Pandoraspace

Dearest Uncle G,

After I told the concierge at our hotel that I had a hankering for food that was not sweet (many Javanese dishes are on the sweet side), he laughed and said he is from Sumatra so he would know where to find food that is not sweet.  (I am told that Sumatrans are accustomed to food that is spicy and not sweet.)  The concierge recommended we try a restaurant called Iga Bakar and promised that the food was not sweet at all.

On our third evening in Jogjakarta, LS, Danang and I ate at Iga Bakar. 

Iga is the Indonesian word for ribs while bakar means grilled. It therefore came as no surprise that, at Iga Bakar, the main dishes served were grilled beef ribs basted with various sauces, which true to the Sumatran concierge’s word, were not on the sweet side. (more…)

Dearest Uncle G,

Recently, I re-read the children’s book by Dr. Seuss called Green Eggs and Ham and thought of my Indonesian food trip.  Have you read that book before?  Just in case you have not read it, it is about a persistent guy named Sam who tries to make his unnamed friend try green eggs and ham.  Throughout the entire story, Sam hounds the unnamed friend who, without trying the green eggs and ham, says that he does not like it.  To end Sam’s pestering, the unnamed friend  eventually tries green eggs and ham thinking he will not like it but ends up liking it instead.  I love this story because it sounds funny when read fast.  Try it. Read this excerpt from Green Eggs and Ham really fast -

“SAM:  Do you like green eggs and ham?

UNNAMED FRIEND:  I do not like them Sam-I-Am.  I do not like green eggs and ham?

SAM:  Would you like them here or there?

UNNAMED FRIEND:  I would not like them here or there.  I would not like them anywhere.  I do not like green eggs and ham.  I do not like them, Sam-I-am.”

Like Sam’s unnamed friend in the Green Eggs and Ham book, I was doubtful about some of the Indonesian food I encountered.  I wonder if you would be more adventurous than me.

I forgot to ask Danang what this was when I chanced upon it at the traditional market in Jogjakarta.  Monk thinks it is fried bats.  Whatever it is, I’ll passed on this roadside food. (more…)

 

Dearest Uncle G,

On our first day in Jogjakarta, Danang took us to an authentic Javanese restaurant called Yu Djum. Getting to Yu Djum reminds me of how I got to Alamo’s in Legaspi, Albay. That is - we drove through narrow alleys lined with small houses until we hit the end of a road, which opens up to a cluster of small houses, and in one of those houses, you will find Yu Djum.

We got to Yu Djum at 11:00 a.m. and were among the first customers there.

I instantly felt at ease in Yu Djum. It felt like one of those old restaurants in the province that remains unchanged by time. As we entered, four old men started playing Javanese musical instruments while an old lady sang. Inside, there are about six or seven rectangular wooden tables each with two benches. On each table there are a few glass jars filled with kerupuk (fish crackers).

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Ciao Uncle G!

LS and I are back from Indonesia and already we are planning our next trip there. We had a grand time. I now understand why you want to go back there and stay for an extended period of time. Given the right circumstances, I would like to be in one place in Indonesia like Jogjakarta or Bali for a whole month and just absorb the experience at the leisurely pace.

LS and I wanted to explore as much of Indonesia as we could during our ten-day stay there. But, as our schedule was packed, we had no time to try out all the restaurants you recommended we go to in Jogjakarta and Bali. We did try eating at a restaurant in Jimbaran as you suggested. We loved it and ate there twice.

It was not that we did not spend a good deal of time eating. We did. Being our father’s daughters, we always take time to enjoy food. It is just that we did not plan on where to eat. Most of the time, we simply decided what places  to see and ate whatever we found at that place. Most of the time, we let other people decide where we should eat.

On the whole, we enjoyed the food we had in Indonesia and I made it a point to take note of what I ate so I could tell you about it.

I must warn you though that, unlike you, I am no gourmand. In fact, I am a picky eater. I do not like the taste of liver or soup that tastes like fish or shrimp. While I do know how to cook, I have not stepped into a kitchen in more than six years. I do not thing that I could even cook a decent and edible meal. Worse, describing food is one of the most difficult, if not, impossible endeavors. As my college professor once told me, how can you describe the taste of chocolate to one who has never tired it?  But, in my own crude way, I will try to describe for you the food I ate in Indonesia.

Hopefully, sometime soon (maybe in Indonesia) we will finally see each other and I can sample your cooking.  Until then…

Love, Pandora

LS and Danang were warned that I was going shopping

Before I got there, there were many things about Jogjakarta that I did not know. But, the one thing I did know about Jogjakarta was that it was the place to buy batik.

On our first day in Jogjakarta, I told Danang that I wanted to buy batik and he took us to some out of the way store that had very inexpensive batik but not the type I was looking for.  I wanted to buy hand-made batik.  That night, after Danang dropped us off at our hotel, LS and I took a becak (a pedi-cab that looks like a rickshaw) to the famous Malioboro Street that is lined with batik shops.  For two hours, I literally dragged LS from one shop to another looking for the batik things to bring home as gifts.  LS was cranky after our batik shop jaunt specially when she noticed that I was only able to purchase a few items. (more…)

I failed the Masangin

In Jogjakarta, there are two ancient Banyan trees in the middle of a park known as the South Square of the Kraton (Palace of the Sultan). It is believed that one who is able to walk between those two Banyan trees at night while blindfolded will get his wish or receive great fortune. The ritual, if you could call it that, of attempting to walk between those trees at night while blindfolded is called masuk antara dua bering or Masangin, which literally means passing through two ficus trees (Banyan trees are of the ficus benghalensis species). (more…)

Beyond the Kraton

Right outside the Kraton is what was once known as Fort Vredeburg, which according to this article, was built in 1765 by the Dutch to protect the Dutch governor.  Nowadays, Vredeburg is a museum showcasing Indonesian culture and history.  Unfortunately for us, we arrived in Vredeburg late in the afternoon when the museum was closed.  The guard did let us in the premises to take a few pictures.

