

Then we went back to Malioboro street to get some snacks by becak for only Rp 10,000 per becak. Because there were 4 of us, we went by 2 becaks.