The majestic Prambanan Temple

A three-week late posting about our trip to Yogyakarta, Central Java.

DAY 3

On the third day of our stay in Yogya, we scheduled a visit to the Prambanan temple and the hometown village of my father-in-law.

It was cloudy and overcast the whole day, with some drizzles every now and then. It certainly was not a good weather to shoot photos, and I was kind of disappointed. There goes my chance to get good photos of the famous temple, but we must stick to the plan so off we went ahead with it.

The mysterious temple from a distance

The cool weather affected our mood. The group was pretty quiet after a short while, lost in their train of thoughts during our journey to the temple. However, as soon as we saw the tall tower of Prambanan, everyone went alive! How magnificent the Prambanan temple was seen from a far. The cool misty weather created a mysterious ambiance surrounding the temple. I imagined hundred of years ago, the King from SanjayaDynasty performed Hindu religious rites there, what a humbling feeling it must have been to witness the ritual.

Once we reach the temple complex, we could see some renovation works in progress. The temple is undergoing renovation as it was quite damaged when Mt. Merapi expelled its hot lava and hot clouds in 2010. Most parts of the temple was still accessible however some main chambers were closed to public for safety reason. We also needed to wear helmet during our visit.

Reconstruction and renovation works is underway

I learned during my conversation with my in-laws that my husband’s paternal granddad was one of the supervisors during the first reconstruction of Prambanan temple back in 1950s. Sadly, he died from a fall when he was on duty! May he rest in peace.

Look at these pictures, you can see how majestic the temple is!

With the majestic temple in the background

Errr...it is a steep climb! 

Such happy faces. You have never seen this kind of marvel, have you boy? 

What a beautiful background!

Donning a helmet for safety

Yours truly :)

After spending about one and a half hour around the temple, we left the the compound to pay our respect and say our prayers to my husband’s grandparents in the village cemetery located not far from the temple.

On our way to there, guess what we saw! A cow carriage! It was a carriage pulled by two cows, how wonderful to come across this traditional mode of transportation! Its bell jingled when the cows moved, what a unique sound it produced.  This type of carriage was a rare sight nowadays, even for village standard.

Oh dear...such a commotion when the carriage is making a U-turn!

Feels like a farmer boy? hehe

There were many of them in the open field!

We were able to overtake the carriage as it moved quite slowly on the road. We then stopped our car by the roadside so we could take pictures of this vehicle. And then it hit me. Suddenly there were many oncoming motorcycles also overtaking the carriage after us. And the last one in the row was a while mpv-like vehicle, that surprisingly pulled over by the roadside too. Out came a western tourist with his camera. Apparently, he wanted to shoot the cow-carriage too! Hahaha. 

Uh oh…the cow-carriage was then making a U-turn into an open field nearby. It was kind of hilarious scene as the cows were reluctant to go back but the driver and his assistant were trying hard to make them turn around! LOL! And once we turned our gaze to the open field…look and behold, in there, were so many other carriages, apparently waiting for some local government dignitaries to come and attend a function. We could not believe our luck! What did we do? Follow the carriage to the field of course !

One of the owner of the carriages told me that there were going to be a big gathering / carnival called Yogya Art Festival on 16 June (or today!!) and there would be hundreds of cow-carriages from across central and east Java joining the event. This time they would be in Yogyakarta town!  How exciting! And here is what I found from the internet about the festival (link and photos)

Done taking pictures of the cow carriages, we continued our plan to pay our respect to my husband’s grandparents. The cemetery was tucked away from the village, in an open area next to a cluster of cows’ pens, among paddy fields. The fun part began after the prayers. Sombre mood was replaced with cheerfulness.

We were greeted by ‘moo’ and ‘eeeeeek’ from the cows and the goats housed in the pens.  My son was so excited as it was his first time seeing these animals with his own eyes! He grinned so wide when we took pictures of him with the cows in the background. He pointed to the smelly cow dungs and shouted excitedly of his discovery! Aiyaiyaai!

We met a farmer named pak Wagiman who had two cows, a female cow and its calf in there. He said the calf would be sold for its meat once its big enough.

Not far for where Pak Wagiman cows were kept, there was a working well waiting to be explored. My husband taught our little boy how to get water from the well, explaining to him in the process that there are still many people in the village get their clean water in this way. 

