Travelogue : Istanbul Day 4

Today was specifically reserved for shopping ^^

And since my mom could take a day off from her conference she came along for the trip.

Take the funicular at taksim -----> kabatash - take tramway (T1) ------>; Beyazit station.

Here we found the Grand Bazaar full of your souvenir needs. The first row we entered were full of gold and jewelry. I am not really sure of the authenticity of these trinklets, so shop at your own risk. Some of them do look pretty legit. But we were focusing our efforts more towards spices, teas, and sweet. And lemme tell you there is a whole lot to choose from. I didn't even know there were so many kinds of turkish delights until i saw them in front of my eyes.

There are however temperamental shop owners who seem to take offense if you leave their shop without buying -_-v. Its pretty much Beijing all over again. But since the Lira currency is higher than the malaysian ringgit, we had to be a bit more choosy in the things we pick out. I wouldnt say things are very cheap. But affordable. Plenty of pouches, trinklets and magnets to pick out for them peeps back home.

There is also a huge mosque at the and of the strip where we had to drop off my mom because she had a sudden vertigo attack. Shopping pun shopping, solat itu wajibulghunnah. Visiting the grand bazaar would have been that much more awesome if we were able to taste test everything they had in the stores. Seriously, if you're a sweet tooth, this is the place to be. We pretty much settled 90% of souvenir shopping here.

Afterwards we headed home for break fast where we bought some kebabs. Terawih was as usual up to 1  am. But being wayyy exhausted we thought of lazing back the next day. We almost didn't make it to the cruise ^_~ coming up next!

Travelogue : Jogjakarta Day 3

We were finally able to squeeze in some informative sight seeing on the third day. Given the previous shopping, we chose to start off our day with a visit to the Taman Sari water castle. But before anything else, we stopped by an awesome little place for breakfast. Syarifah bubur ayam or chicken porridge. Definitely could give McD a run for their money. Hands down the best I have ever tasted so far, not counting the cheapest too ^^, and I am an avid supporter of bubur ayam anywhere anytime. The thick rice porridge is served with all it’s condiments and the sauce is supplied on the table in simple ketchup bottles. You can choose to have either spicy on savory or both. I honestly didn’t think the spicy was even spicy at all, but whatever it was, breakfast got 5 stars in my book, along with a serving of hot lemon tea.

It was still drizzling when we arrived at the water castle. Putri told us that if it rained any harder, they would close the place to visitors due to the slippery floor. Thankfully, the rain was just letting when we bought our tickets for 5,000 rp. An extra charge is imposed on those who bring cameras for pictures. The water castle was where royalty bathed back in the day. The king would be able to look down upon his mistresses from a tower at the end of the pool. And if he sought one out, they were privileged to go into the back private pool to bathe with him. We ventured up to the top of the tower, though the staircases were quite narrow and steep. Another thing, I would advise those who come to bring extra wet tissues as well as hand sanitizers if possible. The stair handles were pretty sticky and after a short consensus our group agreed that it smelled of wet socks. Now not to put shame to the place, maybe because it was raining, but I do implore anyone who goes to be prepared. It was a bit sad to see that the inner walls of the tower were quite heavily vandalized. All it needs is a little paint job and all will be good.

Our next stop was the Kraton or castle. Till this day, royalty still resides in these premises, so the kraton is only open up certain hours and not fully accessible to visitors. The tickets cost us around 7,000 rp.Our tourguide was an easy going lady who seemed to have her fair share of photographing tourists. It was nice to let go of the camera and pose together with the rest of the group for awhile ^_~. The castle, though nothing like the towering edifices in Europe was intricately made with architectural influences from several place such as Dutch and France. I was particularly attracted to the royal seal. It looked so old and classic. Here we were once again swarmed by high schoolers on a class trip and Putri, being the ever vigilant noona recognized the same batch from Manding.

