Things to do in Java
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Rumah Guides
This is an excellent new community project run by young Yogya citizens eager to show you their city and the surrounding area. Tours of the city (150,000Rp per day) and to Borobudur, Dieng and beyond can be set up in their Prawirotaman area office. It’s also possible to stay with local families as part of a homestay program (US$12 per day including all meals).
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Ministry of Coffee
A landmark modernist structure, with a library (with English-language books and magazines) upstairs and a cafe below. It’s ideal for an espresso or latte, but the food (mainly snacks and cakes) is pretty average.
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Taman Impian Jaya Ancol
Along the bay front, between Kota and Tanjung Priok, the people’s ‘Dreamland’ is built on land reclaimed in 1962. This 300-hectare, landscaped recreation park, providing non-stop entertainment, has hotels, theatres and a variety of sporting and leisure facilities including bowling. It’s easily the city’s best entertainment for kids in the city.
Taman Impian Jaya Ancol’s prime attractions include Pasar Seni (Art Market), and Seaworld (Tel: 641 0080; www.seaworldindonesia.com; Mon-Fri 30,000Rp, Sat & Sun 40,000Rp; 9am-6pm), with its ‘sharkquarium’, dugongs and turtles. At the Gelanggang Samudra (Tel: 640 6677; Mon-Fri 40,000Rp, Sat & Sun 50,000Rp; 11am-6pm Mon-Thu…
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Taman Fatahillah
The old town of Batavia, now known as Kota, was once the hub of Dutch colonial Indonesia. Much of the one-time grandeur has now rotted, crumbled or been bulldozed away, but Taman Fatahillah, Kota's central cobblestone square, is still reminiscent of the area's heyday.
To reach Taman Fatahillah, you can either take the Korridor I bus from Blok M or Jl Thamrin to Kota train station and walk, or take a city train from Gondangdia, near Jl Jaksa, to the train station. A taxi will cost around 15,R from Jl Thamrin.
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Puri Bahasa
A professional language school offering Bahasa Indonesia classes (US$7 per hour for one-on-one tuition). Family homestays can be arranged, starting at 450,000Rp per week.
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Benteng Vredeburg
On the opposite side of Jl A Yani, is the Benteng Vredeburg, a Dutch-era fort that’s been converted into a museum. It houses dioramas showing the history of the independence movement in Yogyakarta. The architecture is worth a look, but the dioramas are designed for Indonesian patriots.
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Lara Djonggrang
An attractive selection of dishes from around the archipelago, stunning decor that mixes traditional Indonesian flair with North African charm, atmospheric lighting and a great wine list make this one stunning place to eat.
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Milas
This secret garden restaurant, located down a quiet side road, is a project centre for street youth. Offers tasty vegetarian cooking: healthy snacks, sandwiches, salads and organic coffee.
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Sate Khas Senayan
Excellent two-storey air-con restaurant at the northern end of Jl Jaksa, renowned for its superb sate, rawon buntut (oxtail stew) and other classic Indonesian dishes.
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Museum Nasional
On the western side of Merdeka Sq, the Museum Nasional, built in 1862, is the best of its kind in Indonesia and one of the finest in Southeast Asia. It has an enormous collection of cultural objects of the various ethnic groups around the country - costumes, musical instruments, model houses and so on - and numerous fine bronzes from the Hindu-Javanese period, as well as many interesting stone pieces salvaged from the Central Javanese and other temples.
There's also a superb display of Chinese ceramics dating back to the Han dynasty (300 BC to AD 220), which was almost entirely amassed in Indonesia.
Just outside the museum is a bronze elephant that was presented by the Kin…
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Museum Bahari
Near the entrance to Sunda Kelapa, several old VOC warehouses (dating back to 1652) have been converted into the Museum Bahari. This is a good place to learn about the city’s maritime history, and though the wonderful old buildings (some renovated) are echoingly empty there are some good information panels (in English and Bahasa Indonesia). Under the heavy wooden beams of the vast old storage premises are various random exhibits: a sextant (used for astronomical navigation), various traditional boats from around Indonesia, the shell of a giant clam, plenty of pickled fish and a lighthouse lamp or two. The sentry posts outside are part of the old city wall. Just before the…
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Kota Gede
Kota Gede has been famed as the hub of Yogya's silver industry since the 1930s. But this quiet old town, which is now a suburb of Yogya, was the first capital of the Mataram kingdom, founded by Panembahan Senopati in 1582. Senopati is buried in the small mossy graveyard of an old mosque to the south of the town's central market. You can visit Kota Gede, but be sure to wear conservative dress; on days when the tomb is closed there is little to see here.
