Traditional Medicine

By: Dominique Staindl

16 July 2009

Any traveller away from home long enough will have a story of being sick. It's one of the most uncomfortable situations you can find yourself in, especially when you're trying to be adventurous far from your comfort zone. However, if you're coming to central Java you have a unique option available. There is a form of traditional, liquid medicine called Jamu passed down from generations of penduduk asli (native peoples) that will supposedly help all sorts of ailments. And for the traveller who does things in style, there are now chic cafe-restaurants serving and specialising in Jamu.

I was shown the local Yogyakarta "House of Raminten" by our guides where we were treated to an assortment of the cloudy tonic. With its plush outdoor garden setting, the rather affordable eatery is just like any other commercialised form of therapy-chic, just like the spas and retreat-farms all popping up wherever there are tourists. However, the menu boasts 39 different drinks to aid symptoms of daily living; from menstrual cramps and increasing milk-flow for breastfeeding women to remedies for pimples, liver problems and migraines (even itchiness!); this place has it all. Of course, the cafe survives on the business of its customers, therefore its main concern is marketing and aesthetic. But the staff and manager truly believe in the power of the Jamu - well, why else would it have survived for so long?

House of Raminten

The antidotes consist of hundreds of herbs, leaves, fruits, barks and spices found in and around the geographical region and there are variations of the styles and recipes as you venture further around Indonesia. Some of the most versatile and staple ingredients are ginger, cinnamon, turmeric and jasmine. Locals buy the juices off local women (Mbok Jamu Gendong), which literally translates to older, mobile seller of medicine. This is witnessed through and on the Jalan Mariboro where old women walk or ride baskets of different coloured cloudy tonics, selling by the bottle or cup. And like most things in Indonesia, the prices are very affordable. You're looking at Rp 3,000 per bottle.

Jamu carts found all over the city

The variety of Jamu available

Mbok Jamu Gendong

And the taste? Well, just like any medicine, it's not designed to please but to heal. Prepare for coloured variations of bitter, peppery flavor. Maybe have a cold bottle of coke on standby for the chaser.


WRITER'S PROFILE: Dominique or Dom as we all call her, has a mixture of English, Irish and Austro-Hungarian heritage. The Virgo who is pursuing a double major in French and Photography and minoring in Communication hails from Melbourne, Australia. Dom recalls poco-poco or line-dancing in Purawisata and walking blindfolded through the Banyan trees in Alun-alun Selatan as her favorite moments in Yogyakarta.

Kampung Kauman

By: Jane Barraclough

12 July 2009

In the heart of bustling Yogyakarta lies the unique Muhammadiyah Muslim community- Kampung Kauman. With only a small, blue archway to give away its whereabouts, few locals, let alone tourists, visit this place. Once inside the walls of the serene and welcoming neighborhood, it’s hard to believe the traffic, buskers and markets are only meters away.

On day three of our study trip, Dr Yeoh really stepped up the search for Yogyakarta, leading us through a maze of narrow streets towards the home of renowned Batik artist, Lukman Jamali, a long-time resident of Kampung Kauman.

The streets of Kauman

The pace of a rushed journey dodging trishaws and trying to keep up with our ever -adventurous pathfinder, suddenly slowed as we made our way through the traffic-free alleyways, muttering “permisi ibu” (excuse me, miss) to women outside their homes, at the advice of our student guides. Passing the hushed houses, one gets a sense that much prayer has taken place behind these walls. Further down, towards the school, through the colourful delicate windows students can be glimpsed praying. Meanwhile, residents slowly wheel their motorbikes home, adhering to an unwritten rule to maintain the peace and quiet. Even the pet budgies seem to refrain from making a racket.

Ariebowo taking us on a tour of Kauman

The people of Kauman

The calm of Kauman is no accident. The founder, K.H. Ahmad Dahlan intended to shield the community from outside noise and distractions. He set out to establish an atmosphere of study and learning in his quest for a reformed, modernized Islam that embraced the philosophies of Al Quran. After founding the village in 1912, Dahlan set up charity schools, libraries and hospitals which are still having a positive impact today. The boarding school, Kweek, which is known for its broad curriculum, draws girls from all around Indonesia, while the local library still carries out a tradition of knowledge-sharing by insisting that every hired book must be passed around to a network of seven people. The town was also the base for Dahlan’s batik design work, which he managed to turn into a successful trade.

