When in Yogya...go for a becak ride!

When in Yogya...go for a becak ride!

And so began a crazy becak ride...there always seems to be some element of confusion when it comes to my travel stories! Is it just me!? :/

But what else does one do in Yogya...? A crazy beck ride must be on the itinerary! ;)


I should note here (for those readers that may not know what a 'becak' actually is)...a becak is a traditional form of transport with three wheels, in other Asian countries they can be called; trishaw and/or rickshaw. There are various different types of becak in Indonesia such as the motorised becak (I like this one!).

Becak in Yogyakarta

Of course I met the Pak - becak driver on Jalan Malioboro and as pre-empted, he wanted to take me on a tour of the usual tourist places; Kings Palace (Keraton), Kota Gede etc, but I thought I would give him a totally different ride for the morning...something a little unusual, off-beat perhaps!? I asked him to take me to the stadium!

Stadium?! He looked at me with a puzzled expression.

Thus I explained to the Bapak that I had seen some street art on the wall of the stadium when I went past in the taxi from the airport and I wanted to take photos of it.

Then began the confused conversation...he told me that there was no street art on the stadium wall, and I tried to suggest that perhaps there was another stadium. He assured me that there was only one stadium and there was no street art on the walls. I was confused, as the walls I had seen the street art on could not be anything else other than a stadium! Anyhow, we took off anyway...I had no idea where we were going.

Although it was still quite early, peak hour traffic had begun...and the ride was busy, long and quite difficult for the Pak at times, as I watched other traffic; buses, cars, motorbikes and bicycles whizz right past us! I still had no idea where we were actually going but I sat back and enjoyed the ride anyway...the cool breeze when we picked up pace was so refreshing...so early in the morning but the suns rays were beating down so hot! 

After what felt like a long ride, we started slowing down and ahead of us, I could see some street art under a bridge. God bless the sweet Bapak for taking me to a place where there was some street art...he couldn't take me to the stadium but he did his best to please! And I was excited! Here was some really cool street art right here in front of me and I jumped off the becak and started taking photos and the more I walked, the more art I found! Huge, bright, beautiful street art on every column of the bridge! :)

The art was a fusion of traditional and modern, widely based on the wayang stories and characters but painted in modern colours and motifs.

Love the inclusion of 'Ronald McDonald!'

Street Art of wayang characters and becak parked in front!

When I'd finished taking photos and jumped back on the becak, I asked the Bapak where to next? He replied; to the stadium! I said; but I thought there was no street art at the stadium?! I think I was now the one with the puzzled expression. 

We passed a stadium, indeed there was no street art on the walls of that stadium. We continued on and eventually I could see big walls covered in bright street art! It appears there are two stadiums in Yogya! I did notice while I was busy taking photos of the street art under the bridge, the Bapak was busy chatting to a local guy about stadiums! 

He stopped by the edge of one side of the stadium and I walked along in my glee taking photos of all the different art! It was full on and appeared to never end! I was happy we had eventually got to my planned destination and the Bapak was pretty chuffed he had found the second stadium, which is actually the old stadium of Yogya! Had he forgotten about it?! ;)

Snapshots of some of the street art I saw:

*I'm saving all the best shots for a book on street art of Yogya! ;)