Vredeburg is located on a block along Malioboro and another street.  It is also located beside the old traditional market of Jogjakarta.  Across Vredeburg, there are two old buildings built by the Dutch during colonial times and one of the presidential residences, which is off limits so we were only able to take photos from the outside.  We spent a good hour in that area taking pictures.  Despite the noise and the blur of activities, I found it rather relaxing to watch life as it passes in this place that was once dominated by the Dutch. 

The Sultanate of Jogjakarta and the Kraton

In the book, Indonesia Peoples and Histories, Jean Gelman Taylor tells us of how Arabs established trading posts in Indonesia, which made it possible for “learned men to travel from one end of the Islamic world to another. Some settled in foreign ports to head mosques or set up a school.” (at, p. 66) Eventually, the rulers of small communities in the Indonesia archipelago converted to Islam and began calling themselves sultans. “In 1641 the ruler of the archipelago’s largest kingdom, Mataram in Java, advertised his rule as Islamic by taking the title of sultan.” (Ibid) “In the seventeenth century Indonesian sultans…extended their power by their tried methods of slavery, raids, and marriage alliances, and they added a new method: they employed and allied with the Dutch.” (Id., p. 142) “In Java, Mataram’s kings hired Dutch soldiers to preserve their throne against rivals.” (Id., p. 144) This paved the way for Dutch trade in Indonesia through the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) or the United East Indies Company, which was composed on various Dutch commercial companies that merged. Eventually, Dutch not only traded in Indonesia but colonized it as well.

Meanwhile, in the late eighteenth century, there were a series of wars of succession to Mataram Kingdom, which led to its division. Through that division, the Jogjakarta Sultanate was created. The first sultan of Jogjakarta is Hamengkubuwono I. The present Sultan of Jogjakarta who lives in the Kraton his descendant, Hamengkubuwono X.

While I am still trying to grapple with Indonesian history, particularly, Javanese history, my trips to several museums in Jogjakarta and my tour of the city, all care of Danang, gave me the impression that, although Java was colonized by the Dutch, their rule did not dilute the deeply routed Javanese traditions. For one, the Javanese continue to speak their own language. Although I am sure that a number of Javanese speak Dutch, I never heard it spoken by them. Also, the Javanese tradition of making batik and playing the gamelan (Javanese musical ensemble) still lives on. In Jogjakarta, the Sultan remains to be “the center of his palace (Kadatuan or Kraton), which [is] in turn the center of the city. The city [is still] the center of the King’s own patrimonial domain (Vanua), which [is] surrounded by a circle of submitted neighbours…” (Munoz, Early Kingdoms of the Indonesian Archipelago and the Malay Peninsula, p. 308 [c 2006].) I suspect it was this way even when the Dutch had ruled Indonesia as I noticed that the structures built by the Dutch in Jogjakarta were outside of the Kraton.

Although we were allowed entrance to the Kraton, we only saw a a fraction of it.  As the present Sultan, Hamengkubuwono X, and his family still live in the Kraton, many areas there are off limits.  Strangely, for all its grandeur, my favorite part of the Kraton is the entrance - the simple wooden doors that open up to the world inside the Kraton. This entrance is guarded by an old gatekeeper who did not hesitate to have his picture taken by me.

If there is such a thing as reincarnation and if an old soul was reincarnated in me, then, that soul must have been to Jogjakarta.  For strangely, while I was in Jogjakarta, I felt like I was in the old world.  But, how would I know what the old world is like, if I have never lived in it?

Ironically, while I felt a sense of old worldliness in Jogjakarta, I was reminded of what it was like to be a carefree teenager.  This was all because I was hanging out in Jogjakrta with LS and Danang.  LS and Danang are both at that stage of their lives when one is in between finishing school and finding the right job.  You know - it is that stage in life when nothing is definite and you have a lot of time on your hands to just chill.  Since I was out numbered, I was the one who had to adjust to LS’ and Danang’s languid disposition on a hectic schedule.  In the beginning, my obsessive-compulsive self, was bothered by the fact that LS would schedule activities that would ensure we were doing something every second of the day but would wake up late!  When I realized that no amount of nagging could get LS to wake up early, I let my hair down and just went with the flow.

While we did go to all the usual places that tourists would go to in Jogjakarta, we did a lot of talking, eating and joking around along the way. LS, Danang and I felt at ease with each other.  This made the Jogjakarta experience a pleasant one for me.  Of course, when it came to batik shopping, LS and Danang probably did not have as pleasant a time as I did.  But, I’ll let them tell you their version of that story.

Volcanoes welcomed me to, and bid me farewell when I left, Jogjakarta

I always take the window seat whenever I ride an airplane.  This was not the case when we flew from Jakarta to Jogjakarta.  LS insisted she take the window seat as she wanted a good look of the view and I surprised myself by giving in to her demand.  Of course I was a little irritated when LS fell a sleep for most of the flight and never got to see the view.  I was wide awake during the flight and could have made good use of the window seat.  But, my irritation did not last long.  From my seat, I saw what appeared to be mountains welcoming me to Jogjakarta.  I found out later that what I saw were not mountains but the volcanoes of Java.  I was thrilled when I learned this. (more…)