|
  | |  |
Yogya - culture, music, puppets, pimp daddy stew
Entry 17 of 37 | show all | print this entry |
I came i saw i conquered, yogya was a mixture of reggae bars, batik galleries and liberal brilliance. The town itself could be loosely described as one of the more creative and open minded places that populate java. I spent about a week here just enjoying the scenery as people ambled on by, i took in a night time puppet show that was a bit of an all nighter, it started at 8pm and i sat down at the stage that had been erected that day to be greeted by locals arriving bringing sleeping bags, literally!
it was epic and i understood little of what was said but it was occupanied by singing chanting musical instruments and it was fantastic! I struggle to take everything in sometimes, i think you just have to accept that your experiencing so much visual stimulation that you just have to sit back and take in what you can and enjoy it.
I also got to explore the kraton, the main palace in yogyakarta, with lots of maze like open areas, where i got to take in a performance of gamelan, which is a traditional indonesian musical performance featuring xylophones, drums and chanting, it was lovely delicate and only mildly spoilt (im english i need to vent) by americans (you guessed it!) shoving their $3000 nikon cameras up the musicians nostrils despite the signs that stated "please do not walk onto the performance area". On pointing this out they all gave me "you bastard" eyes, why do people seem to think rules apply for some but not for others?? They sat down anyway and the performance resumed. England and my morals 1 , Yanks 0.
The next couple of nights were spent at the local backpacker cafe where i made loads of friends and on the saturday all the locals turned up for the reggae night, i ended meeting a few bizarre french guys who werent all that together friendly (ahhh you ah engliishhh, no culture only speak 1 language yes), to which i refrained from replying along the lines of french cheese eating white flag waving......no il stop there as i said i try not to be TOO xenophobic.
Anyway we were accosted by a bunch of local lasses, oh no not bar girls he thinks?....infact no they werent, after bali i was fairly used to local girls being overly friendly in the hope of procuring some finance ( i like to politely rebuff these advances with replies such as "i have seven wifes, one for every day of the week, come back when there are 8 days" "im gay, this is my boyfriend" and "good god no, no long time, no short time, no middle inbetween or anytime, bye bye go away time".
But infact no they were not bar girls! It transpires they were just normal lasses on a night out, and wowee look at these whiteys with their pale skin and excessive drinking habits and stupid dancing!...i dont get the appeal but i wasnt complaining, and so we had a right good dance to some bob marley cover band and went onto the local club, where it again transpires that local girls like the westerners! Ahh good old pimp daddy stew (you need to see the photos from that 70's birthday night out to understand this...) rediscovers his form and hit the ground running like a nosebleed. Life is good, i left a trail of broken hearts and free empty beer bottles.
Next stop, a small deserted beach on the coast of central java!
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Java, Indonesia or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
4 votes 
