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.

At your service, Your Majesty!

DAY 2

We started the tour very early that day, at around 6.30am. Our plan was to visit the Borobudur temple, the Prambanan temple and Rumah Pintar, some sort of children museum that Pak Fendy recommended.

It was an interesting journey to Borobudur! We saw mount Merapi at a far, people on bicycle carrying goods, perhaps to the market. The wind was cool and crisp…wonderful weather indeed.

The magnificent Borobudur temple

"Aaargh...so many steps to take!"

Transported to a different era

Nothing personal, just found this interesting :)

One of the highlight of the day!

Fresh coconut juice straight from the fruit!

About an hour later, we reached Borobudur temple and it still awed me so much after so many years have passed. The old Buddhist temple which was built around 800AD during Sailendra dinasty was as magnificent as what I have imagined it to be. I remembered my archaeologist brother mentioned to me that The Karmawibhangga relief depicts the worldly lust and sins that people do in the world and the punishment in hell, the cause and effect! Yikes. This portion of the temple is mostly covered and concealed from public eye, I think it was because the relief could be quite scary to look at! However, if you wish to see some of the reliefs, you may visit the Karmawibhangga museum just a few hundred metre away from the temple.

We spent close to three hour in the temple complex, including sipping on the fresh coconut juice, and taking the dokar ride and the free shuttle bus to and fro the temple.

Unfortunately, the great weather had turned to grey, and soon it started to rain hard. We had no choice but to cancel our trip to Prambanan temple and instead we made a stop at this simple eatery by the road side (sorry I forgot where exactly it was located at) serving brongkos dish. Brongkos is like a beef stew with black nut or buah kluwak. Tasted just ordinary to me but maybe we just did not try the brongkos at the best eatery there was hehe.

Brongkos

We headed back to the city, spent some time at Malioboro again, this time checking out a department store called Mirota Batik where we could find many variety of foods and stuff from Java and all over Indonesia, mingled with the rest of the visitors while enjoying the unique atmosphere. Be careful of pickpockets though.

We also visited The Kraton of Yogyakarta, the palace where Sultan Hamengkubuwono X is residing and the Taman Sari, a bath palace for the princesses which was built during Sultan Hamengkubuwono I era (around 1750s). Listening to the guide describing how Taman Sari must have been looked like and how it was originally used gave me a mixed feeling. You see, long time ago, the King would sit inside the tower overlooking the pool where all his concubines were taking a bath, splish splash. The King then chose one of the concubines he desired to have as his companion on that day .... yikes!  

Taman Sari

The european style Taman Sari

The long and rich story of Kraton Yogyakarta was much more welcome. Sadly, to be honest, I was not fully concentrated in listening to the explanation as I was busy with my cranky boy. Sigh...

Kraton Yogyakarta

The guards of Kraton Yogyakarta

My impression of the palace was that it was a quiet and humble palace. The complex was cool and pleasant as there were many big trees with huge canopies around. However, I personally think the palace was not kept well. There was much dust here and there but then again, the soil in Yogya town was indeed sandy, thus it was very difficult to keep things dust-free. I guess the guards and the palace-keepers had tried their very best to sweep the floor off the dust :)

We were very lucky to be able to witness the returning of the palace guards to their wards when we visited the Kraton Yogya. My boy smiled widely while posing in front of the guards marching into their compound. Very tourist like! hehehe 

We went back to our base camp dead tired but happy that day :)

Street scene - Yogya

Carry me for I am too exhausted to walk!

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