After we had enough of mingling with the cows we went straight to the rice fields that lie vast in front of eyes. The paddy fields were gorgeous green. Harvest time was still several months away, I think. We walked through the rice fields, along the grid embankments that divided the rice fields into smaller segments. My husband caught a grasshopper and showed the insect to our son, before it jumped off from my husband palm and disappeared into the paddy. The kiddo then tried to catch one himself, to no avail, but it was still so much fun 

What a wonderful and precious experience we had that morning. It was an eye opener for my son and a way to rekindle and reconnect to our younger days for us. I hope my son will remember what he experienced today for a long time to come.

The fun did not stop there though. After exploring the rice fields we realised that we were all hungry and cold as it was drizzling still. My parents-in-law suggested us to make a stop by and fill up our fuel at Pondok Sate and Tongseng Bu Darmo, just slightly outside the village. The Pondok Sate was a simple and descent eating house selling Mutton Tongseng (stew with dark soy sauce), Satay and Gulai (Curry-like). The food was simple, prepared on the spot based on order yet heavenly. My son was addicted to its hot kampong tea that was sweetened with rock sugar! It was comforting in a cool afternoon like that day. 

Hot tea with rock sugar. Sedapnyaaa!

Hot lime drink

We headed back to Yogya after refuelling, feeling happy and contented. 

More images of Yogya will be posted soon.

Between Gudeg and Becak Ride - Yogyakarta part 2

DAY 1

The Airasia flies daily from Singapore to Yogyakarta. The departure time was 11.15am, with about two-hour flight duration. The flight was full on the day we set off. It was no surprise as school holiday had just started. My family and I had to sit separately. My son and I sat next to each other whilst my husband sat across the aisle. Oh well…it was just about two-hour flight so it was okay.

The take-off was pretty smooth however the landing part was scary, not because the pilot was inexperience but it was because of the bad weather. It was a bumpy flight caused by turbulence and rain just before the airplane finally landed in Yogyakarta, and that was after it made several rounds above the city to wait for safer weather to land. Anyway…we were glad that everything turned out well, that the pilot was able to land the airplane smoothly despite the weather, that we were still here alive and healthy! Phewww….

Safely landed at Adisucipto Airport around 1.30pm local time, we were welcomed with wet weather still. It was drizzling, and the temperature was pleasantly cool. The short walk from the Airplane to the custom building was done under Airasia umbrellas hehe, what an interesting way to start our journey J

Done with the custom, we were met by my parents-in-law and Bapak Esfandiartho or Pak Fendy, our chauffer in Yogya. My parents-in-law flew from Jakarta with Garuda and had reached the town earlier than us. Pak Fendy then took all of us straight to Gudeg bu Djum in Wijilan, where a fantastic gudeg meal had awaited us! The dish disappeared quickly into our stomach as we were so famished by then! In fact, the portion was a tad too small for me at that time but I was too embarrassed to order a second serving, hehe. The kampong tea was a hit with my son too. The tea is fresh and fragrant. Served hot with just enough sugar...it was a good example of a simple pleasure indeed. Feeling contented, we then left for the homestay.

As soon as we reached Omahlawas the homestay, my kid shouted excitedly, “ Oooh…this place is so nice Bunda!” hahaaa….Okay, well I take it that he had agreed with my choice. We spent the afternoon resting and unpacking before going out again in the evening.

First stop in that evening was Malioboro. The ambiance was still pretty much the same Malioboro as what I remember from my previous visit more than 20 years ago! It was still a crowded and busy stretch of road, which I love so much! The sounds of the horse-shoes from the horse carriages trotting the road ferrying their passengers, the noisy horn of becaks and motorcycles, the loud pitch of street vendors’ voice offering their good to passer-by, people talking and laughing and singing, it was a marvelous atmosphere! This was the trade-mark of Yogyakarta!

Checking out souvenirs 

Becak ride along Malioboro

Neon-light ride at alun-alun

After a becak ride in Malioboro, we moved on to Alun-alun and tried the neon-light ride! It was fabulous experience…for my son! Haha…If you look at the image above, you would agree that these interesting rides were actually modified becaks or bicycles.

