Day 3 Yogya

Apparently the Hadiawan's have very bad luck concerning water: only our room had a malfunction in the drainage system, so our room stank.

So early in the morning, we got upgraded to another room, which was bigger then the first room. yay!

Then it was off to Kotagede to check out the silversmiths...but of course we got lost first.
But a good thing though, we passed this public newspaper stand (?)--i didn't know they still had these.nice!-- and a dog that was chillin' under a big-ass tree on a raised platform (?) at an intersection.

We went to ......(ok, will ask bunda later) Silver. I actually forgot Yogya was also famous for their silversmiths, and that i love them, especially the process. Was really cool that they're still using traditional manual tools to create such precise and polished works of art.
and without any magnifying glass for the tiny-ass details.(more pics later from ayah's camera)

Like the eternal tourists we were, we had Ayam Suharti for lunch.
Forgot how good it was. Also forgot to order half a plate of the kremesan (the fried flakes), so we got a motherload of it.

After lazing about the room a bit (with a shouting round from all three of us at the tv for the absurd news feeds of our beloved country), we went to Novotel to pick up my uncle's cake.Found some amusements:

yes, this is an amusement.
haven't seen this version in a long time and
diandra is a little girl who likes her old-fashioned 'push-the-button' 'toys'.

Had Gudeg (shreded chicken with santen, tofu, egg, and krecek, spongy krupuk kulit)for dinner--my first try ever--and am happy to say that it was really good! Just the right amount of subtle sweetness (very rare for Javanese foods) and portion!

sorry for the nastiness. was hungry :p

Day 2 Yogya

Though we (thankfully) all agreed to wake up late, our stupid 'body clock' made us wake up at 8 am. So after a (quite disappointing) breakfast, it was "laze around your hotel room and doze off watching tv"-day.

Around 2 pm-ish we went out for lunch. We found a whole road full of restaurants and small hotels like they have in Bali, and at the road entrance they have a sort of resto & hotel directory for the whole length of the road, too bad i didn't get a good pic though :p.
And too bad our (mine actually) restaurant choices' burrito sucked (sorry ayah) but the chicken fajitas and beef gratin were good. Then more lazing about.

Went out for dinner around 20.30 pm.
Aimed for Sate Kratak - got lost (in a very very bad way) otw to Imogiri for 1 1/2 hours - found out the damn sate was on JALAN Imogiri, not the town (was no ones fault thankfully) - went back into town,deserted by Ayam Suharti etc etc, and settled for...Pizza Hut.
At 23.00 pm.

We we're all pretty fucked up, all silently averting each others eyes to prevent any violent response until we got to the hotel and ate our pizza, and oh, hey, 'Gladiator' is on TV! from the beginning! whoa, who knew it got better...until my mom decided to bitch around about the stupid 'oh the AC is killing me oh help' padahal ngga.all.through.my.movie.
slept with a massive nauseating headache.

Day 1 Jakarta - Yogyakarta, The Road Trip

*crap, this is going to be a super long one, but hey, you try compressing 13 hours straight into a few lines.hahaha*

So i'm off to Yogyakarta, Solo and Bandung with Tendy and Lalataya. But first, i'll be spending the first 4 days with my parents in Yogyakarta and Boyolali for my uncle's wedding.

Dreading the whole "oh crap, 8 hours on the road",i--no, we, surprisingly survived the 13-hour long trip, from exactly 7.17 am to 22.00 pm (1 1/2 hour lunch break).

The roads were mostly gersang and 'stale' at most looking nearly the same in each border, but i'm proud to say that i stayed awake the whole time until we got to Magelang (2 hours from Yogya), where i traded with my mom to nap a bit in the back of the car till we got to the hotel.
I haven't had a road trip in a while and forgot that it was tiring as hell. Despite that, i actually enjoyed the trip with all the scenery (though not so awesome, but hey, it's a lotta refreshing green), snacks, cold sodas, burn CD's, coffee and mindless chatting.
I even had decent time with my mom when it was her turn on the wheel, cracking up when encountering all the Pringsewu's (more on that later) and absurd truck captions.

entering Pantura. beyond gersang.

finally some greenery! and...this doctor's place.

in the middle of the road, while being blasted with an un-named CD i picked out by accident, we encountered a fucking road block--there was a market being held in the middle of the road--so we had to take a detour.
it was awful: terrible music, moon crater-sized holes in the road, dust, and an extra 1 hour. we cheered when we got to the highway entrance.

Gunung Cermai & Ayah's PLTU in Rembang!

one of the worst highways ever: beyond uneven roads, huge craters, and basabasi vegetation.


Brebes.
Known for their salty eggs (telur asin). why the shallots shot? just cause.


Tegal.
Was a dead city till the end besides for the trucks and random elementary school parade that came out of nowhere and caused us temporary traffic jam.

Failed to find the awesome Sate Kambing place Ayah promoted, we ended up eating at the only available place just outside of Tegal: Pringsewu.
A little thing you should know about Pringsewu:
1. From all the way from Cirebon they have these strewn around (from menus to absurd's)

2. As you get closer, you shall encounter these

3. When you're thiiiis close

and then you're there.

what? what's that, you missed the turn? fear not!
.......
GODDAMMIT MY COMPUTER PERMANENTLY ERASED THE FINAL PICTURE NOOOOO------
well anyway, Pringsewu was actually pretty good, unlike what my uncle told me before. We had basic ayam kremes, sapo tahu, and ikan bakar rempah (BEST dish). And that the place also shows immediate concern for the environment is also a plus (and additional...nonsense adds 'charm').

Pemalang

unreadable (will ask mom later)
Kinda looks like alien eyes!

Pekalongan
Known for their infamous batik. Bunda went nuts here.


Last lag before entering Yogya: Karangsewu(?ask later), Batang, and....
Too bad we got here in the early evening..would've been awesome in the afternoon and all, but it was still very nice.

i begThee,

ohdeargod, tomorrow i will be leaving for Yogyakarta.
for five whole days.
with my parents.
by car.
please let this turn out to be ok (i'm not asking for 'perfect', 'ok' is enough, thanks), and that we may behave ourselves so we can enjoy this very rare family vacation we haven't had since i was in 5th grade.

thanks!