Bedog River Arts Festival

The people of Yogyakarta welcome The Javanese New Year 1 Syuro with a ritual called 'topo mbisu' which is to walk around the palace of the Sultan without talking anything. It is to symbolize that people should actually introspect and contemplate as well continuously in order to get better and better to themselves as well as to the nature and environment. This arts performance is actually                                                                                                      to celebrate the relationship between human, nature and the river, held once a year. This year on November 29 to December 1 the performance will be held at a natural outdoor landscape around the river of Bedog in Banjarmili Dance Studio, Gamping ,Yogyakarta. It would be attended by more than 25 performers from Japan, Myanmar, Venezuela, The Netherlands, and Indonesia.

The 'theme' of the 2012 festival is "Connecting Creative Generation in the middle of Diversity" ,

It also will be enriched by photo exhibition/competition, workshop, poetry reading, theater play, music concert, and traditional performances.

Street and Traffic

Upon arrival, visitors especially foreigners would likely feel a bit astonished or, even dumbfounded when witnessing the colorful street of Yogya. You will suddenly be grabbed by the honking horn of hanky-panky motor bikers, which clogging up every space in the street even in an alley.
They move around weaving their way through the traffic snakely almost everywhere. You may also hear strange noises like tok2 or ting2 or probably a musical sounds which come from food sellers, followed by a strong smell of chicken BBQ or fried catfish. Food sellers are almost everywhere with various tastes, you just name it.
While you enjoy food, street musicians will be approaching you and play their simple music, it is not a 'pro bono' action, you may give a charity to them. Like it or not you would also find murals in every space in the city, commercial ads from viagra, cigarettes, cars, homes, not to mention political ads. They're all mixed and vibrate the city of Yogya. Bon Voyage !!!