Souvenir from Yogyakarta

It's been 2 weeks since the bombings. Life in Jakarta is back to normal. However, I've had to cancel my weekend-trip plan to Yogyakarta (i.e. Jogja) this August because my friends are a bit anxious about travelling so soon after the bombings. I myself am not too worried because I think we should actually be safer in Yogyakarta, a city where no bombings have occurred, instead of being in the city where the bombing has occurred, right?

On my previous trip to Jogja, a few years back, I didn't have the chance to visit the Borobudur temple. Thus, I was looking forward to go this time. Another reason why I wanted to go is because I wanted to buy some silver accessories.

If you ever go to Yogyakarta, I highly recommend you go to a district called Kotagede to buy silver as a souvenir. You will find many shops selling silver jewellery and handicrafts here, all made by the local people. Many of them actually have a workshop in the back, so you can see how they make the jewellery.

When I went to Kotagede, I bought from a shop called Ansor's silver, which is one of the more well-established ones. Based on my experience, the silver is of better quality (and cheaper!) than Perlini's (a well-known international franchise which sells silver, commonly found in Jakarta malls).

Left : At Ansor's silver store, Right : At the workshop

The pendant and necklace that I bought

Besides silver, of course you can also buy Batik as a souvenir from Jogja. Jogja batik has patterns and colors unique to the area, which are darker compared to batik from Cirebon.

For a more modern souvenir, try buying Chocolate Monggo. It is dark chocolate made from Javanese and Sumatran cocoa beans, but from a mixture of European and Javanese recipes. What I think is nice about them, besides the taste of course, is the packaging. The packagings have traditional designs, mainly related to Jogja...and they're from recycled paper!

Pic Source : http://www.chocolatemonggo.com/index.htm