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Saturday, January 18, 2020

Tour De Java: Yogyakarta

Our trip to Yogyakarta started with an incident at Kampung Laut restaurant in Semarang. If you might recall from the previous story, Endrico and Alvin headed to airport after lunch. We should have been on our way to Yogyakarta, too, but Hengky's car engine failed to start. When he turned the key, there wasn't any light on the dashboard.


Budiman and friends pushing the car.

Then we thought of starting it up manually. Hengky and Jimmy took turns as the driver while Budiman and others were giving the car a push, but that also didn't help. We eventually called the car mechanic and a quick diagnosis showed that the car battery had totally run out of juice and needed to be replaced. So what Jimmy said to us during our stay in Semarang was proven to be true. Most of the problems in life could be solved if you were willing to pay, haha.

By the time we got the car's engine up and running, it was too late for us to visit Borobudur, so we went straight to Yogyakarta instead. I just learnt that there was no highway to the city when we exited the toll road in Boyolali. From there onwards, it was a country road that jammed horribly as we approached Yogyakarta. The speed was reduced to crawling for the last few kilometres and the total madness only ended after we passed by Malioboro.


Meeting Frans at Lombok Idjo.

It'd been almost 9pm when we checked in and came out for dinner, so we took a walk to a nearby restaurant called Lombok Idjo. The food was too Javanese for my liking, but it was edible. Before the night ended, Frans came to meet us. That was probably the first time I saw him since we last met in Kuching two decades ago. We had a quick chat before calling it a night.

The next morning, Budiman woke up early to buy us lupis, a local delicacy that Yuliana told us before (I swear it tasted like putu songkok, something that Pontianak people of my generation would be familiar with). Hengky then bade us farewell as he was needed at home. We were left with only Jimmy's car now and as we all squeezed in it, what came next caught me by surprise. The boys actually planned to go to Borobudur since it didn't happen yesterday! The temple is located roughly in the middle of Semarang and Yogyakarta. I was a bit hesitant as the road trip we had the day before was unnecessary long, but the journey to Borobudur turned out to be fine.

Hengky's farewell.

It was a right decision to go there, because the wonder of Borobudur was impressive! The last time I went there was 15 years ago. I had seen Angkor Wat since then and now that I looked at Borobudur again, it was indeed smaller when compared with its counterpart in Cambodia. Anyway, they were architecturally different. Angkor Wat was designed like a palace that we could enter whereas Borobudur wasn't anything like that and we could only climb up. And climb up we did, just to touch the Buddha statue inside the stupa. 

When we left the temple via the nearest exit, we lost our way as we got out from the maze-like market. We entered the nearby ticket office and the good staff there tried to redirect us based on the entrance that we described to her, but we only got a vague idea of the location she was talking about. As we walked, we ended up returning to the place where we took a break earlier. We were clearly getting nowhere and it was getting late in the afternoon, so we decided to have our lunch first at Manohara Restaurant. Ever the street-smart one, Budiman negotiated and got the buggy car driver to send us to where our car was parked. The guy sure knew the place well and somebody, probably Jimmy, made sure that he was rewarded.


Hendra posed as Budiman made an effort to touch the Buddha statue. 

We wasted no time to head back to hotel. After a quick shower, we walked to Malioboro. It took us easily two hours to get in and out. The place was flooded with human! Apart from the batik and dinner we had, I barely remember anything we did there. It seemed like we just walked towards the end and turned back right after that, haha.

It was on our way back that we bumped into Hartono. He was having dinner before meeting us. When we chilled out at the hotel restaurant, Teng Lai and Frans came to join us as well. It was a good catch-up as most of us hadn't seen each other for years! Teng Lai got us chuckling with the origin of a legendary secondary school mockery popularised by Susanto Phang. That's right, the culprit was one of the so-called Four Heavenly Kings. Oh yeah, that's what they called themselves then. It was so hilarious that Hendra stared at me in disbelief, haha. 

Budiman was leaving Yogyakarta on the following afternoon. As we still had some time, we did a quick visit to Pengger Pine Forest. It was quite alright, though it felt like it was made for local tourists. After taking a few photos, we went to the airport and wished Budiman a safe flight. The journey continued with only the three of us now (and Jimmy's boy, too). Stay tuned!


Budiman at the airport. 


Tour De Java: Yogyakarta

Perjalanan kita ke Yogyakarta dimulai dengan sebuah insiden di lapangan parkir restoran Kampung Laut di Semarang. Jika anda baca cerita sebelumnya, Endrico dan Alvin meluncur ke bandara setelah makan siang. Seharusnya kita pun berangkat ke Yogyakarta juga, tapi mobil Hengky ternyata mogok. Ketika distarter, tidak ada lampu di panel pengemudi.

Lantas terpikirkan oleh kita untuk coba distarter secara manual. Hengky dan Jimmy silih berganti menjadi pengemudi sementara Budiman dan kawan-kawan mendorong mobil, tapi upaya ini tetap saja tidak berhasil. Akhirnya kita memanggil montir dan setelah dicek, ternyata aki mobil sudah habis dan perlu diganti. Jadi apa yang Jimmy ucapkan sewaktu di Semarang pun terbukti. Hampir semua masalah di dalam hidup ini bisa diatasi, asalkan anda bersedia membayar, wahaha. 


Jimmy memeriksa mesin mobil. 

