Jalan Malioboro, Yogyakarta

Malioboro Street, or Jalan Malioboro, is the iconic walkway in the center of the city of Yogyakarta, the skyline dominated (and how!) by the active volcano Mount Merapi, which is extremely fond of belching its contents unfailingly at frequent intervals.

This, and the tsunamis that this region is notorious for, have meant nothing but hardships for the inhabitants of this charming country, but still it is difficult to come across a single human being here who is surly or stuck up. They are in fact the exact opposite—smiling and friendly—and seem to be at a certain kind of peace with themselves, living each day to the fullest, knowing that peril is just around the corner, and that they may have to evacuate at the earliest sign of a fresh volcanic eruption.

I therefore also slowed my own pace, and did not plan to do anything more than just walk around several times during the course of the single day and night I spent here- just looking to get my dinner and breakfast before making my way back equally slowly to the airport to catch my return flight in the early evening. The lampposts on the street, the stately public buildings, the hawkers with their wares of traditional textiles and handicrafts, a certain shop selling the masks that every tourist is urged to have at least one of, and of course a very charming cafe called “KopiPakPos”—where one simply must have the local spice infused strong brew- would forever be embedded deep in my memory, invoking dreamy images of the most magical place I have ever known.