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August 17th is a special day for people of Indonesia, when you travel to Yogyakarta during this period than you will see a lot of local celebration and tradition surrounding. Student will go to school for ceremony even once the ceremony done they will back home but their teacher used to go to Governor office to join the national ceremonial.
Welcome to Yogyakarta, a small city where you will see tons of tradition, cultural celebration, and for sure the cheap street food for everyone. August is special month for every citizen in Indonesia, in some housing or village they will celebrate with full of local competition, celebration night, and music performance, if you visiting Indonesia during this month so try to get involve with your neighbor to celebrate it, they will be so welcome to everyone.
Introduction of Yogyakarta
Go to Yogyakarta
When you travel with flight, almost big cities such as Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Balikpapan, Denpasar, Medan, etc have a direct flight to Yogyakarta but in case you fly from other countries than only Singapore and Kuala Lumpur that have a direct flight with Air Asia.
- Flight – the only one airport in Yogyakarta is Adisucipto which 17 km from the city center
- Railway St – there 2 station; Yogyakarta Tugu (executive and business class) and Lempuyangan (mostly for economy class)
- Bus terminal – there are 2 bus terminal; Jombor (4km to the city center located in the north) and Giwangan (7km from the city center located in South)
Yogyakarta Sightseeing Tips
Since this city is quite small so 2-3 days is quite enough to sightseeing around and here I give you some personal references:
- Sultan Palace
- Tamansari Water Castle – It’s a 2nd palace for the King which is connected to Plaza Ngasem, a public space for traditional market and cultural show theater
- Museum Kereta Kraton
- Ramayana Ballet Show
- See the sunrise in Borobudur Temple
- Prambanan temple – a Hindu temple that have a relief about love story of Rama and Shinta, it’s a nearby temple with Ramayana Ballet show
- Batik Course
- Malioboro – a prime district where local people crowd for selling souvenir, food and commerce
Tarik Tambang or Rope Pull Tradition
Among the locas, the Tarik Tambang is a tradition that always held for almost people in Indonesia, it’s kind of sport – celebration activities when people have a special day. Especially for independent day, tarik tambang is a must sport that perform by all the locals and they used to do the celebration activities on Sunday when they have an office and school holiday.
It’s kind of sport that consist of 4 people minimum in both side, and once the jury (standing by in the middle of the rope) shouting than the sport is begin. Any side of group that able to pull the others will become the winner.
I uploading these Tarik Tambang photo in high resolution and once you like it and wanna use it for your needs than you can download it through Shutterstock
As other competition, winner will get the prizes.
It’s typical prizes for fun so they will get a rice cooker, fan, drawing books for kids, t-shirt, or even trash bin. When all the competition sport is done than all the locals will go to Malam Tirakatan, it’s a night celebration of independent day where people pray, eat the tumpeng (kind of rice with yellow color that symbolize a happiness) and the officer will say the name of the winner and give the prizes.
As a people who live in Yogyakarta over than 20 years, I highly recommend you to visit this town during the independent day and don’t miss the national ceremonial in Gedung Agung, near the zero kilometer area at 10 am, there will be a soldier performance, march band, and music performance.
Last I want to give you my personal recommendation about accommodation in Yogyakarta and till this time I used Agoda and Booking to cover my trip here in Indonesia and around the world, so hope this lists help you as well
- Greenhost Boutique Hotel – located in the cafes and bar district about 4 km from the city center | compare the rate between Agoda and Booking
- Hotel Tentrem – 5 star hotel with brand new building, about 3 km from the city center | compare the rate between Agoda, there is no Booking.com link for this hotel
- Plataran Heritage – recommended stay around Borobudur temple where you can reach the temple simply by cycling | compare the rate between Agoda and Booking
- Amaris Malioboro – located in the Malioboro area with tons of cheap street awesome food | compare the rate between Agoda and Booking
- Phoenix Hotel – 4 star hotel with amazing heritage building | compare the rate between Agoda and Booking
You will definitely see the beautify of Yogyakarta when you try to get involve with the people by eat their traditional food or join local celebration in this town!
Thank you for read my story about tradition of Yogyakarta,
If you interesting in learning more about Yogyakarta, you may check my 44 things to do in Yogyakarta eBook, which include recommendation of attractions, hotel – budget accommodation, bets street food, and simple words to asking help or say greeting both in Bahasa and Javanese language.
Have you ever try this Rope Pull before?
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