Yogyakarta Nights

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Hard Alcohol Blues
After the decision had been made NOT to relax away the last couple nights in the arms of the Queen Hotel, we decided to ventured back into Yogyakarta and get a story out of it. Our driver took us to an area of hotels and expats which suited us just fine. Hard alcohol and ice are hard to find in Indonesia as a whole, but when it is found. Well let’s just say that guarding the ice chest could be seen as an honorable profession.

The Bintang Bar/Restaurant was our starting point. Nasi Goreng and an ice cold Bintang hit the spot. A table next to us had a couple elder Australians that were here for the Hash. They were Hashers as they called themselves. We joined them and in came more hashers from other parts of the world. Hash is a well organized group that pretty much go somewhere every year and meet up, play a few ‘trail marker games’ and the only rule I heard about was that fighting was forbidden.


I started noticing banners for the Hash and a pavilion up and down the street. I believe the theme goes back to the World War where locals would set trail markers to help the troops move swiftly over mountain ranges and other natural obstacles in the woods. How do I sign up? The tradition lives on through these folks and their good nature. Meanwhile one of the hashers, a woman, was chatting quietly with my friend and obviously trading stories about the lack of alcohol and ice. I am a beer and wine guy so I don’t care but if you like gin and juice with ice, bring your own gin and ice. Indonesia has a lot of great juices. Within a half hour both are smirking over their quietly purchased alcohol, 1 Gin bottle and 1 Rum. These two people looked like kids at Christmas that just got what they always wanted and couldn’t wait to go outside and try it out. Indeed.


Yogyakarta is known for good quality Batik and Silver products. It’s not huge on western ways. However, with the right amount of desire and reckless abandon, anything is possible. An expat from Holland was our key. He rode a Harley and had been living in Yogya for many years. He wanted to take us to another bar with live music and meet up with more friends. Just then, the two French girls we met in Bukit Lawang, walked by. They had heard there was live music at Bintangs but it didn’t start for awhile. We had a good laugh with them and shared video and pictures of orangutans. The Holland expat wanted to take his bike home and come back for us. We sat with the French girls and Hashers. Willie Dixon bellowed out the blues as the night’s paint gathered color and texture. Expat artists and writers showed up and the fiddler drew his bow across the moon.


We said good-byes to the French and the rest. Soon we were off to another place with the Holland expat to the RASTA Bar Cafe. Rasta_bar@hotmail.com. Jl. Parangtris No. 95 Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The Rasta has a Live Band every night of the week except Sunday; Monday-Reggae, Tuesday-All around, Wednesday-Rock and Roll, etc.


My friend was in heaven for this was a true bar with every drink imaginable. I was more interested in the music. A woman belted out some old classic Etta James song with a full band behind her. Her voice is really good and she plays there a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the music world finds her and has great success. My friend stared at the liquor menu not knowing if a decision was necessary or just start at the top. We laughed, listened to music and heard stories from many of the other expats which had turned up for some entertainment. It got late, hot and still bug-less.

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