Days 131-137: Java Temples
Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia
We returned to Indonesia – and Java specifically – for one main reason: to visit the Buddhist temples of Borobudur and the Hindu temples of Prambanan.
The city of Yogyakarta (or Yogya for short) is considered the cultural hub of Java and attracts a fair number of tourists. So it came as no surprise that there were a fair number of folks trying to separate those tourists from their money. One particular method we found everywhere were touts pushing the “special batik art exhibition” that was leaving the country, but we still had a chance to buy! We heard it so often that we just started to laugh.
Considered a part of Yogya’s cultural heritage, the becak has not been outlawed as it has in most large cities (although it should be). A becak is a large tricycle with a bench seat mounted in the front and the driver will gladly pedal you to your requested destination, or at least a batik shop if one is near-by. There are at least four becak drivers per tourist, and they are under the impression that foreigners’ legs do not function for more than 10 feet. This explains why you will receive multiple offers from consequitive becak drivers, even when they see you decline all previous offers.
“You don’t want to walk there. It’s VERY far!” Becaks lined up waiting for a fare.
The Hindu temples of Prambanan are less than 30 minutes away from Yogya, but because of the convoluted public transportation arrangements of most Indonesian cities, it takes over 2 hours to get there using public transport. One nice thing about the frequent stops is the musical interludes provided by groups of guys with instruments asking only small change in return. The long trip was worth it. The main temple is dedicated to the (many) incarnations of Shiva and there are smaller ‘candi’ dedicated to other gods and characters.
One of the smaller candi at Prambanan.
The Prambanan site was littered with piles and piles of unassembled stones that will easily double the number of temples when they figure out how to put it all back together. What had already been assembled was quite spectacular. There were temples dedicated to a host of Hindi gods and scenes from the Ramayana were depicted on the inside of two of the temples’ balconies.
Kelly follows the exploits of Rama.
That night we returned to see a Javanese rendition of the Ramayana “ballet” performed with the illuminated Prambanan temples serving as a backdrop for the open-air theater. We couldn’t think of a better venue to see the Ramayana, especially considering it only cost $3 a ticket.
Nice stage backdrop.
We have eaten very well on Java. One of the local specialties is shown below. In some cases, however, even our “mastery” of veggie keywords hasn’t quite panned out. Example: in a restuarant where English isn’t spoken, they gave us a piece of paper to write down our order (this is a common practice). So we ordered fried rice “vegetarian” without meat, chicken or fish – all in Indonesian. So, we were a bit surprised when the order came out with ham. While technically we didn’t exclude ham, we found this slightly funny given it is a muslim country after all.
Yum! Soy specialties simmered in sumptuous sauce.
The Buddhist temples at Borobudur were built 750-850AD and reconstructed around the turn of the last century. The main temple completely covers a large hill and has a commanding view of the surrounding area. The tout for the guide service was particularly amusing: “It will be just a pile of stones to you!” The scenes depicted on the various levels of the temple start out terrestrial and grow increasingly heavenly as you ascend towards enlightenment. By the top everybody is either flying or a half-person/half-bird creature. We met a Canadian that had taken a bad fall off the “enlightened” level; bad karma perhaps?
The top has one huge “stupa” and many smaller latticed stupas with a human-sized buddha in each. You have to reach in and touch their toes for good luck. Many of these smaller stupas were bombed in the 80’s by opponents of the president, but you’d never know seeing them now.
All of us know how difficult it is to pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time. Is this a Buddhist teaching?
“Hey laaadieees!” This guy with the mustache has been harrasing the ladies since well before the 1970s.
Both of the temple complexes have mazes of hawker stalls that would make any Las Vegas casino designer proud. The misdirecting ‘exit’ signs, physical obstructions, and labyrinthine alleys make sure you see every piece of kitch available before returning to daylight.
We caught a traditional dance performance at the sultan’s palace in Yogya. Marcus’ favorite performance was the ‘dance off’ with knives between two elderly ladies. Javanese court dancers don’t die of old age; they are killed in dance-offs! A few centuries ago, the sultan had a private “water castle” complete with three swimming pools for his harem to frolic and an underground mosque. The Escher-esque mosque seems to be the spot for wedding photos – even for non-muslims.
