Arrival in Yogya

I arrived in Yogya yesterday at 8:45 in the morning.  Before my grant starts in earnest, I have the opportunity for two weeks of language study.  As I had expected, the hotel did not have my room ready and so I went down to Jalan Malioboro, a major tourist destination with lots of shopping.  I turned down a side street to the area that were my stomping grounds in Yogya when I was younger.  No more than 10 steps down that street then someone asks, “Hey, don’t I know you.”  It was Agus, he runs a losman, a small simple inn, that targets backpackers (young westerners who travel the world on very small budgets).  It was good to see an old friend.

 

I had an early lunch at Superman Café and he had an iced tea.  I had tea with my lunch, but since I asked for an unsweet tea, we had to make sure that we each got the right tea.  The Javanese like their sweet tea.  An American Southerner would feel right at home drinking tea in Java, although I suspect that even they might find it too sweet.

 

We talked about many things – esp. the way that things change and the way that they stay the same.  The Rama bookshop, the one that had been the best English language bookstore in Indonesia – well known for finding and stocking serious and sometimes hard to find books about Indonesia, is gone.  The owner, Muharram, had been renting and after the 2004 earthquake could no longer afford the rent.  The space is now a small hotel.  I guess there were other floors that Muharram never used.  A few of the other business that I had known were gone.  But despite those small shifts, it was essentially the same place.   Agus says that tourism is finally picking back up.  Some of it from Malaysia and elsewhere in Asia, but there is a noticeable return of American and other Western tourists.   Its still not at the level it was before the 1997 economic crisis which prompted the fall of a dictator and political instability.  However, in the last few months, the US Department of State has lifted all travel warnings for American citizens.

 

Unprompted, Agus related some significant changes.  With the  fasting month of Ramadan starting soon – no bars are open and may not open again until after the month of Ramadan has concluded.  This law reflects a number of interested changes for Indonesia.  First , is the change from the long held perspective that what someone does is a matter between themselves and God.   Indonesia has not taken the step of enforcing the fast – in Malaysia a Muslim faces a $100 fine if they are caught not fasting.  However, forcing all bars and dance clubs to close during Ramadan has significance beyond Muslims.   Agus said that this law shows respect for Muslims and that he likes it.   I had heard of this law before but was under the impression that these laws were local ordinances and not national.  Agus suggested that while they were local ordinances that a mandate came out of the central government for such local ordinances.

 

I went for a swim in the afternoon and passed what looked like an American studying with an Indonesian and wondered if that wasn’t my teacher.  Since I worn a sarong over my swimsuit when walking to and from the pool, she wondered if that strange Westerner wasn’t her student.  She had googled my name and knew that I had some previous experience in Indonesia.  Still she was still pretty surprised to find out that I spoke Indonesian and had brought a beginner textbook for me to study.