Yesterday was Xmas day and Jogjakarta was really celebrating. Actually, they weren't. As a Muslim country, it was just another day. All the stores were open and it was just business as usual.
I had no plans for the day-I figured I would just go shopping on Mariboro street-the main street, but Laura, the owner of the hostel, mentioned she was making Christmas lunch at noon, so I stuck around all morning.
Lunch consisted of rice, noodles, Indonesian vegetables, bread pudding, and homemade ice cream. The food was deliicious, and it was nice to sit with the others from the hostel. Then a few of us went to a coffee shop and had some authentic Indonesian coffee. Many of the people here had scooters, so that is how they rode there. For me to get to the place, I had to call for a ride on the back of a scooter. (and there is an Uber like app for calling a ride to the scooter). We sat around, joked about college, Indonesian life, etc. One of the guys who works at the hostel is gay, and he discussed what it was like to come out here. He said people are pretty liberal here in Indonesia. He mentioned there was a ladyboy show here in Jogjakarta-I was interested in going. He also gave me a little picture with my Javanese name, which was really beautiful. It had drawings that showed me as a curious wanderer, which I am!
To get back to the hostel, I rode with one of the guys from the hostel, on the back of his scooter. It is sort of difficult to grab on to the back of a scooter, at least I thought until I noticed ladies carrying babies on the back of a scooter.
Later I went shopping in town for authentic Batic shirts. (As I said all stores were open). Batic shirts are like my favorite Hawaiian shirts, and they are dirt cheap here. The MOST expensive one I bought was roughly $7.50. I got a few for less then $2.00. The streets we're teaming with people.
I came back to the hostel. A few of the folks who wanted to go to the ladyboy show chickened out-so we didn't go. We ordered dinner from a take out place across the street from the hostel. (rice and vegetables and a drink-came out to around 80 cents).