 

Afterwards we took a considerable walk to the famous Molioboro Street. If you haven’t set food here, then you have not been to Jogja. Something similar to Jalan T.A.R in Malaysia. Our first pit stop was Mirota Batik. There were endless assortments of blouses, skirts, bags, and telekung to choose from. I myself sought out cloth to make baju kurung. Some of the designs were very cheap ranging from 14,000 – 35,000 rp per meter. We also bought a couple souvenirs here on the 2^nd floor. Our keychains cost around 6,000 rp each. If you decide to go cheaper than this however, Malioboro street has plenty of different styles in packets of 10 =)

We stopped by a small store to try some Pempek for lunch. What is pempek? It’s kind of like surimee, combined with other things like tofu and eggs etc. What’s special about it is the sauce. Putri said it’s made out of vinegar, and there is a slight tangy taste to it, but not as sharp as you would expect. The combination with the pempet however is sooooo delicious. The menu size is suitable for snacking. It is advisable that you take more than one order to fill a hungry belly. To be fair though, mine cost I think around 6,500 RP. Which is hardly up to RM 2. (So freaking cheap I can’t even.)

After hanging out for a bit, since our legs were getting numb while our shopping bags were multiplying, we headed off to the t-shirt vendors on the street itself. So far, I think the best quality t-shirts that I’ve seen for under RM10 / 30,000 rp. Good thick quality fabric with up to date designs. Not like the langkawi or pangkor t-shirts we have here (with kain like plastic -_-). Even then we had the cheek to ask the ajushi to reduce the price since we were buying bulk.. eheheh ^^v. All in all probably close to 30 t-shirts total. They even came in cute paper bags. A note of caution though, just like their small fingers, the shirt sizes in Jogja are slightly smaller than normal. More towards slim fit if you know what I mean. And some of the t-shirts have slightly different sizes even when both are written “L”. My experience was that the white t-shirts with print were slightly of smaller cutting compared to the black ones. So choose carefully. By the time we got all we wanted, our limbs were hardly functional. We decided to wait for Putri’s dad at Malioboro Mall. Here we lazed around at J-co with some donuts which were hecka cheap. Then we went to the department store where Zafu decided to borong 30 packets of Nano2 for her personal stash.

Putri’s dad dropped us off at Kedai Rakya Djelata for dinner, where we revisited the roti bakar but this time we went savory. I must admit though I preferred the sweet dishes better, but it was still good food. Before we left, Zafu got a little lovin from one of the workers. (Dititipkan salam lah dikatakan). I guess he couldn’t handle the hot pink blouse she was wearing. How nice to witness love blossoming in Jogja. Mwuahahahah, to bad, that was our last visit and thus, woe to the dude who had set his eyes on my single friend. Ehehehehehe.

Day 4: Borobudur & Kaliurang (Mount Merapi)

Travelogue : Jogjakarta Day 2

Second day in Jogja was one that I had been looking forward to since a month before we came. Silver shopping at Kotagede. It seems that Jogja has a specific district in which they sell all sorts of silver. I have always been a silver enthusiast, particularly since my sensitive skin condition doesn’t allow me to go anything lower, lest I get rashes. We went to quite a couple stores. They ranged from small to quite a sizable establishment.. There were some very VERY nicely made jewelry. Untill now there are still 2 rings that I can’t seem to forget. One was silver plated in white gold with engravings of little flowers as its head. What was beautiful was that the engravings were a mix of silver, burnt silver and a rustic black. Oh man, I haven’t seen anything like that anywhere else. Another one was a silver ring with zirconia stones leading up to the crown which was topped up with a dark blue precious stone. Both of these were less than RM 100 (300,00+ rp) each. I feel like kicking myself every time I think about it. I was too weary of my cash and I knew I hadn’t brought enough to splurge on myself alone. In the end I bought a delicate silver ring with a crown of white stones in shape of a flower. Simple for everyday wear, for approx RM 40 (140,000 Rp). It was my own fault not to survey the silver prices in Malaysia first before deciding to go all out in Kotagede. I was far from an experienced jewelry shopper, and it was at this time that I cursed my family for not having a data plan where I could ask their opinion. -_-v

