Yogyakarta - Indonesia
4/19/05
From the train station we took a rickshaw to the hotel area.
There, we arranged transport to visit Borobudur in the afternoon and for the next day we scheduled to visit Prambanam and to climb the volcano Merapi.
We only had time for lunch before heading to Borobudur, 42 Km north-west of Yogya. It is the greatest Buddhist relics of South-East Asia. It was built between 750 and 850 AD. This temple must have used a huge work force, as some 60,000 cubic meters of stone had to be hewn, transported and carved during its construction.
Many Indonesian students were walking around the place trying to talk to the tourists as requested by their English teachers. We answered some questions on their notebooks, so that they would get a better score on their homework. The goal of their teachers was to make them practice English, but most of them were just handing the notebooks to the tourists without saying a word of English besides thank you. :D
We stayed wandering around the place until the end of the day before going back to Yogya. At night we were so tired from the long train trip of the night before that we didn't do anything special.
4/20/05
Since we had already arranged to visit Prambanam in the afternoon and to climb Merapi at night we had only the morning available to visit Yogya, so we decided to get up early. We left by 8:00 am for the Sultan Palace. On our way, Angie, on her quest for local food, tried Nasi Gudek, a Jogyakarta specialty, which consists of plain rice, a kind of tofu boiled with jackfruit and spices accompanied of beef. It is common to eat that for breakfast around here as Angie did.
The travel agent that sold us the tours to Borobudur and Prambanam was around and convinced us to visit an art school to see the Batik painting before going to the palace. Batik is a fabric painting technique that uses wax to protect some part of the cloth before soaking it in paint. The waxed part do not hold paint and it is removed later creating a pattern. The process is repeated as many times as colors are used to produce the result. This is widely used in clothes and to frame as a decorative piece of art. Done with the art school, we resumed the original plan, the Sultan Palace. It is funny to see the same story told again with a slightly different flavor. Kings, Pharaohs, Maharajas and, here in Indonesia, Sultans, are the rich and rulers. Another interesting detail is that they all had harems. After that we walked to the Water Palace, a place with swimming pools for the Sultan's wives entertainment.
To get there we crossed the Bird Market; as the name suggests the place is full of birds for sale, not many different kinds though: chickens, peacocks, canaries and pigeons (Thierry, you would have a lot of fun here).
We also saw a puppet maker who explained to us how he is making them and showed the traditional Javanese puppets used in the Ramayana tale, the most famous story in Java. There are more then 200 different characters.
When we were finished with the Water Palace, it was time to go back to the hotel, check out and wait for our van to go to Prambanam. It is a complex of temples situated 17km north-east of Yogya and it was built between the 8th and 10th centuries AD. It is the best example of Java's period of Hindu cultural development.
There were again hundreds of students around trying to catch a tourist to practice English. We gave some autographs and met Andre and Andrew.
They spent most of the time with us in the temple chatting, asking about Brazil and France and telling us about their life and attempts for a better future. It was really interesting to chat the whole afternoon with locals and learn about their country. On the way back to the hotel we spoke to Ina, a Dutch girl, who got robed in Bali and who gave us some hints about the places to visit there.
Back in Yogya, we wandered around for a couple of hours before departing at 10 pm, as scheduled, to Selo, the village at the bottom of the volcano. The trip took almost 2 hours and we slept during almost the whole way. The plan was to be at the top of the volcano, which is still active, for sunrise. So, we started walking short after our arrival in Selo, before 1 am.
From the train station we took a rickshaw to the hotel area.
There, we arranged transport to visit Borobudur in the afternoon and for the next day we scheduled to visit Prambanam and to climb the volcano Merapi.
We only had time for lunch before heading to Borobudur, 42 Km north-west of Yogya. It is the greatest Buddhist relics of South-East Asia. It was built between 750 and 850 AD. This temple must have used a huge work force, as some 60,000 cubic meters of stone had to be hewn, transported and carved during its construction.
Many Indonesian students were walking around the place trying to talk to the tourists as requested by their English teachers. We answered some questions on their notebooks, so that they would get a better score on their homework. The goal of their teachers was to make them practice English, but most of them were just handing the notebooks to the tourists without saying a word of English besides thank you. :D
We stayed wandering around the place until the end of the day before going back to Yogya. At night we were so tired from the long train trip of the night before that we didn't do anything special.
4/20/05
Since we had already arranged to visit Prambanam in the afternoon and to climb Merapi at night we had only the morning available to visit Yogya, so we decided to get up early. We left by 8:00 am for the Sultan Palace. On our way, Angie, on her quest for local food, tried Nasi Gudek, a Jogyakarta specialty, which consists of plain rice, a kind of tofu boiled with jackfruit and spices accompanied of beef. It is common to eat that for breakfast around here as Angie did.
The travel agent that sold us the tours to Borobudur and Prambanam was around and convinced us to visit an art school to see the Batik painting before going to the palace. Batik is a fabric painting technique that uses wax to protect some part of the cloth before soaking it in paint. The waxed part do not hold paint and it is removed later creating a pattern. The process is repeated as many times as colors are used to produce the result. This is widely used in clothes and to frame as a decorative piece of art. Done with the art school, we resumed the original plan, the Sultan Palace. It is funny to see the same story told again with a slightly different flavor. Kings, Pharaohs, Maharajas and, here in Indonesia, Sultans, are the rich and rulers. Another interesting detail is that they all had harems. After that we walked to the Water Palace, a place with swimming pools for the Sultan's wives entertainment.
To get there we crossed the Bird Market; as the name suggests the place is full of birds for sale, not many different kinds though: chickens, peacocks, canaries and pigeons (Thierry, you would have a lot of fun here).
We also saw a puppet maker who explained to us how he is making them and showed the traditional Javanese puppets used in the Ramayana tale, the most famous story in Java. There are more then 200 different characters.
When we were finished with the Water Palace, it was time to go back to the hotel, check out and wait for our van to go to Prambanam. It is a complex of temples situated 17km north-east of Yogya and it was built between the 8th and 10th centuries AD. It is the best example of Java's period of Hindu cultural development.
There were again hundreds of students around trying to catch a tourist to practice English. We gave some autographs and met Andre and Andrew.
They spent most of the time with us in the temple chatting, asking about Brazil and France and telling us about their life and attempts for a better future. It was really interesting to chat the whole afternoon with locals and learn about their country. On the way back to the hotel we spoke to Ina, a Dutch girl, who got robed in Bali and who gave us some hints about the places to visit there.
Back in Yogya, we wandered around for a couple of hours before departing at 10 pm, as scheduled, to Selo, the village at the bottom of the volcano. The trip took almost 2 hours and we slept during almost the whole way. The plan was to be at the top of the volcano, which is still active, for sunrise. So, we started walking short after our arrival in Selo, before 1 am.
posted by Adriano and Angie | 9:45 AM
1 Comments:
From Monday to Friday, it has been so busy at work these couple of weeks, and time has not allow us to take a break in between. Busy from work to home, home to work, once in a while friends on schedules, however, week after week, there are times just don't know what I have done or accomplished. All that I can only tell myself, one day I will be out there to see the world... and hopefully, the expectation won't let me down when that day is here.
By the way, Danny say: "see you in Peru!"
You guys look health, and relaxed on this trip in Idonesia. As always, pictures are great! I have to catch-up with my reading... Enjoy the moment, enjoy whatever you have, you are doing great! We wish you the best!
Will continue to write to you soon... we really miss the camping trip in Brooklyn!
Love,
Doris & Danny
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