Yogya - A Shopper's 7th Heaven

By: Abeer Yusuf

16 July 2009

I have contemplated a multitude of angles in which to start this essay on shopping. I thought of so many ways in which I could begin a sentence which would properly describe the essence of shopping in Yogyakarta. Alas, I have no avenue. The tale must be told as it is. Shopping in Yogya is simply spectacular. Take from me, this is something you DO NOT want to miss. I believe the higher powers above were indeed working for our greater good when we got a hotel right on the edge of Malioboro Street, the Yogyan street best known for it's shopping. Row after row you see a tempting delight, be it a batik wallet or leather jewelery. Minute after minute you are enticed by dirt cheap bargains.

I believe the best thing that ever happened to me in Indonesia was the fact that I became a millionaireness as soon as I set foot here. The power I felt in my hands (and wallet) was too good a feeling. What was even greater was the prices at which things are sold here. A Coke costs about Rupiah 2000-3000 (approx. RM1) while back home it costs at least Rm1.70. Apart from Coke, just everything else from t-shirts to souvenirs to groceries is unbelievably cheap. What makes the shopping all the more holy is the variety and quality of things you can get.

Take batik for instance. I've come up with a slogan for the batik here- “even before you think about it in batik, it's been made in batik”. I come from a country where batik prints are restricted largely to clothes and the occasional key chain here and there. But this was a real shocker- from wallets to fans to bangles to chopsticks, people here live and breathe in batik! We headed on our final day to a place called Mirota Batik, a shopping haven where you can get everything, and then some. I have never seen SO many things in batik. There were batik plates, drawings, batik on necklaces, mirrors, trays, scarves, bedsheets, table runners, caps, slippers, rings, napkins, table mats, shampoo bottles, t-shirts, just everywhere!

Souvenirs found in Mirota

Wayang is one of the most popular souvenirs for foreign travelers to bring home

Malioboro will be further evidence for this; it seems as though God rained batik in place of water over the people of Yogya. Silver and cow skin are two other mediums that the locals love to utilize. You get lovely fans, foldable table lamps and other little memorabilia made from cow skin while designs in silver echo the Javanese culture that is so typically Yogya. Motifs that I noticed include the Javanese leaf, bullock cart, 'andung' (horse carriage), Rama and Sita, and various types of flowers made into brooches. There is yet another market on Malioboro Street, dedicated solely to clothes, called Beringharjo. This is the place to go when you need to buy clothes and trust me, your head will be spinning after you're done with it. Perched stall after perched stall you will find batik shirts, batik sarongs, dresses, jumpsuits, bags- the list just goes on.

Beringharjo Market

Silver stall at Beringharjo

What's the Everest amongst all of this is the knowledge that everything is bargainable. Malioboro is filled with bargains from start to finish, as is Beringharjo (though a word of caution- even the best fail to bargain here). And for someone like me, nicknamed the Bargain Queen, this place was like paradise. Bargains left and right attack you, threatening to tip your luggage allowance scale even further. Of course, the cardinal rule that the more you buy, the cheaper you get still applies. As such, I think it's safe to say that I bought everything that was buy-able. In fact, I even bargained at a place where it was unimaginable that bargains are possible- the money exchanger. While all this makes you want to thank capitalism for existing, shopping in Yogya has also been one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. Dirt cheap was good for me, but what about those who make these things? Sellers still scrape by with profits, but the state of the producers just makes me wonder how they get by- and how much they get by on. One other thing that really wrenched my heart out was when we were in Beringharjo and an elderly lady approached me. At first I thought she wanted money, as it's not an uncommon sight to see the elderly begging. But she pointed to her back, and upon a closer listen, I understood that she was offering to carry my heavy bag of shopping. Brash as this may sound, my own personal slave. To follow me wherever I was going, carrying my shopping. Makes you think, doesn't it?

The lady that offered to carry our shopping

(for more information, click Gendhong Women of Beringharjo)

At the end of the day however, it is undeniable that Yogyakarta is one of the best destinations to shop for things- things that are not only good in quality, but are also culturally symbolic and the best part are the bargains. Needless to say, my most favourite word in Indonesian was “bisa kurang” (can lower more?).


