2/18/10 - Batiks Lost and Found

We woke up at stupid o'clock (3:30 AM) to catch our 6:00 AM flight to Yogyakarta. Yogyakarta is a main cultural center in Indonesia - kind of like a much larger version of Ubud.

While checking into our hotel, the front desk guy kept asking us questions. I'm sure these questions would normally be easy to answer (such as: do you want breakfast in the morning?), but all we could manage was "Umm.. What? Ugh.. I don't know.. We just need to sleep.. Huh?"

Room. Throw bags. Six hour nap.

Luckily after all that it was still only... 1:00 PM.

We made our way down to Via Via, the vegetarian- all natural-arty-hippie-yay earth- we are the world- backpacker cafe to get information on the classes they offered. There was one batik course offered, but it was on painting not dying.

We decided to check out another place that offered a batik class to compare prices and all that. After all, the other place didn't seem far, nor did it seem difficult to find. This was our first of many.. many.. lessons that everything is much farther, and much more difficult to find in Yogyakarta than one might think. I must say, being lost for so long turned out to be a great way to see the city!

Yogyakarta has a casual, grungy, art is anywhere, kind of feeling. Great wall murals, batiks, and colorful splashes of paint decorate the city. This was all really cool to see... While we could still see... Before it got dark.

We were still wandering around trying to find the batik workshop. We tried to look at our maps, tried to follow directions down long dark streets that didn't seem to end, asked for more directions, were led to the wrong batik studio, accepted that it was a failed mission, and decided to call it a night.

What is the first thing we see during our retreat? A carnival. A HUGE carnival. A huge fantastic carnival! We couldn't pass it up. In case you're wondering, that great carnival smell is universal. We walked through the crowded rows of stands selling.. Well, pretty much anything. Pots and pans, clothes, bunnies, food, toys, bedding, mice, jewelry, everything!

We watched an adorable teen Indonesian rock band. No one in the crowd goes anywhere near the stage, no one claps. It felt like we were pretending not to see or here the band as part of a joke.

When leaving the carnival area, there is an entire street of nothing but fried pastry stands all aglow. It was like doughnut heaven, where all the good doughnuts get to go. Amen!

As soon as we reached an intersection, and had to figure out which way to go - a boy magically appeared offering to give us directions! I forget his name... Let's call him Gus. It turned out Gus worked for the city, and gave us a lot of helpful tips and suggestions. He also told us that the art institute was having a sale at their gallery on the batik work done by students, teachers, and professors. All the batiks were hand made, with prices marked, high quality, and so on and so on. Clearly, we HAD to go.

As soon as we left Gus to go to the gallery, another man offered to give us directions! I, once again, have no idea what his name was, so let's go with... Thomas. Thomas was going in the same direction, so he led us to he gallery, which was great because there was no way we would have found it.. ever. He was on his way to the hospital because his wife just had a baby girl. He was excited because they already had three boys. Even with all that, he took us to the gallery, and took the time to explain a bit about the batik painting process. What a sweet guy.

Good news: the batik paintings at the gallery were incredibly beautiful!

We had no idea you could do so much with batik. I only knew about the stamped printed fabrics. However, we were looking at dozens of insanely detailed pictures or wildly free form abstract pieces. We were such kids in a candy shop... Everything was so new and different.

Bad news: the batik paintings at the gallery were incredibly beautiful...

We spent too much money... But too be fair, we didn't really spend that much, and it would have been five times more expensive back home, and they're unique, and we supported the art institute, and.. and.. (this is how we justified our purchases the entire way back to the hotel.)

We confirmed with each other that we had to take the batik painting course at Via Via (now that we understood what we were going to be making). There was no other choice. This changed the basic itinerary we had, leading to frantically planning a 5:00 AM temple trip, and stumbling around half asleep trying to find an ATM to pay for said trip.


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