“I do.”
We caught an overnight train from Yogya to Jakarta, which brings up the generally painful subject of transportation in Java. The various modes of transport available all have their pluses and minuses.
- By becak: Covered above.
- By foot: It’s free! But not understood by locals who think that only poor people walk because they have to. But maybe they have seen the state of the “sidewalks” – and that’s a generous term. We saw one tourist take a serious dive while walking at night because he didn’t see one of the many huge holes. Crossing a busy street is suicide; use a local upstream as a shield.
- By bus and minibus: The buses all load at the same place and leave when full. So you’re never sure which bus will be heading out first. There is no limit to the number of passengers or cargo, but they tend to be cheap if you know what the fare should be (you’ll be gouged if you don’t). The minibuses also double as school buses. So when school gets out at 11am things can get a bit crowded.
- By rail: There are three classes: economy, business, and executive. Economy gets you contact with the ground with at least one foot, but the rest of you is supported by mass of humanity sharing the car with you. Even when filled well past capacity, the food hawkers manage to climb through and over to sell their wares. Even more impressive was the five piece band – including an upright bass – that managed to find enough room to play a song (Marcus tipped these guys because he was so impressed). These trains are hot and smokey with occasionally running fans. Business class tends to be less crowded but that still doesn’t guarantee you a seat. Still no AC. Executive class – luxury! You get a seat in an air-conditioned, non-smoking car. But you find out at the end that the pillows and blankets they hand out cost extra. Not all classes are available on all trains, so we ended up in more economy and business trains than we wanted. Regardless of what class you’re in, the trains can still be many hours behind schedule. For one trip we crawled out of the station at a pace comparable to a slow walk and found out that someone had stolen part of the track in the night.
On our walk to catch the airport bus in Jakarta, we were held up by military police next to the US embassy (which looked like a fortified war time miltiary outpost). Luckily, one spoke English and told us “the president is coming.” After a short wait, President SBY’s motorcade passed by and wished us ‘bon voyage’.
Tags: Indonesia
Kelly & Marcus
July 30th, 2005 at 7:52 am
Awesome blog – thank you! Great pictures for my Ancient Civilizations classes too…. Sounds like the trip back to Indonesia was well worth it.
Travel safely xoxox
July 30th, 2005 at 9:31 am
Nice post Marcus. By the way, Budda was patting his head alright, but I don’t think that was his belly he was rubbing with the other hand…take another look.
Kim and I leave for Paris and Florence tomorrow morning, so if you hear a twitching and wrything sound coming from the West, it’s proabably Mom.
Jon
August 1st, 2005 at 4:54 am
Have a good trip Jon! The blog comments will be less colorful while you’re away. The burden falls to my dad and Mike. 🙂
August 7th, 2005 at 1:16 pm
Have I told you I’ve been giving in to the demi-baguette/hummus diet lately? Damn good!
Hope all is well.
August 7th, 2005 at 6:08 pm
Hadn’t looked at your blog in a while, MRO is bare days from launch and all has been in a typical whirl.
From your critters on day 84-93, you speculated about a National Butterfly. Had to Google to find out if the USA has such a thing — apparently not. Seems to be the province of the States (a States Rights issue?) Here’s a link listing State Butterflies:
http://www.netstate.com/states/tables/state_butterflies.htm
In looking for that, I discovered the truly appalling extremes that “State [whatever]s” go to: California has a State Soil. From an official State of California website:
“State Soil — The San Joaquin Soil was designated as the official state soil in 1997. The designation commemorates the completion of the state’s most comprehensive soil inventory and acknowledges the importance of soil.” !?
Many amazing pics; the book idea sounds good!
Cheers!
August 8th, 2005 at 5:49 am
Bryan – that was great about the butterflies. Who knew about the state dance? Good luck to you and the MRO team!
August 10th, 2005 at 6:21 am
Kiwon – Yum! Demi-baguette and hummus is the lunch of champions! I can’t wait to get to a former French colony for some good bread.
August 10th, 2005 at 3:57 pm
Demi-baguette? Amateurs.
Its a testament to the roasted red pepper hummus that I continued to eat it even after discovering it was completely molded over.
Anybody still eat at Burger Continental?