Friends, prepare for an extra-long post. Yogyakarta – AKA “Jogja” – has got a lot going on, and this is just some of it (but it’s a lot).
This first batch is random – gelati, street art, in the van, and some lovely lotus blossoms at the entrance to the spectacular temple complex of Borobudur…
Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world, and has a fascinating history, having been lost and buried for centuries. Indonesia does a fantastic job in restoring, preserving, and presenting its historical treasures, and Borobudur is just an example. This batch starts from afar, including the Essig boys, our local tour guide, and the volcanos in the distance.
Further down, you’ll find pix of Prambanan temple and the architectural similarities are obvious. Buddhism and Hinduism share a lot, including aesthetics. What is amazing is that fact that Borobodur dates from the 800s CE, and Prambanan is even older. Borobodur sports over 2500 relief panels mostly telling the story of Siddhartha. Here are just a few, our guide, etc…
This batch features the stupas at the top of the temple, each containing a statue of the Buddha. As above, there’s a shot of the volcano, Mount Merapi…
More of Borobodur…
How about a nature interlude? Butterfly, dragonfly, small flowers, big leaves, and a fungus among us…
After Borobodur, some of us took a walking tour of the royal palace in Yogyakarta. We had a local guide dressed like a palace guard, and like other palace tours, saw not just the buildings, but clothes and table settings, etc…
Next, we visited a puppetry workshop, learning that some of them are made of buffalo hide, and take days to cut and paint. This batch includes a bit of the old neighborhood…
Next, now with a new and different local guide, we explored more of the royal palace, Taman Sari Yogyakarta, specifically the Umbul Binangun Bathing Pool, used by the sultan, his wives, and perhaps some courtesans. These buildings date back almost 300 years…
After a thorough exploration, we traveled back to our hotel via tuktuk, these more exposed than most…
That was our first full day in Jogja. That evening our group convened for dinner, and here are some more street art examples found along the way…
The next morning we got to take a bike ride through a more rural section of the Jogja area which included several stops along the way…
In addition to some cultural/historical stops, we learned about tempeh making from an award winning chef – and got to each some…
Moving on the building and construction trades, we learned about brick making. This batch also includes a cemetery, some locals, a poisonous snail, the Indonesian air force, and some bamboo toxins, etc…
Next, we took a coconut break at a fabric/textile shop, learned about the process of making batik, and met a local artist, Tatang Elmy Wibowo. I loved the guy, his carefree artistic style, and political statements, especially about environmental degradation and human hazards caused by mining, etc. I bought the orange volcano piece at the end of this batch…
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at an old colonial building for some coffee, some coffee tasting, and a bit of history…
All that and it wasn’t even noon yet. Back at the hotel, I took another swim, had some laundry done, and prepared for an afternoon activity – a trip to Prambanan temple, etc. Not only is this Hindu temple older than Borobodur, it is significantly older than Angkor Wat, and was the inspiration for its construction four centuries later! In this batch, I went hard on the interpretive signage. Read on…
Like Borobodur, Prambanan temple is large, spread out, and features a plethora of relief panels telling many stories from Hindu literature. There was some praying going on, and our local guide here was equipped with a flashlight for showing interior carvings – and bats…
More of Prambanan temple. the relief panels, and the bats…
More of Prambanan temple…
It was a rather long walk in the humid heat, by a couple more temples before we got to Candi Sewu, a Buddhist temple built in the 8th century. The process and necessity of restoration was more obvious here, and it was evident that the bats did not discriminate between Hinduism and Buddhism…
What a day! I didn’t have it in me to do the next optional activity, going to a Ramayana play. But I was able to join three of our group for a great dinner at the Mediterranea restaurant…
As I write these words from the train, we are on our way to the next destination: Seloliman Nature Reserve and the sacred volcano, Mt Penanggungan. More about that in my next post…