We stayed two nights in Solo at a beautiful hotel called the Royal Surakarta Heritage Hotel. Below are some photos of the hotel and our evening out at a local bar (where we karaoked!) and some street shots. After we went to the restaurant/bar/singing spot, we headed to an outdoor market. There were hundreds and hundreds of people and motorbikes there. After a few minutes, it was too much for me so we headed back to the hotel for a nightcap.
Lobby 
View from our floor 
Dining room 
They had plenty of unique statues, I’m not one of them 
One Solo, a restaurant and bar we went to 
Drinkin’ time 
The band but anyone could get up and sing or dance 
Street scene 
They had so many beautiful streets 
I was not happy to see this poor little guy. 
B&W street scene 
Street 
Clint 
After the bar we hit the outdoor street market, it was packed! 
One morning outside our hotel a man had this little fenced in area, inside were baby chicks, all dyed different colours. Poor things, that can’t be good for them 
A piece I liked
It was an great city, lots to see and do. We did a Batik class at Batik Mahkota Laweyan, not very well but we did it ! Afterwards we went to an Triwindu Antique Market where I bought a skirt. There was a lot of things I would like to have purchased but for two reasons I did not. One, we are downsizing our stuff in our house and secondly, we had one suitcase each for a two month trip so we really had no room. But… I loved wandering around this building where they had floors of STUFF.
Heading in for our Batik class 
Clint hard at work 
Me, not sure what’s going on 
Our group 
Outside the Antique Market 
So much stuff 
More stuff. 
Still more to write about Solo, we did a lot and saw a lot and it was a city I really enjoyed. More to come!
Stuff! So much stuff that you wanted, Susan! What a beautiful place, so much color and beauty. ☺️
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There were two floors of stuff lol Not sure I said that or not in my post, it was fantastic !
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I totally understand what you mean about thinning things out at home Susan, I’m a Minimalist.
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I’m getting there!
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It’s easy. Don’t need it, sell it or donate it.
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Tha antique market looks really interesting. Did you find any bargains?
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Oh I could have found lots ! But our suitcases were small and full. I bought myself a skirt and that was it 😦
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Your hotel, as usual, looks beautiful and large. You could go sightseeing in the hotel lobby from the looks of it, so no wonder you came back here for a nightcap to escape the market and crowds outside as you still got the uniqueness of Indonesia without all the noise. So many colorful things in this city as well. The batik class looks fun – all these activities like the pottery making, batik class and karaoke really give you a fulfilling tour agenda. The market stuff and street scene are great shots Susan. Like you, I feel sorry for the dyed chicks and the poor monkey in the small cage.
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I can only take so many crowds and people! It was nice to have our hotel close by. I love doing any kind of crafts, at home as well. Are you still doing sketching?
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Yes, if you had crowds all day while touring, then at night too – plus there would be more people at night in the streets, locals as well as tourists.
Yes, I am taking a landscape course with feedback right now as a matter of fact. We started October 15th and our last assignment is due on American Thanksgiving, November 26th. We are in week #2 – we are still doing landscape in pencil and/or charcoals and next week will be in watercolors or pick your medium. I will likely pick watercolor paint, although before the class was offered (same artist I have taken three or four online courses with before), I decided I was going to try pastel pencils and watercolor pencils for a change. I bought them from Amazon to try over the Winter, then Julia offered her landscape class. So far it’s been a little boring to be honest – thumbnail sketches, then sketches of landscape in black & white. Next assignment comes on Friday.
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I hope you post some of your finished photos, I would like to see them Linda 🙂
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I will Susan – I think I’ll do a look-back post the first week of January. I’m hoping week #3 is better and we actually do some painting and not just pencil sketches.
I saw a news story on ABC News tonight … I copied this paragraph from the story because can you just imagine all these cruise ship passengers, stranded because the ship couldn’t go on due to high fuel costs. This was not just a one-time cruise; people sold their homes to live on this cruise ship the rest of their lives as they traveled around the world …
“A U.S. cruise ship on an around-the-world voyage suspended its three-year voyage in Cambodia due in part to fuel costs. The MV Odyssey’s operator had offered to “make the Odyssey your permanent home,” with the purchase price of a suite for the lifetime of the vessel starting around $230,000. The ship has been carrying 203 passengers, mostly Americans, along with 156 crew members, according to Cambodian officials. It has a 650-passenger capacity. Its Florida-based operator, Villa Vie Residences, said it sought to reduce fuel consumption by slowing the itinerary and spending more time in port, but was unable to offset the surging costs.”
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Isn’t that something? Clint and I talked about that a couple of times, living on a ship but I really like my house and I’m not ready to give it up. But it would be kinda cool to live like that. I hope those people get their money back !
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I was shocked that the cruise line would have kicked everyone off the boat since some people sold their homes for this trip and were now homeless. Why didn’t the ship just dock in Cambodia and everyone continue to live there until the ship line came up with a plan? They made them leave in Cambodia so there would be a language barrier as well, although you said a lot of people speak English. For a three-year, around-the-world trip, if you sold your home with the intention of living in an apartment or with family at the end, would be one thing, but still …. I hope they get their money back as well. Today I saw a story that the food quality had deteriorated in the last month … no reason given, but maybe they were trying to save on food, to use on fuel to power the ship?
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Yes I think they said that higher fuel costs were the reason but still, where are these people supposed to go. A lot of people speak English in Cambodia, we liked it there and you can live there fairly cheaply.
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I wonder how many people will just stay there since there is no language barrier and you can live cheaply. They got a raw deal at any rate. I’d say they should have retained an attorney while they were leaving en masse to file a class action suit, but now they’re here, there and everywhere, so that’s unlikely to even sue the company that owns the cruise line.
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