BATIK! So I’m pretty much a lost cause. As one of my travel buddies this trip put it – buying batik is a slippery slope. Seriously. You walk into a batik shop never thinking you’d have any reason to need some of the stuff, but it’s almost impossible to leave empty-handed. And then it becomes addictive and starts to spiral out of control and you end up trying to justify needing to buy $700.00 batik (I haven’t been able to justify it just yet, by the way), or exploring the industrial wasteland of Java’s northern coast in search of the stuff.
Cirebon and Pekolangan are otherwise pretty boring. I basically went out of curiosity and because I had a whole lot of time to roam around Java this trip. If batik doesn’t excite you and you’re not REALLY into Javanese history, there’s not too much point in going out of your way to either of these cities.
I did leave with a bag full of batik, including napkins similar to the ones that I fell in love with at the Babi Guling event I shot last month, so it would be hard to say that my time was completely wasted there :)
Next up – I’ll finally get to the pretty parts of the trip!
