• The look of R. Hamong Wardoyo seen from Pandanaran Street.

Hi readers! Welcome to Rindumiu! How are you doing? I hope you are OK and are both happy and healthy! Today I will just execute my a-few-days-ago-plan which is sharing with you my Day 2 of vacation in Selo Boyolali which is in the northeast of Jogja.  If you are curious to know about my Day 1, feel free to check it here.

Now, let's focus on Day 2 of my vacation. On the second day, I went to the city of Boyolali. It was about eating pork that later led me to explore the city. Craving for pork, I headed to a Balinese restaurant only to figure out that they served no pork at all. Oh well, I was there already and a culinary adventure is a culinary adventure even when there’s no pork. I ordered Nasi Campur Bali in this restaurant named Warung Makan Khas Bali Bli Nyoman.  Despite the fact that they replaced pork with chicken, the taste of my breakfast was really good. Good food helps us to have a good mood eh…and my good mood triggered me to seek Tugu Jagung.

Tugu Jagung or Corn Tower. Is giant corn good for pop corns?

Tugu Jagung or Corn Tower is a 15 meters height copper tower which of course looks like corn. This tower is one to replace the original one made from piles of corn. Once, this tower was viral in social media here and many people went there to put that corn tower (together with them) in a frame.  An iconic tower! Yes, you’re right. I visited this copper corn and took photos there.  Oh, I am like any other people eh… Hehehe…

After making a memory with Tugu Jagung, I started off to the R. Hamong Wardoyo Museum.  Located on Pandanaran Street No.19, this museum has a free entrance. All you have to do is just filling in their visitor book. This museum was built in the year 2015 and the name of the museum came from the name of the first regent of Boyolali who led after Indonesia proclaimed its independence.

"What are you looking at, Miss?" If the statue of Mr. R. Hamong Wardoyo could speak...

R. Hamong Wardoyo Museum has an appealing architecture, in my opinion. Dominated by the color white, this museum has collections that pretty much explain to us about Boyolali. What I saw first was collections of heritage items; old Hindus – Buddhist statues. Apart from statues, they also exhibited photos that showed the progress of  Boyolali and its regents from time to time, examples of local industry products, tools for farming, traditional clothes, and so on.

A photo of Soekarno, the 1st president of Indonesia, visited Boyolali in 1954. He was at the guard's post of Mount Merapi.

Statues you can see in R. Hamong Wardoyo museum

Who's that chick?

Boyolali has its local traditions and they put that as well in the museum.  I saw dioramas of Saparan Sebaran Apem Kukus Keong Mas and a traditional ceremony of Sedekah Gunung Merapi. Saparan Sebaran Apem Kukus Keong Mas is a thanksgiving day in Sapar month (the second month in Javanese calendar) in which thousands of steamed apem is given away. Apem is a traditional snack that looks like a mini thicker pancake made from rice flour.  People like to get this apem because they believe this apem will give them a good fortune. Sedekah Gunung Merapi is a traditional ceremony done in Sura month (the first month in Javanese calendar).  This ceremony is a tradition in which people pray to God asking for protection and safety.  In this tradition, people present alms and a buffalo’s head to God by putting them on the top of Mount Merapi. They present the buffalo’s head by giving it away through Mount Merapi’s crater. 

A diorama of Saparan Sebaran Apem Kukus. You can see here people are so enthusistic to get the steamed apem.

A diorama of Sedekah Gunung Merapi. The guys in traditional clothes walk to Mount Merapi.

On my way out of the museum, I saw a statue of a cow.  As information for you, Boyolali is the number one city of milk-producing in Central Java and no, I don’t have the photo of the cow, unfortunately. It’s a mystery why I didn’t take its photo. Uhmmm…

If you would like to know Boyolali better, you should visit this museum. You can learn about its history, its culture, its tradition, and many more. And… yes, you can take a picture with the cow I mention in the paragraph above, something that I missed to do while I was being there. 

In brief, my second day was pretty short. The rain fell in the afternoon but luckily I already reached the backpacker’s hotel I stayed in.  During my trip back to Selo, the sky was cloudy. It turned grey. What I was rather afraid of was the fog. Oh yes, the street was being grey and foggy and it limited my sight. Fog reminds me of horror movies and any other scary thing! The sky poured rain for the rest of the day and I had to be happy being in my room.

I left Selo in the northeast of Jogja early in the morning. The air was fresh and I could enjoy nature’s beauty while leaving the area. Overall I was happy spending time there. If you would like to visit Selo, make sure you plan it for summer. Oh, once again let me remind you! If you haven’t read my first blog post about my vacation in Selo, just click here.

Bye Selo, bye vacation. Welcome to the real life!

Thank you for reading.  I should have taken the cow’s photo. It was a real size chubby cow! Uh… Anyways, I am curious. Are you a museum person? If so, what’s your favorite museum to visit? Do you have any unforgettable experience with any cow? If so, what is it? Please share on the comment section below. I’d like to know your story.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you plan to visit Jogja later, maybe you would like to put Selo in the northeast of Jogja as well on your agenda.  

Stay safe, stay healthy, and see ya in my next blog post!