Sosrowijayan, present and past

Sosrowijayan, present and past

Asip A. Hasani, Contributor, Yogyakarta

"Mister, Mister, cheap room in Sosrowijayan, Mister! Only Rp 15,000, follow me!" a teenage boy in flip-flops said in pidgin English to a backpacker at the Tugu railway station one afternoon.

The young male tourist, who had just got off a Jakarta train, listened to the boy attentively and curiously -- either for not understanding the offer or for the amazement over the cheap price mentioned.

Before long the tourist was following the boy southward, leaving the train station and going deep into a kampong through narrow alleys. Both were silent during the walk to the famous Sosrowijayan area, which is separated from the Tugu station by a street.

When the two reached a small homestay, the boy shouted up to the owner: "Mbak (elder sister) Tutik, iki aku gowo londho!" he exclaimed with a thick Javanese accent, which meant, more or less, "Sister, I have brought a foreign guest."

Tutik came down to greet her potential guest. She explained to him in fluent English what he would get if he stayed in her homestay.

The hostess let him take a look at a room before he finally agreed to rent one for Rp 15,000 a day.

Not far from the two, the boy smiled as he calculated how much he would receive from mbak. Usually, he was paid Rp 5,000 commission for one guest.

The boy is one of the teenagers in Sosrowijayan who work as "tourist hunters", earning money after school by offering rooms to tourists arriving at the railway station.

Their numbers have dwindled recently as homestays in Sosrowijayan have seen a sharp decline in occupancy rates. This is related to the fewer number of tourists, including foreign travelers, visiting Yogyakarta.

The early 1980s to the mid-1990s were the golden years for residents living along the alleys of Sosrowijayan.

Homestays, money changers, travel agencies, art shops, restaurants and other businesses were run by locals. Rooms here were much cheaper than at other homestays in different parts of Yogyakarta, like on Jl. Solo or Jl. Urip Sumohardjo. Guests were charged between Rp 20,000 and Rp 35,000 per day. Only a few small hotels along the main streets of Jl. Sosrowijayan and Jl. Pasarkembang offered rooms for more than Rp 40,000.

During these years Sosrowijayan was never without tourists, especially backpackers from Australia, America and Europe. They were seen every day around the area.

"Around July and August, my restaurant was always full of customers. Some even had to sit on the floor on mattresses when all the tables were full," said Tutik, who has run her homestay and small restaurant serving Western food since the early 1980s.

Sosrowijayan, known as the International Kampong, in fact takes up only a half of the entire area of kampong Sosrowijayan. The international part is officially named Sosrowijayan Wetan, or East Sosrowijayan. The other half is Sosrowijayan Kulon, or West Sosrowijayan, and is renowned as one of Yogyakarta's oldest red- light districts.

As a tourist destination, Sosrowijayan is very strategic given its location in the heart of the city. From this area one only needs to walk some 10 minutes to get to the Sultan's Palace.

It's also just a stone's throw from the famed Jl. Malioboro.

Tourism in the area began in 1920 when one of the oldest hotels in Yogyakarta was built, the Aziatic Hotel. The hotel was owned by an Indian businessman who was married to a Javanese woman. Although showing its age, the Aziatic is still in business.

The hospitality shown by locals to foreign tourists has made the area a second home for travellers.

In Sosrowijayan, tourists feel as if they're part of the kampong. Some locals have even fallen in love and married tourists.

"At least six people my age now live abroad with their girlfriends who once stayed here. Some of them have gotten married and have children," says Wisnu, chief of the Sosrowijayan Wetan youth organization and a tourist guide since he was in elementary school.

Many tourists stay in Sosrowijayan for a long time. Some even make use of their rooms in Sosrowijayan as a home base to where they will return from their travels across Indonesia.

"It is very nice to take a break here after my long and exhausting trip to some Asian countries," says Frank Schneider, a German who has stayed at the Gandhi homestay for two weeks and has been traveling across Asia for one and a half years. Schneider plans to continue his journey for another six months.

The Bali bombings were a heavy blow for Sosrowijayan, as well as other tourist destinations throughout the country. Some homestays and hotels managed to survive by cutting already cheap rates and targeting domestic tourists. Others went out of business.

"We use all of our monthly income just to pay operational expenses such as electricity," said Arifin. He is the third generation to own the Aziatic Hotel, but the family plans to sell the hotel soon.

Arifin, like many other Sosrowijayan residents, could only sigh when asked to talk about their economic prospects. The local government is not doing much to help them maintain Sosrowijayan, and even less to protect the historic buildings scattered around the area.

The government's new visa policy is just one more problem for them to try and deal with as they try and maintain Sosrowijayan's reputation as a paradise for budget travellers.