Malioboro... Its time to shopping......

Malioboro Street is a major shopping street in Yogyakarta, Indonesia; the name is also used more generally for the neighborhood around the street. It runs north from the Yogyakarta kraton (palace) towards the roads that lead to either SurakartaMagelang to the north, as well as Mount Merapi. This is in itself is significant to many of the local population, the north south orientation between the palace and the volcano being of importance. to the east, or The street is the centre of Yogyakarta's largest tourist district; many hotels and restaurants are located nearby. Sidewalks on both sides of the street are crowded with small stalls selling a variety of goods. In the evening several open-air streetside restaurants, called lesehan, operate along the street.Less obvious to the tourist, but more for the local population, side streets, lanes and structures that lead on to Malioboro are as important as the street itself.

The street was for many years two-way, but by the 1980s had become one way only, from the railway line (where it starts) to the south - to Beringharjo markets, where it ends. The largest, oldest Dutch era hotel, Hotel Garuda, is located on the street's northern end, on the eastern side adjacent to the railway line. It has the former Dutch era Prime Minister's complex, the kepatihan, on the eastern side.

For many years in the 1980s and later, a cigarette advertisement was placed on the first building south of the railway line - or effectively the last building on Malioboro, which advertised Marlboro cigarettes, no doubt appealing to locals and foreigners who would see a pun with name of the street with a foreign product being advertised.

It does not reach the walls or grounds of the Yogyakarta palace, as Malioboro ceases in name adjacent to the very large market Beringharjo (on the eastern side as well). From this point the street changes name and has on the western side the former Governors residence, and on the eastern side the old Dutch Fort Vredenburg.Stretching on imaginary poles connecting Yogyakarta Sultan Palace, Tugu and the peak of Merapi Mountain, this street forms trading locality after Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono I developed means of trading through traditional market since 1758. After 248 years, the place still persists as a trading area; it even becomes the icon of Yogyakarta, known as Malioboro.Located around 800 meters from Yogyakarta Sultan Palace, this place was always crowded with flowers each time the Palace held ceremonies. Malioboro that in Sanskrit means bouquet serves as a basis for naming this street.

Framed by shops, offices, restaurants, star hotels and historical buildings, the street that once functioned as struggling center during the second Dutch military aggression in 1948 was once a place of wandering for the artists joining together in Persada Studi Klub (PSK) community led by Umbul Landu Paranggi since 1970s to around the end of 1990s.