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| James disappears into the market |
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| They bring their own bags/baskets. |
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| She fillets them |
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| He scales them. |
To keep me from climbing the hotel room walls due to boredom and feeling confined in a small space, James & I took an early morning walk along the main drag, Jend. Sudirman, past the Tugu Monument in the center of the thoroughfare, onto the Kranggan Market which opens at 5am. The main road was crazy with bicycles, becaks, motorbikes with bamboo panniers stuffed with things for markets near and far, cars and trucks.
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| What must this chicken be thinking? |
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| There's a motorbike repair shop on every street... |
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| ...and more than one lot in which to pay to park your bike.... |
Tues Feb 26 Jogya, Indonesia
Jane is off with Child Fund gang for another all-day trip to remote villages where Child Fund works. James & I prefer to be flat landers and wander the local streets. Destination - the shopping district on Maliboro Road.
Jane will present a short slide show tomorrow about her group's two day trips. It's a "casual smart dress" dinner affair so she assigned us the task of finding her a batik blouse to wear.
First detour is with a clever scam artist to his batik shop. At least I did learn how batik is done ......
Then we're onto the shopping mall...
Presidential Palace was packed with school children. A group of girls from an all girl school had an assignment to practice English with foreign visitors they met. Each of the four teenage girls who surrounded Jane, much to her delight, were from different nearby islands like Boreno and New Guinea.
We spent a few minutes watching the traditional dance performance before heading back to hotel.
We found Rubio and he, like many others here, is generous. He suggested we hire a friend of his instead of him. His friend had not gotten hired yet today and Rubio wanted to pass on a job to him. We bartered the cost. The hotel told us is should cost between 15-25,000R. The locals told Rubio that it was uphill from President Palace back to Phoenix Hotel so trip would be 40,000R ($4 US). We agreed on 50,000 for two becaks.
Off we went, waving farewell to Rubio. The ride was definitely uphill much of the way. The peddlers had to get off and push us up multiple inclines. To a pedestrian it doesn't register as uphill. A bekah driver on a single-speed tricycle carrying 200+ pounds knows when the road goes up rather than down! We understandably handed each driver a 50,000R bill for their uncomplaining efforts.
We asked to be let out on Maliboro Rd for some spontaneous shopping. That idea proved to be the straw that broke our sweaty, tired souls. We quickly retreated from the masses to find our way to the Circle K for extra water bottles and a few snacks to tide us over until our organized Child Fund Intl briefing meeting @ 6p. That will be followed with dinner and a dance performance. Jane and James are sound asleep now in preparation for a longer night than we usually undertake.
Sunday, Feb 24
Rubio introduced himself as we walked to a busy corner and contemplated how to cross the street and find the Bird Market without getting run over in the process. He was a fabulous salesman for getting us to hire him and his becak (tri-wheeled bike with bench for passengers. He spoke understandable English, explained where we were, what we should see, showed us how to get there on a map, and only then did he suggest we ride there in his bekah. So glad we did. It was a long way to the palace on roads jammed with cars, buses, motorbikes, horse-drawn carriages and becaks. Total insanity.
Rubio was a wonderful guide. He's been pedaling folks around for 34 years; he's now 72yrs young and fit as a fiddle. First stop was the bird market where birds of all discription are sold. Song birds are sold for their songs, not their colors, because they have bird singing competitions.
The fish market across the busy street appeared subdued in comparison. Only a few vendors selling fish for aquariums, none for consumption. The flower market was similarly quiet. Next stop was a batik artist's co-op (Jane found a small piece for her travel wall at home).
Final side trip stop was to a 3rd-generation puppet maker. Judi bought a Tree of Life decoration made from water buffalo hide, hand chiseled, then hand-painted with a brush made of a single strand of cat hair. The entire process takes three weeks.
