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| Prambanan Temple |
18 November 2011: KL-Jogjakarta
Two ladies traveled together on AirAsia flight to Jogjakarta. Everything was arranged by Lintang Buana Wisata Nusantara which costed us Rph 2,142,000 but exclusive of meals.So this was a simple trip but simple enough to cheer us up from the not-so-interesting activities back in Malaysia. Met Pak Murtejo on arrival at Adi Sumarmo airport. He is such a nice and friendly tour guide which kept on communicating with us in English . I thought of communicating in bahasa Indonesia but had to put that aside.
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| Parangtritis Beach |
On arrival, we were brought straight to Prambanan temple which is in ancient Hindu temple and one of UNESCO World Heritage sites of Indonesia. I think this place used to be the most important landmark by looking the original plan and structures before the massively damaging earthquake in year...I couldn't remember. We were told that the main 3 temples (Trimurti temples) are the temples of Brahma, Vishnu and Krishna whereas the other 3 temples in front of each Trimurti temple is called the Vahana temple (Nandi, Garuda and Hamsa). Details can be read at Wikipedia. I think I couldn't enjoy the beauty of Prambanan temple that much because it was starting to rain and I couldn't risk my Mr. Cam to get wet. And I would return to see Prambanan temple at sunrise and sunset.
Next, we went to Parangtritis beach. This beach is facing Indian Ocean and according to our guide, this placed was hit by tsunami in the earthquake a few years back. There is a huge cliff which can be very picturesque with proper natural lighting. This beach is quite dangerous as it is steep, judging from the pattern of the waves.As with other places famous for beautiful sunset view, we didn't get to witness this
amazing moment here because it was cloudy. It is not a white sandy beach here but sand texture is really fine. Visitors can do various activities other than soaking in the water, such as horse-riding, riding on a horse-carriage and ATV. By sunset, we headed to Grand Rosela hotel in Jogjakarta, and had our simple Javanese dinner at one of the 'lesehan' near the hotel. We were also introduced to Aries, the tour guide for our next days in Solo and Jogjakarta.
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| Kraton, Jogjakarta |
19 November 2011: Jogjakarta City Tour and Borobudur temple
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| Nice ceiling @ Kraton Jogjakarta |
After a simple breakfast, we started our day by visiting Sultan Palace, also known as Kraton. There were several pavilions which were decorated that simple, unlike other castles or palaces around the world which were decorated lavishly. It has Dutch influence in the architecture. One nice thing about Kraton Jogjakarta was, it was planted with trees with gives cooling effect within the palace compound. There were also rooms displaying all gifts from
various countries and awards and medals presented to the current and previous sultans. Before we went off, I bought 'belangkon Jogja", a traditional head wear for Jogjakarta men.
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| Taman Sari (Water Castle) |
Next, we went to Taman Sari (Water Castle as they call it). This is another fascinating place to visit though it was very decent and less tourists. This place was a place the previous sultans swam and soaked themselves in. There were many pools here, and of course there was one meant only for the sultans and their wives. This castle was alot more interesting than before where water was surrounding the castle. Since the severe earthquake a few years back, destructive damages occurred and this castle were abandoned. There was a round building which was used as a mosque and protective place from invasions.
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| Stupas in Borobudur Temple |
After Taman Sari, we stopped at Malioboro street, to do the fundamental shopping. Fundamental as in getting fridge magnets and some batik clothing for ourselves. And then, it was
time for another UNESCO World Heritage Site, Borobudur temple. Before entry to this amazing structure, we had dinner at one of the small food outlet near the temple. My
1st visit was in November 2011, and as I recalled, the entrance fee was USD 11 for foreigners. But this time, the fee was increased to USD 17. But it was worth paying, and most importantly, worth visiting. This temple was maintained and sustained to the fullest. This temple faces Mount Merapi, which has erupted in 2011 which has killed the key-keeper named Mbah Marijan. He was said to be responsible to ensure that the spirit of the volcano kept appease. There were rituals where people (I'm pretty sure they are the Hindu local people) will bring offerings to foot of the mountain (or maybe to lip of the volcano) and present them to spirit of the volcano. This is similar to the rituals in Mt. Bromo in Sukapura, East Java. Borobudur temple is a 7 floors structure where the first 5 level, one can see carvings on the wall, depicting the birth of Buddha and other teachings of Buddhism. It takes more than a day to see the learn all messages from the wall carvings. It is said that the higher the floor, the higher the knowledge level of a pilgrim, and at the top of the temple, it is a place where one achieved Nirvana. It was quite complicated to absorb all information on the teachings of Buddhism though.
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| Mount Merapi |
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| Candi Mendut |
We had quick photo stops at Candi Pawon and Candi Mendut. These are also ancient Buddhist temples which is a lot smaller and simple. But I like the appearance of the walls which does indeed show the long ages of these structures. It was raining since arrived Borobudur and it was still raining until the end of the day. It was completely difficult to do the photography thing in this condition but it was somehow brought different atmosphere.
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| Sukuh Erotic Temple |
Next, we passed through Mount Merapi passing the south route. According to Aries, we were considere lucky because the view of Mount Merapi was clearly visible. Most of the times, tourists got disappointed as they couldn't see the volcano when the cloud was thick. And I did a mistake for taking the chance to stop by the road and snap proper pictures, when I was offered by the driver for such purpose. I took picture in mobile which was why the picture here is awful. I thought we would stop for a longer time somewhere near Mt. Merapu but the driver headed straight to Solo which was quite a distant. I enjoyed the scenery while passing by the foot of Mount Merapi. I admired the hardworking Javanese men and women. They were still at the vegetables patches, working on the patches though it was almost dark. It was the oldies to earn, but the youngsters nowadays were money-spender. That was what being said by our driver. We arrived Solo around 8 and checked-in Hotel Arini. This hotel is not meant for unmarried Muslim couples. We had dinner nearby the hotel at one of the 'lesehan' and enjoyed simple food,
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| One of the carvings depicting god knows what |
20th November 2011: Solo City Tour, Sukuh Erotic Temple & Cemerolawang Waterfall
We visited Mangkunegaran Palace and anique market nearby the palace. The palace was still under renovation but I could see it was not so lavishly decorated compared to other palaces of the world. There were collections of earrings, rings, genital protectors, weapons, and other interesting artifacts on display. The antique market sold many stuff which I didn't have interest at all though I was looking for small souvenirs from Surakarta to be brought home.
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| Cemerolawang Fall |
Next, we went to Batik market, and I was so dizzy looking at the batik products, especially the dresses and the skirts. I didn't buy any though because I tried not to spend unnecessarily. After all, I bought a piece of batik skirt at Borobudur. I'm not sure of the quality but as long as the price is OK, it's not a big deal at all.
We headed to Sukuh Erotic Temple. I kind of excited to visit this place because I thought there would be sooooo many things to see and I thought it was a big place. But it was not what I have expected but still it was a nice place to relax because of the cooling air. From this temple, we moved on to Cemerolawang waterfall. It was raining so the beauty of the waterfall was not at its greatest. We were starving so our way to the fall site, we stopped at an under-tree sitting-on-covered-dirt area and grabbed 10 pieces of 'sate kelinci' (grilled small pieces of rabbit meat) each with sliced onions and cucumber, dipped in hot peanut sauce. It was extremely delicious (though I'm not into rabbits...because they are soooo cute to be served on the table).
It was quite a long day for us, so we checked in Arini Hotel in Solo, and rested for awhile. We went out to the nearest shopping mall, hoping to find some nice souvenirs but couldn't see what we wanted. Then we just hang out at J.CO, having doughnuts and ice-blended, and logged in to our FB accounts.