Today’s residents are no less entrepreneurial, creative, and educated than their forefather.
Ariebowo Jamali, the son of Lukman Jamali who took up Dahlan’s mantle in the Batik business, is currently studying English literature at a local university. He kindly welcomed the study group into his family’s home this morning to tell us about the work of his father and mother, who are both masters of their craft. Sitting on the floor of his father’s studio, Ariebowo told us about Lukman’s batik paintings, which, he said were very popular in Europe, as well as locally. Examples of Lukman’s trademark, surreal faces hung on the walls of the studio, creating an artistic vibe in a space which doubles as the family room.

Only doors from the studio, Ariebowo’s mother, like many women in Kauman, works every evening at her own craft, which are no less popular around Yogya. Every morning the sound of people selling comforting, breakfast treats, or Kue Pukis, can be heard like a chant for the morning appetite. “Kue, Kue, Kue.. dua ribu dua ribu…”. At Ariebowo’s house, we had the chance to try some of Yogyakarta’s best Kue. Kue Pukis from the Kauman is known for being especially tasty, and the treats definitely lived up to their reputations. The assortment of soft, sweet bakery treats, from veggie doughnuts to butter cake, are made every day, in the wee hours of morning. For this reason, Ariebowo couldn’t introduce us to his mother, who was sleeping.

Kue, or the local delicacies made by Ariebowo's mother

Ariebowo plans to leave Kauman for further studies, but he plans to return to Kampung Kauman later to bring something back to the community as a member of the next generation and live out his twilight years in Kampung Kauman.

*View more pictures of the day from our photo album


WRITER'S PROFILE: The 24 year old Jane is an exchange student from Monash University Caufield Campus, majoring in Journalism. Originally from Canberra, Jane is one adventurous traveler- before this trip she had went on a homestay program in Sabah (East Malaysia) and on a trip to Cambodia. Being especially good with the video-camera, Jane is heading the video team.

Many Tastes of Yogyakarta

By: Paulista Bunga Surjadi

12 July 2009

The cultural capital of Indonesia, Yogyakarta is truly a heaven for anyone in search of gastronomic delight. The city entices you with many resturants and warungs or lesehans to choose from. However, I am specifically interested in the countless warungs or lesehans I found along the Malioboro street where the choice of delicacies range from main course to dessert; all of which are sold along the kaki lima or sidewalks. Here in Yogyakarta, the real eating experience is equated to duduk lesehan (sitting on a mat) in the dusty street side, munching on tasty local foods and listening to the occasional entertainment from the pengamen (street musician). What an experience! Especially when each on the menu will not cost you more than Rp 20,000 or USD 2 per plate.

One of the many lesehans in Malioboro

To us Indonesians, there is a saying shared among us that “Orang Jawa bermulut manis” or 'Javanese people have the sweetest everything'. The saying has come from how the Javanese cook their dishes, which involves a lot of sugar and is thus renowned for their sweetness. However, being a multi ethnic island itself, Javanese dishes should be divided into about four major groups which are the Sundanese, Maduranese, East Java dishes, and Central Java dishes.

East Java dishes generally use more chili and less sugar, while Central Java dishes are sweeter and use less chili.

Yogyakarta dishes are known for their sweetness. Its most popular traditional dish, one that you can find almost anywhere in the city is Gudeg. Gudeg is variety of dishes including chicken, jackfruit, hardboiled egg stew, tofu, and tempe cooked in the mixture of coconut sauce, kluwek (traditional herb), and teak leaves (which gives the brown color into it), known as Areh. It tastes uniquely sweet and slightly spicy. The meal will not be complete without its staple complement- warm rice and sambal krecek which is bull's inner skin deep fried and cooked with chilli giving it a spicy taste.

Gudeg Kering (Dry Gudeg)

I took the above picture of Gudeg at one of the many food stalls in the famous Gudeg station, Jalan Wijilan. After a talk with the locals, I found out that there are actually two kind of Gudeg in Yogyakarta. What we had in Jalan Wijilan is apparently what considered as Gudeg Kering (dry gudeg)- the coconut milk and the herb is cooked in less water. While the other Gudeg type is Gudeg Basah (watery gudeg). My curious palette was finally led me to this lady in Malioboro street side who sells the watery Gudeg type.

Purchasing Gudeg Basah (Watery Gudeg) from a street vendor

The distinctive feature between these two types of Gudeg would be its watery Areh. I prefer the watery Gudeg as I love having that much Areh with my warm rice But both undeniably tastes awesome and it just leaves me wanting for more so I am very sure that I definitely will have more Gudeg again as soon as possible before the trip is over.

