Where is Rune?

Since Caecil was in Singapore, I decided to make a quick trip to Yogyakarta, or Yogya, or just simply Jogja (there’s many spellings for this city…) last week. I flew on Lion Air (Rp 663,600 return trip).

And since the nearby Merapi volcano was extra active this time, I was rewarded with a rare bonus experience, for free!

Well, I stayed in the usual place in Prawirotaman (Mercury) from 27 October to 1 November. Prices are unfortunately steadily increasing, and are now standing at Rp 130,000 nightly for a room there. I think the place is in dire need of a plumber, because the second room I had (I moved from the downstairs room number 11 to the upstairs room number 14 on Saturday) had a really weird problem with the shower (the first room was also problematic though). When I turned on the hot water, it was almost OK (except for the water going in all directions), but when I afterwards turned on the cold water, the water pressure disappeared, with only a few drops coming out. So I was forced to shower using only the hot water. It became unbearable after a while, so I turned off the hot water, and used the few drops of cold water instead. Combining hot and cold water would only result in a few drops of very hot water. I learned the best method was to make a very quick shower with the hot water before it became too hot.

Anyway, the highlight of the trip was the ash layer that had materialized when I came stumbling out of the Republic Club on Malioboro street at 03:00 on Saturday morning. Merapi had erupted just two hours before, and there was a gray layer of ash everywhere, especially visible on the cars. I took a becak back to the hotel, and the becak driver was covered in ash too.

Apart from the ash experience, I came across some interesting characters during my few days in Yogya, among others a young Russian who could only speak Russian and a few words of English. He became impossibly drunk and wanted to ride home on his motorbike. He was put in a hotel room nearby after some failed attempts on his bike.

I also enjoy sitting at the simple Tante Lies restaurant in Parangtritis street, just outside my hotel. Tante Lies serves the cheapest beer (Rp 20,000 for a big bottle of Anker), and attracts some of the longest-staying foreigners here, for example this expat, whom I again met (for the third time in three years).

The ash disappeared after a rainfall on Saturday afternoon. Below a few pictures before the rainfall.

Ash on leaves.

Ash on car.

Becak driver using mask to protect against the ash.