Wednesday, 30 August 2006 @ 3:43pm.

I’m in Yogyakarta now and having a good time. Unfortunately, all of my interviews so far have fallen through (e.g., they are either out of town or ill, and one person actually passed away a couple of weeks ago if you can believe it), but I am still getting a lot of work done at the Center for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies (CRCS), which is part of the graduate program at Gadjah Mada University (UGM). They have a wonderful library on all things religion, so I’m finding a ton of texts related to my research project.

The best part about Yogyakarta is the people. I occasionally feel the need to pinch myself because most folks are polite, respectful, helpful, etc. In the four days I’ve been in town, I’ve only had three becak (three-wheeled covered bicycles) drivers call out to me, but nothing vulgar, just asking if I needed a ride. One did say “Halo Sayang” (”Hello Dear”), but I’ll take that over the bad stuff any day. The staff at CRCS are fabulous and even the poor photocopy guy who I have requested a million copies from still smiles each time I see him! As a side note, the only pitfall is that the CRCS library does not have a card catalog system, so I am just combing through the titles and table of contents to see what is relevant to my work. There is a general database on one computer, but a library staff person must be told the specific title to find something, so it’s not that useful for someone like me who doesn’t yet know the titles or authors’ names.

I’m also eating really well. The food here is good quality for a good price. For example, I ate at a little place called Cafe Ikan (Fish Cafe) on Jl. Yohanes last night for dinner and had very tasty, fresh bawal bakar (kind of grilled fish), cah kangkung (green veggies), lalap (dish of raw veggies and spicy sauce), rice, and jus mangga (mango juice) for the wonderful price of Rp. 15.000 (2-3 dollars). What a deal compared to Jakarta prices!

Yogyakarta, or Yogya (aka Jogja) for short, is much like how it was in 2004 when I visited briefly and in 2002 before I left after my stint as a volunteer teacher. There are a lot of the same small shops, motorbike traffic, and loud calls to prayer from the local mosques. There is a huge new mall, though, taking the place of the old Ambarrukmo Hotel, wider streets in certain areas, a different bus route, what appears to be fewer becaks and many more motorbikes, new or continuing construction projects, more KFCs (spicy chicken and rice anyone?), and I even passed by a pet store with various animals. The latter surprised me a bit because I heard dogs barking, noticed a golden retriever, and actually saw a man blowdrying a long-haired cat much to the cat’s displeasure (yeah, I did a double-take). While Yogya has its pluses, I must complain about the air pollution in the city. The buses seem to be spewing out even more and worse toxins. I have yet to see the amazing Mt. Merapi (low visibility because of cloud cover this time of year, but also because of pollution). The pollution hasn’t totally driven out the wildlife, though, as I have seen beautiful, large birds still nesting in the tall trees at the UGM campus.

I am staying at Wisma MM, a dormitory/hotel for students and visitors of UGM. It is a nice building and has good facilities (e.g., great beds, AC, breakfast included, clean bathrooms). The last time I saw the building was a few years back and it was only cement columns at the time. The only two complaints I have are (1) the walls can be thin so I can hear young people or families late at night or in the early morning, and (2) a mosque and its very loud speakers are next door so the calls to prayer are louder than usual, perhaps even more so because the caller is particularly energetic or spirited. I still recommend the place for other researchers and visitors, however. :)