The wise husband of mine proudly offered his expertise (and his muscles) to steer and wheel the ride, with all of us; my son, my parents-in-law and me as the passengers. After a few metre of pedaling the ride…he gave up and asked all of us, except the son to alight so he could continue the ride! hehehe

The alun-alun was transformed into a huge outdoor food festival and carnival. There were sellers selling toys and all sort of quirky and odd things, competing politely to attract buyers. It was wonderful chaos, with the smell of satay and the wet grass all mixed together. Lovely!

As it had been a long day for all of us, we retired early that night so we could leave early for Borobudur the following morning. Back to Omahlawas, had a good hot shower and soon we were zzzz-ing. Sweet dream.

Note: photos by me and better half

From Yogyakarta, with Love - part 1

The time has come

It is that time of the year again. School holiday is here for the whole month of June. The annual headache for parents in Singapore has come again. What to do during the school holiday? What kind of activities that we, parents, wish our kids to do to fill in their time? What new skills we want our kids to learn during this time? Is it learning to roller skate, to swim, to create computer programme, to learn pottery, to learn a new language, to learn a new dance move? Endless choices for parents to choose! Thus, the headache :P

Well not for me, not anymore. I tend to take school holiday as the time for us, parents and the kid, to bond. Spend time together, be it at home doing some art and craft works, at the nearby park to have a picnic or just to take a bus ride exploring this tiny island together.

I used to be a kiasu parent. On every school holiday I would sign my son up for holiday classes, but then...I pitied him as he did not have enough time to just be him nor to play with his favourite toys at home or do silly stuff with me. So, no more courses or any form of holiday programmes for him now.

Having said that, my husband and I do have a mission during this school holiday. We would like our kid to start learning, knowing and loving his parents’ native country which to date, is his country too.

Do not get us wrong, we do love Singapore, the place where we live now. It is a wonderful country, with everything is very much in order, with its wonderful people and its modern living.  It is a place where our son was born and where he is growing up now. There is no doubt that my son loves this country, which is fine for us, really.

However we also think that it is important for our kid to know his origin. To know where his parents come from. We would like to introduce him to how majority of people in Indonesia live, what kind of environment they live in, the nature, the language, the food, the culture and custom. So, on this school holiday, we decided to go to Yogyakarta in Central Java.

Why Yogya? Because it is not far from Singapore and it is also my father-in-law’s ; my son’s grandpa; homeland or kampong. Yogyakarta is an old city with long history and rich culture. It was the capitol city of Indonesia once (around ‘50s), it is also a sultanate province where the current Sultan of Yogyakarta ; Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X resides in his palace, and lastly, it is surrounded by many beautiful temples (Borobudur, Prambanan, Sewu, Mendut and many more) and magnificent lush green paddyfields. And since our son is half Javanese I think it made sense to start the introduction to Indonesia from Yogyakarta, don't you think so?

Anyway…this posting and the next two or three postings are about our trip to that charming old town. Be ready to get mesmerized by the images accompanying the posts. And don't be surprised if you have the urge to book (a) ticket(s) to Yogya after you finish reading these posts :P

The flights

Be happy people! Soon you will have two airlines to choose from to fly you to Yogya. They are the existing Airasia and the newcomer Tiger Airways, which will start its new route Sin-Yogya in July 2013.

Always book tickets in advance to get cheap rate. We procrastinated a lot  and ended up paying a hefty sum for tickets for three, it was i think no longer budget trip for us. Oh by the way, before you make the booking, check when the school holiday starts in Indonesia. The holiday affects the ticket price (peak season) as well as the number of crowd in popular tourist attraction sites. We chose to fly at the beginning of school holiday in Singapore as students in Indonesia were still having their exams or school during that period.

Accommodation

Since my son has multiple food allergies, travelling is always not easy for us. First and foremost, we need to make sure he has something to eat during the trip. Staying in a hotel would be comfortable however ordering special foods for each meal will be a hassle. The risk of cross-contamination is high in food from hotels and restaurant, and since my son is a high-risk allergy sufferer, we really need to put this into serious consideration during our planning stage.

In the end, we opted for a homestay that came with a kitchen instead. That way, I could prepare meals for my son. After checking here and there, we chose Omahlawas as our base camp in Yogya because they were the most eager and sincere in responding to my long list of queries.

