Malioboro

Malioboro

In Yogyakarta, the city of memories as people name it, there is a legendary shopping area called Malioboro. The name is adopted from British colonial who occupied Yogyakarta in 1811-1816 named Marlborough.

Malioboro was deliberately built at the of Yogyakarta by the Indies government at early 19th century as the center of economic and administrative activities. Symbolically, the area also aimed to compete with domination of Sultan Mataram with his luxurious palace.

For that purpose, the Indies government then built: Vredeburg Fort [1765, now serves as a museum and public tourism arena], Colonial Residency Palace [now the President's Residence, Gedung Agung, in1832], Beringharjo Market, Garuda Hotel [ a place for colonial elites to stay overnight and assemble] and Malioboro shopping area itself. The buildings of the colonial remains in Malioboro area the silent witnesses of the journey of the so called city of students. In the future, this area is planed to be a pedestrian area in order to reduce the city's traffic jam and polution.

As a tourism area, Malioboro offers various shoping activities, from a la Malioboro traditional ways of shopping to many types of modern shopping activities. An example of the former is the bargaining process for souvenirs sold by the vendors lining up the sidewalk. They offer various kinds of souvenirs and handicrafts made of silver, clay, batik, wood, leather, etc. However, do not be surprised if, for instance, a vendor charges Rp 50.000 for a souvenir you are interested in. You should bargain for it, The Price is likely to drop drastically to, for instance, Rp 10.000. This is also applicable when tourists visit Beringharjo Traditional Market located in the same area as Malioboro. This is the uniqueness of Malioboro shopping traditional.