Where does the sun rise

At a Javanese restaurant in Jogja:
waiter (greeting us on the resto door): "Where would you like to seat?..."
us: "um...." (still looking around)
waiter: "perhaps ... in the east wing?"
us: "umm..." (looking around for the 2nd time, when in fact we are wondering where east is)waiter:"or perhaps the west?"
us:(oh why dont he just point the finger where east is)
us: "this side" (whichever is that , east or west)

That's how Javanese folks use direction, ingenious but also confusing for us who dont know where the sun rises in this area (tourist me...) ... especially when the sun is right above our head & we were about to have lunch, how are we supposed to know where the east is :) ?