Jl Kemasan, the main street leading into town from the north, is lined with busy silver workshops. Most of the shops have similar stock, including hand-beaten bowls, boxes, fine filigree and modern jewellery .
Kota Gede is a…
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Sangiran
Sangiran is an important archaeological excavation site, where some of the best examples of fossil skulls of prehistoric 'Java Man' Pithecanthropus erectus were unearthed by a Dutch professor in 1936. Sangiran has a small museum with a few skulls (one of Homo erectus), various pig and hippopotamus teeth, and fossil exhibits, including huge mammoth tusks.
Souvenir stalls outside sell bones, 'mammoth tusks' carved from stone and other dubious fossil junk.
Guides will also offer to take you to the area where shells and other fossils have been found in the crumbling slopes of the hill.
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Street Food
Indulging in Solo's Street Food should on be everyone's list of things to do. Roaming hawkers pack the streets at night advertising their wares by screeching, striking buffalo bells or clattering cutlery. Of the plethora of dishes on offer, try nasi gudeg (unripe jackfruit served with rice, chicken and spices), nasi liwet (a local speciality incorporating rice cooked in coconut milk and eaten with a host of side dishes) or srabi (mini rice puddings served on a crispy pancake with banana, jackfruit or chocolate topping).
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Ragunan Zoo
Jakarta's Ragunan Zoo is 16km south of the city centre in the Pasar Minggu area. As home to 4000 animals, this large zoo has a good collection of Indonesian wildlife including Komodo dragons. It's not world class (some of the enclosures are depressingly small), but this is by far the best zoo in Indonesia, and its new primate enclosure, featuring orang-utans and gorillas, is a highlight. From Jl Thamrin take bus 19.
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Museum Wayang
This puppet museum has one of the best collections of wayang puppets in Java and its dusty cabinets are full of a multitude of characters. The collection includes puppets from not only Indonesia but also China, Vietnam, India, Cambodia and Europe, and masks used by dancers. There are free wayang performances here on Sunday at 10am.
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Sunda Kelapa
A kilometre north of Taman Fatahillah, the old port of Sunda Kelapa is full of magnificent Makassar schooners (pinisi). The dock scene here has barely changed for centuries, and porters unload cargo from these sailing ships by hand and trolley. Sadly, the port itself is rundown and its waters grotesquely polluted these days.
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Café de Daunen
Inside the Bogor botanical gardens, this is the nicest setting in town for a meal, with sweeping views down across a meadow to the water lily ponds. It’s a little pricey, but the revamped menu has tasty food including fish and chips, pasta and good Indonesian dishes. For a refreshing drink try the bandrek (tea made with ginger and herbs).
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Mungil Steak House
This log cabin bills itself as a ‘steak house’ for some bizarre reason, but it works much better as a bar (the food here – mains are 12,000Rp to 50,000Rp – is greasy and takes hours to arrive). As well as beer it sell jugs of arak, and the sea views are top-drawer.
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Batik Courses
Plenty of places in the Sosrowijayan and Prawirotaman areas offer short batik T-shirt courses of one or two days' duration. High art they aren't, but they provide a good introduction. The tourist information office also has a list of those offering courses.
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Sop Buah Pak Ewok
This is a great, very casual place popular with students for its inexpensive, delicious and refreshing bowls of fruit punch, which are tropical fruits of the season served up with ice. Other snacks including noodles and rice dishes are available.
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Eastern Promise
A classic British-style pub in the heart of Kemang, with a pool table, a welcoming atmosphere and filling Western and Indian grub. Service is prompt and friendly, the beer’s cold and there’s live music on weekends. It’s a key expat hang-out.
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Omar Duwur Restaurant
Out in Kota Gede, this is one of Yogya’s best restaurants, with a lavish setting in a 150-year-old colonial mansion. Offers a wide selection of Western (try the rack of lamb) and Eastern dishes (the chicken masala is great).
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Relax Restaurant
Long-running Swiss-owned restaurant with a restrained, enjoyably formal air. The menu covers both Western and Indonesian fare, and service is prompt and efficient. Breakfast with the homemade bread is a treat.
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