Ketika mobil siap jalan, sudah terlambat bagi kita untuk mengunjungi Borobudur, jadi kita langsung menuju Yogyakarta. Saat Hengky keluar di Boyolali, barulah saya ketahui bahwa hingga saat ini belum ada tol yang menghubungkan Yogyakarta dan Semarang. Dari Boyolali, kita melintasi jalan biasa yang kian lama kian macet. Mobil bagaikan merangkak saat kita menempuh beberapa kilometer terakhir sebelum tiba di hotel. Kemacetan baru terurai setelah kita melewati persimpangan Tugu Yogyakarta yang juga mengarah ke Malioboro. 

Tatkala kita selesai check-in dan keluar untuk bersantap malam, hari sudah gelap dan jam menunjukkan hampir pukul sembilan, oleh karena itu kita makan di Lombok Idjo yang terletak di seberang hotel. Menu masakannya terlalu khas Jawa dan tidak terlalu cocok dengan selera saya, tapi masih bisa disantap. Sesaat setelah kita usai, Frans datang menjumpai kita. Ini mungkin adalah pertama kalinya saya bertemu Frans sejak berpapasan dengannya di Kuching dua dekade silam. 


Budiman mengantri lupis.
Foto: Budiman.

Keesokan paginya, Budiman bangun pagi untuk membeli lupis bagi kita semua. Ini adalah kue lokal yang diceritakan Yuliana pada kita. Rasanya mirip putu songkok, kue yang tentunya tidak asing bagi orang Pontianak generasi saya. Di pagi yang sama, Hengky pun pamit karena dipanggil pulang ke rumah. Yang tersisa sekarang hanyalah mobil Jimmy dan kita menumpang mobil tersebut ke Borobudur. Candi ini berada di Magelang yang terletak di antara Semarang dan Yogyakarta. Saya sebenarnya agak ragu untuk ke sana karena macet yang saya alami di malam sebelumnya, tapi syukurlah perjalanan kali ini lancar jaya. 

Keputusan untuk pergi ke Borobudur adalah tepat, sebab Borobudur memang menakjubkan! Terakhir kali saya ke sana adalah 15 tahun yang lalu. Semenjak itu, saya sudah melihat langsung Angkor Wat. Ketika saya berdiri di depan Borobudur lagi, memang kelihatannya candi di Indonesia ini lebih kecil dari sepupunya yang ada di Kamboja. Akan tetapi rancangan dua candi ini memang berbeda. Angkor Wat mirip istana yang bisa dimasuki, sedangkan Borobudur hanya bisa didaki sampai ke puncak. Dan kita pun mendaki. Budiman juga mencoba memegang patung Budha yang ada di dalam stupa.


Di Borobudur.
Foto: Budiman.

Sewaktu kita meninggalkan kawasan candi lewat pintu keluar terdekat, kita tersesat setelah melewati pasar tradisional yang berliku-liku. Kita hampiri kantor penjualan tiket dan berdasarkan penjelasan yang kita berikan, karyawati di sana pun memberikan panduan arah ke tempat parkir mobil. Kita lantas bergerak ke arah yang ditunjuk, namun malah muncul di tempat kita beristirahat setelah meninggalkan candi. Jelas sudah bahwa kita salah jalan lagi. Karena hari sudah sore, kita akhirnya menuju ke Restoran Manohara untuk makan siang dulu. Budiman yang cerdik dan sigap bernegosiasi dengan pihak restoran supaya kita diantar ke tempat parkir setelah selesai makan. Dan benar saja, pengemudi mobil buggy itu tahu lokasi yang kita maksudkan. Salah satu dari kita, Jimmy kalau tidak salah, pun memberikan tips atas jasanya.

Kita akhirnya kembali ke hotel. Setelah mandi, kita berjalan kaki ke Malioboro. Butuh waktu dua jam untuk menuju dan keluar dari kawasan tersebut. Malioboro benar-benar bagaikan lautan manusia! Selain makan malam dan batik yang kita beli, saya tidak ingat lagi apa yang kita lakukan di sana. Sepertinya yang kita lakukan hanyalah berjalan dan terus berjalan, haha.

Bersama Budiman di Malioboro.
Foto: Budiman.

Dalam perjalanan pulang ke hotel, kita bertemu dengan Hartono yang sedang makan malam di warung. Kemudian, saat kita sedang santai di restoran hotel, Teng Lai dan Frans datang bergabung. Senang bisa berkumpul lagi setelah tidak bersua selama puluhan tahun. Teng Lai membuat kita tertawa dengan asal-usul ejekan legendaris masa SMP yang dipopulerkan oleh Susanto Phang. Ternyata pelopornya adalah salah satu dari Empat Raja Langit. Anak SMP memang gila-gilaan kalau soal julukan. Saat mendengar julukan tersebut, Hendra sampai menatap saya dengan tatapan tidak percaya, haha.

Budiman meninggalkan Yogyakarta di sore hari berikutnya. Karena kita masih punya waktu, di pagi itu kita mengunjungi Hutan Pinus Pengger. Tempat wisatanya lumayan, tapi kesannya hanya dibangun untuk turis lokal. Setelah berfoto sejenak, kita bergegas ke lapangan terbang dan mengucapkan selamat jalan pada Budiman. Petualangan kembali dilanjutkan, meski hanya tersisa tiga orang plus anak Jimmy. Nantikan kisah berikutnya!

Di Hutan Pinus Pengger.
Foto: Budiman.


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