We shall move on to another dishes called Wedang Ronde. It is a warn ginger drink with peanuts, kolang-kaling (made from palm tree and coloured pink), shredded bread, and ronde (sticky rice with peanuts filling). According to my fellow travellers, Wedang Ronde smells beautiful and indeed it does. The taste and the smell of Wedang Ronde is best experienced during the night when the temperature is lower, as it gives you extra warmth feeling as you swallow. You can purchase this ‘warmth’ for only Rp 3000, or less than USD 50 cents

Wedang Ronde cart

Still in search of some local taste I found this famous local food which usually come in boxes as people love to bring it back for souvenirs, it called Bakpia Pathok. It is made from thin dough pastry with green bean paste inside. Bakpia Pathok would be a perfect bite size snack when served with hot coffee or hot tea anytime, or even just for munching it by itself. In case you are wondering, Pathok is the name of the place where Bakpia first gain its prominence among Yogyakarta people and even the tourists. Cater to many different tastes, many Bakpia producers nowadays do experiment with using other fillings, ranging from chocolate paste, cheese, to even durian. Generally, a box of this sweetness will cost you around Rp 15,000 or USD 1.50.

Bakpia Pathok

In this article I picked what I personally considered the best of the best food in Yogyakarta here. So, you might want to try those and many other dishes for yourself when you visit Yogyakarta sometimes. Happy eating!

WRITER'S PROFILE: Paulista is pursuing her final year in Bachelor of Arts. She transferred from Monash College, Jakarta last year and is among one of the Indonesian students in this trip. Although having been raised in Jakarta, Paulista has been exposed to the cultures of other regions of Indonesia, and admits that she would rather pick spicy or salty foods over sweet ones.

Diary Entry: Day 1

By: Natasha Tan

9 July 2009

The view of Mount Merapi seen from up above in the comforts of our cramped AirAsia seats signalled the end of a gruelling two hours and thirty-five minutes flight. We have finally arrived after months of planning and constant exchange of emails between the pathfinder, Dr. Yeoh Seng Guan, local student guides as well as the other 17 eager travellers.

View from the airplane

It became apparent that the adventure of our lifetime was about to begin; from the bumpy descent to the tasting of a local dish labelled as ‘gudeg’, a sweet dish eaten with rice and ‘krecek’ (bull’s skin), to the discovery of a 24-hour McDonalds (you can imagine the happy faces of our travellers!)

Arriving at Adi Sutjipto Airport

Tired and hungry, we started the festivities with a getting-to-know-you session where we each had to introduce ourselves, providing our names, course of study and giving an interesting fact about ourselves. Our team traveller’s had it easy as we’ve already known each other before the trip began but for the local student guides, it was a test of their memorising skills. Each of the five local student guides had to mention the names of 5 travellers! Granted that they only started to know us about 5 minutes ago, they managed pretty well getting our names and faces right.

After that, we began our hunt for dinner and at the same time, managed to have a tour of Malioboro Street, a shopping haven for any shopaholics out there. There were T-shirts, batiks, souvenirs and the likes going at low and affordable prices. Food stalls too were aplenty, all displaying their delicacies, making us even hungrier as we continued on our journey to the restaurant.

Road-crossing is certainly hazardous to one’s health! The zebra crossing is there but there are no proper indications to point out to pedestrians whether it’s an OK-go. Instead, we had to rely on the traffic and move according to them. If there’s a red light, we would literally have to speed across or risk being knocked down by the opposite traffic. Crossing the road is an experience itself here in Yogyakarta!

On the other hand, the food may require an acquired taste. It was sweet and slightly spicy but nonetheless, extremely good. Nothing was going to ruin a hungry appetite. Everyone finished their dinner and chatted with the local student guides, resting our tired legs before heading back to the hotel.

Gudeg at Jalan Wijilan

But before heading back to the hotel, there was a detour where we stopped by ‘Alun-Alun Utara’ and had a local dessert which consisted of ginger, bread and some local fruit thrown into the mix. An interesting fact about ‘Alun-Alun Utara’ is that it is located directly in front of Kraton (the Sultan's Palace) where the road leads directly to Mount Merapi. It is believed that the King receives his power from Mount Merapi. Interestingly enough, the King also receives his power from the South Sea, which is the opposite direction of ‘Alun-Alun Utara’.

'Pengamen' (Street Musicians) on our way to Alun Alun Utara

All in all, it was a promising first day where the sights and sounds of Yogyakarta are waiting to be discovered by us 17 travellers.

Here’s to 8 more days of adventure to go...

*View more pictures of the day from our photo album

WRITER'S PROFILE: Natasha is in her final year pursuing a degree in the Bachelor of Arts majoring in Communications and Writing. She is from Subang Jaya and in this trip, she will be seen lugging the unversity's camera being a part of the photography team, as we embark on a journey in search of Yogyakarta.