A highly successful morning. After a great deal of research and mulling I had found that a good place to buy batik was Bima Sakti, a women’s collective near the new royal cemetary of Imogiri. So we went there this morning and found ourselves in a really lovely village amidst the hills, with rice fields and forests all around, and many streams and rivers. Here one could really see Java’s fabled fertility. The woman who heads the collective, Bu Hartinah, sold the batik from her living room. It was very expensive but none others in the village matched up to its quality, so the GF and I bought one patterned with animals and his mother bought a more traditional motif.
We then went to yogyakarta’s kraton area, there to sample the famed nasi gudeg (jackfruit curry) – tasty indeed but not something I’ll dream of at night. We wandered through the tiny streets which were lovely – narrow, green beautiful, a little unkempt. I could see why people fall in love with Jogja. Many of the houses had a small birdcage with a song bird near the entrance, and I wished it wasn’t so cruel so I could have one too. A very pleasant city, I can imagine living there.