From Malioboro to the Keraton - The ever festive Jogja...

Continued from The sprawling shopping complex that is KLIA 2.

 

After some two and a half-hour on flight we arrived at the Jogjakarta airport at almost dusk. After checking in at a nearby lodging house and refreshing ourselves we took a cab some 9 km to Jogja city centre.

We went to a street called Jalan Malioboro (not Marlboro ya) and started to have dinner. It is a famous tourist haunt.

The street is about 1.3 km long. You can find plenty of horse-carts lining up waiting for tourists and we decided to take one.

The cart made a round-trip down the street before returning to the exact spot where we started via and almost adjacent road.

Then we decided to walk.

All along the atmosphere is very festive with a lot of street activities. This picture shows some street performers playing drums. Sorry, it tilted sideways upon loading and I can't do much about it...

Plenty  of wares were also sold along the way. Oh, we were heading to a certain special place down south.

By the way this is my second time in Jogja. But the first time I was here middle of 2012, I went straight to the southern parts of Jalan Malioboro. Look at the old article Festive night at Jogja....

Then we came across a traditional theatre, the Wayang Kulit or shadow play.

We spent some time there before proceeding further south to an area called the Keraton, the old palace area and decided to stop by the main mosque, also the royal mosque.

Next we spent some time just outside the palace. For the record Jogjakarta still has a Sultan, the traditional ruler. But modern times has seen his powers limited to mostly ceremonial functions. It's just the fact that the Sultan is also governor of the special district of Jogja which makes him more relevant compared to some other ceremonial rulers...

The sprawling shopping complex that is KLIA 2

Continued from First time on the ERL.

The ERL was originally built to end at the main terminal of the KLIA. Then an independent extension of sorts called KLIA 2 was built and opened about 2-3 months ago. So the ERL was extended to this new section of the airport.

It was built to cater to low-cost flights especially under Air Asia. Previously the flights were stationed at the low-cost terminal or LCCT, originally the carbo bay of the KLIA. What is interesting about KLIA 2 is the existence of many upmarket shops. The minute you enter it looks like a blooming shopping complex...

It is after walking 200-300 metres or so from the main entrance that you'll find the section that shows this is an airport.

From one of the restaurants one could catch a good view outside...

See the tower in the background?

That is the main terminal, the original building that is KLIA.

KLIA 2 looks as big if not bigger.

In fact it has its own control tower.

It takes some more distance to reach the planes.

Then you'll come across some more shops making me think what a sprawling shopping complex this KLIA 2 is...

First time on the ERL

A good and peaceful Friday to everyone. Last week I made an unexpected trip to Jogjakarta. So I'm going to start a small series regarding it in my main blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU. As usual this blogspot would host supporting stories...

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Last Friday 26th September, after meeting up with a person who unexpectedly asked me to go to Jogja and offered to sponsor the trip we went to Putrajaya Sentral.

This is the first time I came here. It is an integrated station offering a number of mode of transports.

We were here to take the ERL - Express Rail Link to the airport.

This fast train service which runs from Kuala Lumpur city has been around since the KLIA, Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang was opened about 14 years ago. But this is the first time I took the ERL...