WRITER'S PROFILE: Abeer is pursuing Writing and International Studies at Monash University Sunway Campus. Being especially talkactive and chatty, Abeer is also part of the blog team that is in charge of this blog and In Search of Yogyakarta's facebook.

Gendhong Women of Beringharjo

By: Neneng Retna Kurnia

15 July 2009

Beringharjo, a market which I visited today is located in the heart of Yogyakarta on Malioboro street. The market three floors, each floor selling different goods.The first and second floor are filled up with accessories, jajanan (snacks), food staples like rice, spices, vegetables, and also clothes. The topmost floor is used as a kind of storage area, which sells products in bulk for the smaller stores. All this may make Beringharjo sound like a regular market, but there is something unique about Beringharjo-the gendhong women.

Customers can ask one out of the many Gendhong women to carry their shopping

On the third floor, I finally found a group of gendhong women, the group which I have been curious about ever since I was selected to write about them.Gendhong is a Javanese word meaning to carry something on the back.Based on my observation, one can only see this kind of women in Yogyakarta. The group of these women were chatting with each other on the bridge that links the North and South side of the market. Most of them are old women. Mbak Yatni, 34 years old, has already been working 22 years as a gendhong woman. With a typical Javanese face, brown skin and friendly smile, she shared some information about herself-like anyone else, she was willing to face hardship to make a living. In her mother's footstep, Mbak Yatni whose education ended in the elementary level decided to work as a gendhong woman to support her three children. Everyday, Mbak Yatni carries a variety of items on her back, such as food staples like rice or noodles. Each gendhong carrier has the capacity for 50lbs, and for each carrier load Mbak Yatni usually earns 1000 rupiah, or 10 American cents. Per day, she usually earns a total of 25,000-30,000 rupiah (around 2-3 dollars). It's hard work, especially since women are not physically built to carry heavy loads.

Gendhong women of Beringharjo

When asked about her secret to being able to carry such heavy loads, Mbak Yatni confides that she drinks jamu everyday, like the other older gendhong women. Jamu or herbs is a traditional medicine from Indonesia. For Indonesians, jamu is well known as an energy booster. Jamu is also believed to be beneficial to ones health and beauty. However, the jamu tradition is not popular among the younger generation of women.

Mbak Yatni telling her tale

In another part of the market, there are three young energetic ladies who were carrying many packets of snacks on their back. I followed them to their destination, the Candi store where they work. With permission from their supervisors in the store, I was able to observe how these ladies work and to interview them. Hesti, 25 years old is the oldest among the three and she started working at the store six years ago. She is divorced with a child, and stopped her education in junior high school due to financial difficulties. Hesti introduced me to the youngest woman of the group, 17 year old Linda. All three earns approximately 400,000 rupiahs per month (around 40 USD). Asked about their hopes for the future, Hesti said she wanted to start up her own business while Linda hopes to continue her education when she has the necessary funds. Unlike the older generation of Gendhong women like Mbak Yatni, these young women do not credit their strength to jamu. Instead, they believe that they are naturally strong. Linda added that she has her strength from having sufficient sleep and eating regularly.

These women's stories also indirectly reveal the fluidity of the construction of the ideal masculinity. As opposed to the general consensus that a man should support a woman financially, the men in these women's lives have no problem with them contributing financially. Mbak Yatni's husband is a becak driver (trishaw driver) and it could be possible that there is no resistance on his part in allowing Mbak Yatni to work because it is financially necessary for her to work. Financial neccessity could be the main contributor in modifying the notion of masculinity among these people.

Observing their day, it seems to me life is unfair. These women have tough lives, with no opportunity to education, thus being unable to earn a higher income. Yet to my amazement, these Gendhong women do not complain, instead they are often seen smiling and helping each other good naturedly.

WRITER'S PROFILE: Neneng Retna Kurnia is a final year student in Monash University Sunway Campus. She is pursuing Bachelor of Arts majoring in Communication and International Studies. She is an Indonesian who is mixed with two ethnics of Indonesia, Bugis and Sunda. From several group of NGOs to gendhong women, she thinks that they all teach different knowledge on how to stand tall in this harmful world.