As for my mom, the search was a bit disappointing. She had given me some cash to get her a nice stoned ring. For those of you with finger sizes 21 and up, I regret to inform that these are almost impossible to find in Jogja. There was only one place that could enlarge the displayed rings, but even that was at an extra cost. Others offer custom make, but would take up to 10 days to finish. Precious time that I did not have. I finally found her one Terqoise stoned ring which to me looked decent enough (I was later to find that she preferred something more feminine but I digress). Among all the shops that we visited, I strongly recommend HS Silver. Here we got to see how intricate brooches were made by hand. They first create silver wire, which they then shape into beautiful designs. Once you see the effort and artistry that goes into a single product, you learn to appreciate the prices ^^. I also personally felt that the make and choices there were of higher quality than the ones we saw at the smaller shops. We could have spent the whole entire day in that one store contemplating all the jewelry (sampai bersila atas lantai okeh… kau mampu?). Silver plated brooches were mostly below RM20 (57 ,000 – 90,000 rp). We hauled quite a few of those and coaxed the cashier to give us 25% off =).

By the time we were satisfied with our treasure hunt, it was already time for a late lunch. We actually had to travel quite far to Mbah Cemplung. It was quite surprising that there was a packed restaurant in the middle of nowhere. We were made to stand at least 15 minutes because it was full house. It was worth it though when the food finally came. The menu was pretty simple, rice, chicken, cucumbers and chilli. But the chicken was well seasoned and boiled to tenderness before being fried. The meat was so soft, and it was dark in colour maybe due to all the spices they used. Really good stuff. We came just in time, because right after we finished our meal the workers were already busy closing up shop.

With a filled belly we continued our journey to Kasongan, the ceramic district, also known as landscaping and interior decorator heaven. I am so not kidding. Because ceramics are by nature heavy and fragile, none of us made a purchase here, but not for the lack of want, lemme say that much. The pottery was amazing. All shapes and sizes, for indoors, outdoors, wall hangings, you name it. And they were so cheap i swear i was going to cry. A full table set with 4 stools was only 400,000 + rp. I was not allowed to snap pictures, but i did get away with one, before i saw the no pictures sign. ehehehe. Because we reached kasongan at after work hours we were unable to find the factory where all the pottery was made. But spending even 20 minutes in that store will make you want to fully redecorate you home in a flash.

Our shopfest continued at Manding, the leather district. Here came our first encounter with hoards and hoards of highschool kids probably on a class trip. I think there were probably 5 bus loads of them, which will continue to haunt us on the next few days to come. But lets focus on the shopping. Initially I had little interest in leather since nega style ahniya, but Manding proved to have some nice crafted bags, clothes and footwear. One particular piece was the talk of our group, the Chihuahua bag, more affectionately known as Chi2 (left pic, with zafu's overexcited expression). This came in a variation of colors and valued at around Rm 150.00 (550,000 + rp).  However, Midah settled for a less conspicuous “pomerianian” bag a.k.a pom2 for everyday use. She still dreams of Chi2 till this day, like me with my rings *sobs*.

 

I think the largest chunk of our budget was spent on the second day, seeing that silver and leather can be considered pricey just about anywhere. Though I do believe the prices were relatively ok.

That night we went to dinner close to the gas station, I don’t particularly remember the name of the store, but they served meehun, which by the looks of it is just like any meehun in Malaysia, but had a definite unique taste that settled well with my palette. We drank hot ginger tea, which was really settling for our stomachs. We even had a little excursion to the small snack store at the petrol pump where we fascinated ourselves with the prices and variation of products unobtainable in Malaysia. (jakun sungguh). By this time I was feeling very sorry for Putri’s mom who had followed our shopping whims from sun up to sun down. We were very lucky that she chose to drive us to wherever it is we wanted. For those without personal transport it’s also possible to hire a rental inclusive of driver and gas for around 500,000-600,000 rp a day if I’m not mistaken.

Day 3: More Shopping MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA