Yogyakarta Tourist Traps

Some people will tell you that today is the last day of the exposition of academy of art. I doubt if that is true. I think every day is the last day. They will bring you to a little street nearby, to a shop where they sell batik-paintings. There they offer you tea and a seat first. If you like it, or like to buy something, than it is oké. But don't forget to negotiate.

Unique Suggestions: If you don't like it, just thank them and say you have to go.

In the area of the Keraton (Sultan) almost everybody is a guide, they want money after you spent time with them.

First, they ask you what your plans are, and what you want to see. Then they offer to show you the way. They will bring you to shops also. Or they want you to meet a friend, a familymember or a prins. In stead they bring you to a shop or a restaurant with touristic prices.
Some will tell you that today is the last day of the exposition of academy of art. Of course they bring you to a shop where they sell batik-paintings.

Unique Suggestions: If you allready accept the help of someone, and he appears to be a guide, thank him for his help, say you really don't want a guide and that you want to be alone. You can give him a little tip for the time he spent with you.

They expect you to pay for the time, so the longer they are in your present, the more money they expect.

Fun Alternatives: My suggestion: if you want something, go to someone yourself, and don't react on people who come to you.

We were warned about the vendors.
I have one guy after me for more than 500m.
He try to sell me stone souvenirs (Buddha, stupa's, ..)

The vendors are with the hundrud people there.

Unique Suggestions: Don't speak to them, don't look at them and don't stop walking.

Fun Alternatives: Say with a good strong voice "Tidak" (means No).

Beware that taxi driver will bring you to your destination via a long way. From Novotel to Higo's Cafe is only less than 5 minutes ride, but the cab who brought us there took 30 minutes.

Fun Alternatives: get familiar with the map and warn the drivers about doing that.

i found the cheapest batik (framed wall decor) along malioboro. batik in taman sari could fetch at least 10 dollars when you can get it for 4 dollars in malioboro, same size. there is another batik store that probably some local would recommend to you and take you there. we were told it is a government run store. i doubt any truth to that claim. first we were ushered to a little corner of the store and demonstrate to us the batik process in a very hasty forgettable manner. and the rest of the time the store attendants are busy griping my ass. they got this irritating habit of following you wherever you go as if telling me: come on pick that up and go straight to the counter. that store can be a scam too. why do becaks taking tourists there
receive commission? i don't even think their batiks are reasonably priced. same size batik that i got for 4 dollars in malioboro costs 9 dollars in that store. when we were about to leave the batik store, we were coaxed to visit the puppet store. oh that made me realize these batik/puppet stores try to milk all our dollars out of us.

picture this. we were walking aimlessly somewhere in kraton. one local man in his late 40s popped up from nowhere telling us he is on his way home. we followed him because he seemed to be guiding us the road that leads to the water palace. first we passed by the standing ruins of a temple. he said climbing to the top treats you to a scenic view of the jogja town. there were a bunch of people sitting there on top but instead of doing the same thing, we continued walking to the tunnel all the way to the sultan's infamous swimming pool. as we followed the steps of this guy, i was quietly wondering what the heck he's up to. is he just a friendly local guy or a con-artist by profession. i mean how can he be doing this tourguide-like services without asking for a fee? we thought he was going home and located along the road that leads to his house are tourist sites, so why not follow him and suck in the free chance of visiting the places without actually hiring a tourguide. after the sultan's pool, his act of kindness started to smell fishy when he took us to a house selling batik. oh he's probably getting commissions for taking us there in case we buy something. our next stop is a
house that sells puppets. i'm starting to get irritated going to these places because we had no intention of buying whatsoever and we were put into a situation that requires us to let go of our cold cash. our final stop is what he calls his home, full of batik. yes, he is selling batik to us on the pretext of free taman sari tour. he is demanding us to buy his batik to help him send his kid to school. to get out of this situation- show him your feigned intention of buying his batik by quoting a very low price. he charged 10 dollars for a piece of batik. i said i will buy that if you give it to me for 4 dollars. he refused. so that's how we got out of this taman sari scam.

"Parkir" as what the local says, the parking fee is anywhere from Rp2,000 to 5,000 depends on location. They normally charge when you park your car or van, so far becak has been exempted. The "parkir" attendant is everywhere, outside of restaurants, tourist spots, outside of souvenir shops etc. How they work is that the full day parking revenue is shared 50:50 with the local council or authority.

Your drivers, tourguide & becak drivers will try to do this...bring you to their friends souvenir shops. If you are not keen just say "no" but most of us would probably want to buy some souvenirs anyway. In Jogja, there are Silver jewelry, Batik, T-shirt and art & craft shops.

There are also plenty of peddlers selling souvenirs outside of the tourist spots like Borobodur, Prambanan etc. They can be very persistent and annoying at times, just gently say "no", bargain only if you are keen on the item.

Unique Suggestions: If the items and pricing are not right you can always walk away or bargain till you are satisfied.