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The second day in Jogja, we had a lot to do! (Well, not too much since I was there with the whole pack). I reckon the best thing to do when traveling with family which consists of mostly oldies is to eat. After spending some time swimming and chilling at the villa, we went out to grab a lunch. Going to Jogja without going to Gunung Kidul is like eating without The second day in Jogja, we had a lot to do! (Well, not too much since I was there with the whole pack). I reckon the best thing to do when traveling with family which consists of mostly oldies is to eat. After spending some time swimming and chilling at the villa, we went out to grab a lunch. Going to Jogja without going to Gunung Kidul is like eating without any spices – incomplete! You want to eat cheap seafood? Gunung Kidul is the best place to go! Who doesn’t like seafood? Even the allergic me craves for it from time to time.
I have 2 recommendations. First, If you just want the food without caring much about the view, you can go to Sadeng beach. Read my article for further details.
The second one is the one I’m about to show you. Baron beach it is. It’s about 3 hours to get there from the villa. But driving towards Gunung Kidul is the best thing! No congestion. Only good straight road that sometimes ascends or descends. For oldies, it would be boring, though.
Just at the (invisible) entrance gate, we were welcomed by some guys who asked us to pay for Rp10.000/car. They said it was the parking fee. Aldi’s twin brother, Aldo, said to the guy to make sure that we wouldn’t be asked for another parking fee inside the parking lot. Because, you know, Indonesia is full of extortion, in tourist destinations particularly. I wonder when my country will be free from that kind of thing. It’s infuriating.
At least, my annoyance was comforted by the cool breeze from the sea. It was a good sunny midday but it wasn’t hot at all. It was cool instead. Probably because we’re surrounded by tall leafy trees that created shady spot. I can say that it was the first time ever for me to be in Jogja without feeling stiflingly hot.
Back to Baron beach – it wasn’t as I expected. As I mentioned before that it’s rather quiet that day but it was too quiet as if the beach was prepared just for my family. I mean, there were people, but they were the traders. No consumers.
On the beach, there were a lot of small boats parking. One of the boat owners offered us to get on board by paying only for Rp10.000/person and we’d be taken to sail around the island. My father was excited and so were my niece and nephew. I don’t know what made us didn’t take the chance, though. I personally didn’t want to because the waves were too big and I’d be nauseous and it was too hot to be on the sea. Besides, I had ever sailed at Gunung Kidul while I was filming, so I wasn’t curious anymore. Maybe because there was just a few who were excited about getting on the boat, nobody bothered to do it. We went straight to buy the seafood.
There was only one shop open with not too many choices. We chose fish, squids, prawns, lobster. The good thing from eating here is that we can ask the trader to cook everything right away. So after choosing the raw seafood, we waited for them to be cooked. We added some more things like kangkung, sambal, and coconut water.
Aldi’s sister bought some snacks. I don’t know what they were but they were definitely sea creatures.
As the food were ready, we devoured them quickly. The best part was the sambal. I asked for more of it twice. The cook made it fresh so when I asked her more of the sambal, she had to make it from scratch. The grilled fish were also good! I ordered 2 rabbitfish and they were soon gone into our stomaches. That’s why I ordered 2 more. Again. They were gone way faster than when they were being prepared.
When the table was full of empty dishes, the smokers smoked, the non-smokers chatted to each other, enjoying our stuffed bellies. Until came the time for me to pay. I did a rough calculation of how much I should pay and it would be more than Rp.1.000.000 looking at the food we had ordered. But when we asked the lady, it was only Rp.500.000 something. Aldi and I were shocked! I mean, what?! 11 people and we spent only that much? That doesn’t make sense. Wow.
Next, after lunch, he headed back to the villa. But in the middle of the way, most of us didn’t want to go back straight. So we stopped by at a beach nearby. It was a good day and spending some time sunbathing would be great! But fun fact, we don’t do sunbathing in Indonesia. Maybe in Bali, yes, since there are lots of foreigners so the western culture has been part of Balinese culture. But Indonesian culture itself has no sunbathing activity. Especially in cities in Java like Jogja.
So, when Indonesians go to the beach, usually we just enjoy the vibes or have a swim. By the time we arrived at the beach, the sun was on the way to set. My nephew who really likes swimming took off his shirt right away and let half of his body touch the sea. The waves were good. But no other people swimming.
While we were enjoying the vibes, suddenly there was a guy holding a dslr camera came and offered to take our pictures together. At first, I refused. Because we could easily use our phone cameras. But the guy kept explaining, it’d be good and the photos could be transferred directly to my phone and it cost only Rp25.000 for 5 photos. I don’t know if it’s because I pitied the guy or I just wanted the guy to shut up soon, I then agreed. The photos are actually not bad. If you happen to come across any street photographer in this kind of place, please just say yes. It can help them earn money. As long as they give a reasonable price.
Here are the photos:
We didn’t spend that long on the beach since Aldi’s parents and Aldo’s wife and his youngest kid were waiting in the car. We didn’t want to cause any trouble for making them wait too long, Aldi’s mom in particular.
When the sun almost set, we left the beach and arrived back at the villa when it’s already dark. I didn’t eat dinner for my tummy was still full of seafood while the others bought some food from around the villa.
The second day ended. The third day in Jogja will come in the next article.
To be continued.
