And that’s where the story and dream starts. For the six of us, me and five of my friends, just after graduating we decided to board a train to Yogyakarta. We took the cheapest train and I was the one in charge of arranging the itinerary. We were 18 and 17 years old, recently graduated and confused about what to do with our lives. After a lot of exams, why not go for a vacation?

While strolling through Malioboro street, we all talked about dreams. The things we wanted to do when we’re older. From being accountant to international ambassador, to novelist, to anthropologist, the dream was all there. Perhaps it was why that made this Wednesday walk quite memorable. Especially this Wednesday, 9 years after that happened and some of us have achieved those dreams.

A Nostalgic Wednesday Walk

Going through the street, we recalled how our vacation back then was a simple one. We ate at the cheapest place, we walked everywhere, we did free activities, I mean at the time, our pocket money was short but with the little that we had, we were crazy enough traveling 6 hours inside a hot lousy train to a new place. Yogyakarta was a place that many of us know only from study tours and perhaps a vacation once a year for our family. But behind it all, it’s a magical place and once you’re in this place, there is nostalgia that you wish to relive once again.

Just like yesterday, one of my friends and myself recalled one of those days.

Fast forward to 2023... Some of our friends are scattered all around the country. They have made their way in the world and are all successful in their own ways. We’re now in our mid 20’s, thriving and chasing our dreams.

But today is also a goodbye to my friend. My friend is going to work in another province and it was our last walk together. It’s going to be a while since I will be seeing them.

While walking, we walked from the governor office to the famous night street, Malioboro. We also explored the Chinatown area where we initially wanted to take dinner but sadly, the place is closed. In the past, we also explored this area but much has changed. These days the place is a lot more organized and cleaner than what we remembered. Being a lot more modernized,all the street food stalls are missing and only exist in a much modernized way inside a tall building and obviously, pricing matches the environment.

After exploring the old building in the Chinese neighborhood and walked to the south to the northernmost side of the royal area for dinner. Apparently, there’s a place where the president is frequent and always packed. My friend has been to that place a couple of times and wanted to take me there. But the way to that place was around 1 km more and we had to pass a few iconic streets that we couldn’t really miss.

We also walked past the old presidential palace and to the Indische buildings around the area. Apparently, that day there was an exhibition across culture that showcases things from outside Indonesia mainly with a narrative of Beyond Border Connecting Cultures. It tries to tell the story of the interconnection of maritime trade between South East Asian countries and how it also affected the society at the time.

Checking out Maritime Exhibition, Beyond Culture and Connecting them

Did you know? Buddhism was first introduced in China during the Han dynasty and it grew along the development of the Silk Road?

The religion spreads through parts of SEA along with the Chinese ships carrying monks that landed in parts of SEA. From many of my previous posts, traces of this can also be found here Sam Poo Kong Chinese Temple.While originally from India, Buddhism in China underwent changes that adapted to Chinese customs and culture at the time. And this is why, in Indonesia, Buddhism is a lot closer to the Chinese than the Indian version of Buddhism.

The first room shows how religion entered the country to the sea and the culture that it brought along. Not only showing the culture of Indonesia, it also showcases masks from Thailand and Cambodia and also the story of Ramayana. They showcase the literary Poem of Ramayan which has different names across South East Asia. In Thailand they are known as Ramakien.

Ramayan is an epic story in the form of a poem telling about the Chronicle of Rama’s life saving his beloved Sinta. It is also believed to be the oldest and most beautiful literary work.

In Yogyakarta itself, the story is still alive and well. It is also the base of arts performances that are showcased in Prambanan Temple almost everyday. If you’re in Indonesia, it is a recommended performance arts to check as it is quite grand and one of memorable experience.

Old Manuscript of Ramayana Story	Ramakien Mask from Thailand	A box to store the manuscript

Moving from Ramayan, the next room showcases navigation and astronomy tools that were used in the past. It also includes manuscripts written about navigation, mapping terrain as well as natural phenomena. The manuscript below showcases an old palm-leaf manuscript that tells the time as well as predictions that are used in Balinese.

In that same room, they also showcase different boats that exist in the past. To make it intriguing, the curators added an electric motor to mimic how the boat moved in the past. Sometimes it’s so intriguing how people in the past achieved a long lasting legacy without any technological advancement that we all have today.

Old ships	A typical ship from Madura	Phinisi ship

As we moved along to the next room, porcelains, textiles were also included. I thought my friend was still in that room. I was embarrassed the whole time, I thought I was talking to my friend but ended up talking to myself and the museum staff overheard me talking about the textile that looks like Sinhs from Laos but actually is Indonesian textiles. This just shows that within SEA, the culture is interconnected and only it undergoes certain adaptation through time.

The story of textile	Vietnamese porcelains and pottery	Ming dynasty porcelain

Traces of glory

“ Look! These are the reasons why we were colonized” my friend pointed out to displays of spices.

My friend is an anthropologist turned copywriter and while I was asking him why he didn’t do any research, fund was his problem. But I am guessing he is content with his current profession and we started talking about the history of Opium in the country. In the past, Indonesia had quite a massive opium factory. It was thriving until colonization ended and opium was outlawed and throughout the region they have the biggest war on drugs where severe punishment exists. These are the remnants of those glory as well as dark times in the country.

Opium to Java: Revenue Farming and Chinese Enterprise in Colonial Indonesia, 1860–1910. by James R. Rush. Ithaca

In that book it mentioned the basics that we all should know. Opium was not only medicinal but also recreational consumed by people not only slaves but also aristrocrats.

Above is the picture of tools that people used in the past to consume opium along with preserved leaves of it. Moving to the next building is an interactive room that showcases live on the coast or riverside. It has AR technology where If you walk past it, it will show people from the past walking on the screen and doing trade along the river.

After exiting the museum, we walked to get dinner at a famous street food stall. Apparently, the president recently visited the place and it’s his favorite place. They sell various fried rice and noodles in Yogyakarta style and While it is humble, it is jam packed everyday.

My friend told me that we’re lucky because we visited during weekdays, otherwise, we would have to wait hours just to get off this small portion plate of noodles. I have to say that the noodles were balanced. It was not too sweet, not too salty. It was just enough and away from the characteristic of Yogyakarta’s cuisine that are overpoweringly sweet. This noodle dish called Bakmi Jawa was deliciously balanced. No wonder people from all over the country, aside from the president’s hype, visited the place.

We bid goodbye and hoped to meet up again soon. But that Wednesday walk not only was nostalgic but also memorable. Because it makes me wonder about Sukhothai Kingdom as well as Ramayan or Ramakien stories across Indochina and how it differs with the version that we have today. I did an extensive paper on Ramayana before but I was not really specialized in South east asian studies rather a cross-culture perspective. so my knowledge is not as extensive as those who actually studied it. Maybe in the next 10 years, me and my friends will meet up again, the same walk, the same street, different architecture, but still the same feeling and memories.