Tour de Java - Central Java

The next couple of days of my first tour we headed away from the sea to the cultural heart of Java and stayed in Yogjakarta, aka Jogja (for me, my second visit).

This visit had a few repeats from the first, but overall I got to see and do lots more than I was able to do on my first trip with my AIESEC friends as we were far too disorganized!

There was a very long day (pre-sunrise to post-sunset) that had us viewing ancient temples and enjoying splendid volcano views, and then a day of touring around the city and getting a taste of the culture and arts.

Our trip started with a longer than anticipated and bumpy bus ride and then a surprisingly quick and short trip by train. We stayed in this Jogja for 3 nights.

Jogja is a really cool city - its got more of an artsy, activist, youth feel mixed in with very traditional culture that people have a sense of pride about. In the area we stayed there were some really cool little restaurants and hangouts.

Our hotel was quite lovely! One little shot can be seen above. We all spent a littl emore time in this hotel than we wanted as we fought off various colds and sicknesses that caught up to us!

Our sightseeing began early in the morning with a hike up a mountain to get a view of the sun rising over Mt. Merapi (the volcano we hiked up and saw all the destruction by hot gases), and two other volcanoes whose names escape me. At the centre of 4 mountains/volcanos in Borododur - a 10th century Buddist temple. The early morning and was worth the views.

These are the ladies of the group - we have Bella from Australia in the pink, Betsy and Lynn in the back (left to right) from the United States, and Emma in the front from the UK.

This temple is called Borobudur and is a 9th century Buddhist temple that I found to be very impressive and interesting. From what I recall (again, its all from what I recall, so I’m sure I’ve remembered some of the details incorrectly!), it had been built on a lake and was meant to represent a lotus flower which is an important symbol in Buddhism and from looking at the countryside it must have been stunning in its day. After two centuries later, if that, a huge volcanic eruption buried it under ash and there it lay, for centuries, lost from time under a forest that took root. It was discovered again by the Dutch and restored several times and lasted terrorist attacks and earthquakes. Truly a magical story!

Some notes on its design - it did not use mortar or cement in its construction, but used interlocking block - which are helpful in an earthquake prone area. The other temple in the area – Prambanan which I visited last time as well – utilized a slightly more complicated puzzle-piece approach for its construction.

Stupas are an important symbol in this temple (and in Buddhism?) and we were told were modeled off of the Boddhi leaf. Significant things happened in Buddha’s life around the Boddhi tree.

The group of us minus our photographer looking silly in our sarongs at the top of Borodudur.

The temple was built with 3 levels, and as you circle around it tells the story of Buddha’s life. On this level you cannot see the above two, as you in the real world you cannot know what is after death. When you ascend up the very steep steps (meant to be large so you must bow your head as you go up), you can no longer see the earthly world (the lower level) or the uppermost level. When you are on the top (which represents reaching the end of your karmic lives (I think!) its very beautiful, and you have beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. Karma is an important concept in this religion, and I quite like the simplicity of it – basically what goes around comes aroundJ

I find Buddhism very interesting and am looking forward to learning more about it in Cambodia. As I am trying to read ‘The Art of Happiness’ from conversations with the Dali Lama, I hope to be able to derive meaning that I can apply to my life, without having to become a monk (which im not sure i can even do as a woman...).

In the afternoon we visited Prambanan (again), and it was lovely. Done this way, we caught the sunrise at Borodudur, and the sunset at Prambanan. Also, Im always skeptical of local guides, but from this trip I learned, they are usually worth it! If they are legit, they are very knowledgeable, and know all the good places for photos!

More interlocking brickwork (less successful here, as there has been a lot of damage due to earthquakes). Also, the puzzle-like nature of the architecture makes reconstruction very difficult. Modern software has helped with this, but it will take 100s of years to rebuild.

In the distance you can see the volatile Mt. Merapi.

An interesting picture showing some of the damage, and two Tibetan monks in the background:)

That evening we watched the Ramayana Ballet, which was very interesting. This is a very famous Hindu story that I have now seen redone in several different art forms (dance, puppetry, etc.). Its a love story and a power story, and has a monkey army and a lot of magic! It was very interesting needless to say - but a little tedious to watch if done in great detail though as its in Javanese.

This evening our local guide taught us some fun dinner table tricks that you will have to remind me to share with you when we meet again!

The next day we spent exploring around the city. We walked through a traditional market where food, crackers, spices, kitchenware, batik cloth and clothes, and medicine were sold. The Indonesian archipelago is known as the spice islands is very evident here with just about every spice I know and many more available!

There are all sorts of forms of transportation in Indonesia, and one of the traditional methods is a horse pulled cart, and a human powered buggy (guy pushing you in front on a bicycle). Mini-buses, and angkots or bemos, which are public transportation vans that can seat usually up to 12 if you are unlucky and essentially which I became well-acquainted with in Bekasi. But my favourite and the most fun – the motorbike! That evening I headed over to watch the wayang, traditional puppetry performance on the back of a motorbike – whoopee!

This here is Nyoman -our guide for the two week tour - amazing fellow that was so fun and knowledgeable.
Above is a delicious and very sweet coconut ball treat!

After a bit of shopping we walked around the Sultan’s palace (still a strong traditional authority) and Kraton an old water village – a walled city within the city really kind of like the Vatican! – where about 25 000 people still live today.




Tire chairs.
In here Nyoman, our faithful guide, led us to a really cool little restaurant where we relaxed and had some drinks and Sultan’s tea – a mix of ginger, secang wood, cinnamon, cardamom, and lemongrass. Incredibly tastey and healing! Also, in the market I bought some sultan style/Aladin pants – I suppose a bit of a theme had emerged!

In this sultans village, we once again were confronted with the fact that we were white giants - Simon can be seen here next to a 'regular' sized door, demonstrating the duck required to enter:)

That evening I headed to a Wayang show. The show was very interesting, quite confusing but an English-speaking guide helped me out. It was quite the performance that involved many musicians and singers. You could watch it front on and get a sense of the colours of the puppets, how the puppeteer manages the puppets and the whole show, or from behind and see the shadows and have all the nuts and bolts of the performance and the puppeteer be a mystery and just focus on the story.

That was the jist of my second trip to Jogja, and it was incredible! I will update soon on the next leg of the adventure!