Image was taken from here

Omahlawas (it's Javanese language which means Old House) was a huge house located in Jl. Prawirotaman III, still considerably near the town centre. It rented out its five big bedrooms in different rate. The rooms were spacious, clean, air-conditioned and came with their own bathroom. The owner, Ms Rani was very friendly and helpful, and so was Mas Umam, the all-round employee who doubled (or tripled) as the chef and the housekeeper. 

We booked two bedrooms on ground floor, just nice as one of the rooms (the biggest in the house) had a queen bed and a super single bed, perfect for my family of three. The other room we booked for my parents-in-law. During our stay, there were other guests occupying the rooms upstairs, however we seldom came across with them so on overall the stay at Omahlawas was pleasant and quiet. 

Image was taken from here

Just around 100 metre away from the house there is a minimart where you can stock up your supplies such as milk, bread, fruits etc. during your stay. If you prefer a more traditional way to do it, there is also a traditional market; Pasar Prawirotaman, for you to shop, slightly further down the Jl. Prawirotaman. It definitely is an awesome experience for those of you who have never been to a traditional Javanese market. :P

Transportation

There are many car-rental companies in Yogyakarta.The rate is almost the same across the board, so how do we choose the most suitable one among so many of them? Well, in our case we relied on the referral from the homestay. This way, we entrusted some of  the responsibility of finding good and reliable transportation to the homestay, which I think was better than booking the rental car ourselves. If things went wrong, we could always ask the homestay to share some of the responsibility and helped fix the problem. Well…we did not need to do that though.

Our driver in Yogyakarta was Bapak Esfandiartho or Pak Fendy, a very friendly and helpful gentleman who has a vast knowledge about many subjects especially on his beloved city; Yogya. He also had many interesting stories to share with us. If you would like to ask for his service, you can contact him at +62-813-92260333. Don't forget to ask him to tell you the story about EyangSubur :P Oh btw, we booked his car (an avanza /xenia type) and his service (as the chauffer) including the petrol 12 hourly/ day for Rp.350.000 or around SGD45 / 12hourly / day. Pak Fendy fetched us from and later on to the airport, thus he saved us from getting onto a fake taxi at the airport hehe. You can also book the service for 24 hour daily, just buzz him to find out about the rate. Oh...and ask him to drive you to an excellent Warung Tongseng (mutton stew-kind dish) not far from Prambanan Temple :) 

There are taxis in Yogyakarta, of course, but according to Pak Fendy, people usually book taxis from their home or office if they need to use the service. And true enough, that was what the information that i gathered from the internet. No wonder I seldom saw any taxis on the road during our stay there. Well…if you are in Yogya as a tourist, you definitely would not wish to rely on taxi to go touring anyway, would you? In any case, here are the contacts should you still need to call a taxi: Vetri Taxi : 0274 563 551, Jazz Taxi : 0274 373737, Centris Taxi: 0274 512 767

Special planning for allergy sufferer

As my son has multiple allergies, I had to make extra preparation prior to our trip. I prepared some ready-mix food (chicken bumbu goreng, beef dendeng and such) that I could just heat up before meal, several types of cereals, pastas, dried fruits, and some bread, at least for the first day of our stay. If you are not sure about the kitchen cutleries at the homestay you will be staying, don't hesitate to bring your own. I brought along with me a small pan and a pot (with its laddle) for me to cook soup and prepare spaghetti. I was glad I did as it turned out that the homestay had only some basic cutleries where we had to share the use. Talking about cross-contamination! It was a no-no case for me. So…if you also have a family member who suffers from food allergies, this is something that you need to plan carefully.

Don't forget to bring handy small food containers to pack the food and water bottles/ thermos to keep warm drinks while you go on tour. We were out the whole day most of the time and the last thing we needed during that time was a cranky hungry child!

By the time we touched down Yogya, we went shopping for milk, fruits and bread. Indomaret and other minimart are aplenty in Yogyakarta, so don't you worry about not being able to find milk for your kid. There are many traditional markets situated all over the city too. 

Oh don't forget to bring along medication for common illness: painkillers, gastric tablets, super-carbon pills to fight the tummyache. For my son’s case I brought along his inhaler, antihistamine, cool-aid to soothe fever, nose sprays, nose drops, eczema cream and lots of body cream for his eczema. A bottle of ointment oil to ward off mosquitos was shoved into the luggage at the last minute. Thank God we did not have to use it.

Finally…we are set to go on holiday! Yaaaay! Yogya, here we come!