2019 Apr 26 - From Karanganyar, Kebumen to Yogyakarta and further to Bali
Our trip takes us from Karanganyar to Kebumen along Highway 3. The highway passes through the southern outskirts of Kebumen City, avoiding the center.
At the southern side of Kebumen City we turn off from the highway and continue along Kejayan road directly toward the seacoast in order to reach the inner one of the two roads running along the coast.
Even though the coast road is not classified as a highway, it is much newer, better-maintained, straighter, faster, and less congested than the Highway 3. Closer to Yogyakarta the coast road joins the Highway 3, which is already better at that point than it was near Karanganyar. A glance at a map may not always find the best route.
In 2020 this construction site southeast from Purworejo will be a new international airport.
If international flights begin to concentrate on the new airport, I do not have any idea how the great masses of people in Jakarta and Bekasi are going to travel to and from this distant airport using the currently available means of transport.
Approaching Yogyakarta.
The color of the centerline changes from yellow (high-risk zone) to white (normal zone).
Yogyakarta has a ward named Kasihan. In Indonesian this word means "pitiable", but the city ward itself did not look very pitiable to me.
Our car driver suspected that the word is not in Indonesian, but Javanese, and has an entirely different meaning.
The name Yogyakarta is also a bit of mystery, as it also comes in an alternative spelling (and pronunciation!) Jogjakarta, or sometimes merely Jogja. The most surprising spelling I have seen is Jogyakarta.
Lunch break in a buffet restaurant.
The customers build their portion from a variety of bowls. Unlike European buffets, here there is no flat total rate, but the pricing is based on the number of dishes on the plate, be it just half a teaspoonful.
To remember: If the price is collected after your portion is ready, there must be a reason for it.
The result still was not overly expensive. The receipt is for three people.
Platinum Congress Center, our hotel for one night.
In this hotel the shower booth and even the toilet behind it are transparent, not only to the room guests' eyes, but also to the neighbours outside. There was a roll-down curtain available, which I eventually noticed.
45 TV channels.
The direction to Mecca is usually marked to the ceiling in Indonesian hotels.
At the hotel roof pool, open during daylit hours.
Directions to not lean against the plastic back wall. (There was a safety terrace behind and plastic only at the top.)
Life guard not available.
I SWAM, TOO, as the pictures testify! My relatives understand the great historic value of these photos.
Besides the pool we could watch the airplanes taking off.
A batik shop next to our hotel.
Visit to a mall.
An affordable room-service dinner.
Hotel breakfast.
We will have an early lunch with a friend, so only a small sample of each.
The "porridges" in the "porridge corner" are far removed from the western oat porridge. And they are indeed worth trying.
Chicken porridge (bubur ayam) is a classic which has its own corner. It is tailored to each diner with a good number of condiments.
My picks in the order of appeaeance:
Soun goreng noodles.
Javanese chicken.
Ketan hitam sticky-rice porridge, sweet.
Jenang grendul starch ball porridge, sweet.
Pastries and jellies.
A mini-pancake with topping.
Bread-and-butter pudding, sauce unrecognized.
Sweets, mostly starch-based.
Orange juice, composition not certain.
Sri's Tamil friend Viji and her husband Jack, likewise Tamil, came to meet us at the hotel. They drove from Semarang with a car to meet us, and they took us to their favourite high-class Chinese restaurant.
After 15 years of separation Sri and Viji had lots to talk about.
