finding batik in pekalongan

i had a high expectation to pekalongan city. a small city in central java which famous with its batik pesisiran. they say batik pekalongan is very beautiful. and indeed, i've seen it a lots in magz and books. moreover, they claim themselves as the world city of batik. 

as i arrived there, i went to pesindon batik village and kauman batik village, both most recommended must-go-batik-place in pekalongan based on the information on the internet. 

the variety of batik were not as i expected. i expected the shops sells bright or pastel colorful flowery batiks in wide range price and quality like i saw in magazine and books about batik. but i was wrong! the batik were far from my expectation. the cheapest batik cap i found was idr 100000. compared with others batik city in jogja, solo, or cirebon, i still can find a medium quality batik in nice design at just idr 50000 to 75000! seemed they don't produce the batik but bought it in a large number to be sold again. 

lucky me, i had a becak driver who told and took me to the biggest batik producer in pekalongan. putri diana batik. putri diana batik is located in patiunus, pekalongan. it stands on a white wide colonial style building. the shop itself
has a nice ambiance with a wide range of batik designs in wide range of prices which meet my expectation plus nice staffs. i was happy. 

the other good batik shop is lu-za batik. lu-za is an exclusive batik shop which sells high quality batik. my suggestion, if you want to buy a medium quality batik, it's better to buy it at pesindon or kauman batik villlage. lu-za sells at a price twice as expensive than the same batik as i saw in pesindon. but if you want to buy a fancy, good quality batik, lu-za is the right place. most of their collections comprise of pastel-coloured batik.  

google never told me the two shops i mentioned above (ok i blamed google). when i browsed about recommended batik shops in pekalongan, pusat grosir batik megono was always appeared on the first page. the fact is, it's not recommended at all. pusat batik megono is a complex of batik shops in one area. most of them sells batik printing, which in my opinion it's not a batik. some of the shops sell batik cap and batik tulis but in higher price than it's supposed to be. not worthed. 

overall, i was pretty disappointed on my trip to pekalongan. based on experiences, i enjoyed solo and cirebon much than pekalongan. same small city but they're more alive.

well that's my batik trip in pekalongan. one more thing. moral message of this trip: trust the mamang becak, not the google ;)

riri