When we moved into the house, we, a couple with two toddlers, fell in love at first sight with this house for having big garden, being well-ventilated and its colonial style. To suit with our amateur mix and match style of interior design, we added the house with some recycled wooden wall decorations, batik and antique furniture. We even made some of the furniture and decorations ourselves.
Having big windows in all over the space, the house is not provided with AC (partly also because we want to reduce the excess usage of electricity). A lot of openings typically found in colonial style houses would bring a lot of breeze in. You can also use the fan provided, if all the openings are not strong enough to help your fight against local temperature.
We provide tea and coffee for free during your stay. All you need to do is to boil the water in the kitchen. Equipped with basic cooking utensils and gas, our kitchen is also available to use at no additional cost. If you choose not to cook your own food, you can have your meals in warung Pak Kelik just in front of our house (very very affordable price) or go to main street Taman Siswa where you can have variety of menus from street vendors as well as well-established restaurants.
Some other services you can enjoy at our place are light breakfast (included in the booking) and laundry (at additional yet affordable price). To support the local economy, we use laundry service provided by our neighbors. While for the breakfast, we use local ingredients and traditional culinary heritage.
While you are embedded in our local environment, our internet/wifi connection, cable tv and daily newspaper (Kompas in Bahasa) will still enable you to stay connected with the wider world.
Our place is located in a kampung called Nyutran, which has historical links to the Nyutro soldier brigade. It was one of few elite brigades under Yogyakarta Sultanate (among 13 brigades in total). 'Nyutro' comes from the word "Panyutro', a village name in Madura, which was taken as a symbol of brotherhood between Adipate Cakraningrat and Sultan Amangkurat Agung (both lived in the 17th century). This Nyutro brigade also took part in the struggle against British colonial government (between 1811 and 1816) and during Diponegoro rebellion (between 1825 and 1830). In the early 20th century (1923-26), our kampung was also known as the basis for movement against colonial government. Five minute walk to the north, you can find Pendopo Taman Siswa where Soewardi Soeryaningrat (better known as Ki Hajar Dewantara) started his modern schooling system to challenge Dutch colonial government. His educational revolution is now commemorated annually as the day of national education. Occasionally, this Pendopo shows traditional art performance which you can attend mostly for free.
Our distance to main tourist destinations in the city centre (to the west) is only 3 km or less (Kraton, Taman Sari water castle, Alun-Alun Kidul, Pasar Ngasem, Pasar Beringharjo, Benteng Vredeburg, Taman Pintar dll) and similar distance to Kotagede, the old Mataram capital in the southeast. You can reach them in about 5 minute by motor bike, which you can rent from us at IDR 60,000 for 24 hours, or by bike at half that price. If you travel in groups, we can arrange your city tour in mini-vans or family car available at reasonable rates. If you like, we can add some extra cultural-political spices in the otherwise typically historical tour guide offers :-)
Our place is only 10 minute by taxi/car to/from Lempuyangan train station, or another 5 minute to/from Tugu/Yogyakarta train station. Meanwhile, it takes about 25 minutes to and from Adi Sucipto international airport.
If you take bus, it is about 10 minutes to/from Giwangan bus terminal.
From all these transportation hubs, you can take either taxi or motor taxi (ojek or gojek if you use its app). If time allows (and space available since we have only a small city car), we are more than happy to pick or drop you off at these hubs as complimentary services to our guests.
To get around the city, you can take TransJogja, a government managed public transport, with its nearest stop is only about 5 minute walk from our place. If you want to enjoy the city at slower pace, our doorman, Pakde Wagiyo, will also be happy to take you around with his becak at reasonable price. We also provide motorbikes for rent at sixty thousands rupiahs for twenty four hours, or if you wish, we can arrange car rental (mpv with driver/gasoline provided for traveling inside and around Jogja) for five hundred fifty thousand rupiahs per twelve hours.