Jogjakarta - Day 1

3 September 2016

I am a sucker for all things old, ancient and historical. Things, not people. I’ve been wanting to visit Jogjakarta forever but somehow never got round to it, and now finally it is happening!

We arrived in Jogjakarta at about 11.15 a.m. local time (12.15 p.m. Malaysian time) and negotiated for a driver to drive us around for 2 days. The weather in Jogjakarta was really hot; I thought hotter than Malaysia but it may just be that in Malaysia I’m unfortunately indoors most of the time working!

First stop – the Sultan’s palace because the descendants of the Sultan and his palace officials still stay in the palace, so it’s only open to the public until 2.00 p.m. The palace is formally known as “Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat” or “Kraton” for short. The palace is the main seat of the Sultan of Jogjakarta, his family and other palace officials. It serves as a cultural centre for the Javanese people and contains a museum that displays the sultanate's artifacts.

Since Indonesia became a republic, the Sultan is no longer in power although according to our driver, he serves as a governor of the state. The palace was built by Prince Mangkubumi in 1755-1756, and has since been habited by a family known as Hamengkubuwono, the current being the 10^th. From the family portraits, the sultans wore a peculiar ornament on their ears which made them look a bit like elves or pixies.

Lunch! Was already starving. The next destination was Prambanan and we stopped mid way at a local restaurant for lunch. Satay, chicken cabbage soup and rice. And cili padi for me, of course! The satay is different from Malaysian satay, but tastes delicious all the same. No peanut sauce but their soy based sauce was lovely.

Then to Prambanan! Prambanan Temple or Rara Jonggrang Temple is the largest Hindu temple complex in Indonesia. It was built in the 9^th century. It has 240 temples consisting of 3 main temples for the 3 main Gods in Hinduism: Brahman on the left (under restoration when I was there), Siva in the middle (and right opposite and face to face with it, the Nandi temple) and Vishnu on the right. The Siva temple measures 47 metres tall and is the highest temple in Indonesia.

In the vicinity of the Prambanan Temple were 2 smaller temples – Bubrah Temple and Sewu Temple which were both Buddhist temples.

The Sewu Temple is the second largest Buddhist temple complex in Java after Borobudur. It has 249 buildings consisting of 1 main temple in the centre, 8 temples (candi penjuru) on each cardinal direction and 240 temples (candi perwara) surrounding the complex. The main temple comprises one main room with 4 small adjacent doorway. On top of the rooms are 9 stupa shaped roofs. At the entrance of the complex, the temple is guarded by 2 Dwarapala statues (a fierce warrior like statue with a moustache and a weapon).

I found it quite enlightening that Hindu and Buddhist structures could be built within the same vicinity. But then again, I’ve always thought that Buddhism is Hinduism without God. So there’s no reason why both these religions cannot harmonize. But that’s just me.

And then we were done for the day. We headed to our hotel to check in, and then walked around the hotel where Silvia went crazy over fabric. There were at least a dozen fabric stores around the hotel and we went into almost every one of them. She’s a girl this way but I don’t mind because I got to do my things, so it’s only fair that she gets to do her things. It’s her holiday too.

Dinner was at a road side stall; Silvia had fried rice and I had fried Indomie. Just like home. Spicy chilli. I like Indonesia.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was about 10.00 p.m.; we had a beer and wine and then shower and sleep at almost 11.30 p.m.