Prambanan Temple

While I was in Yogyakarta I visited another world renowned temple: Prambanan Temple. It’s a Hindu temple which was also built somewhere in the 9^th century. The temple is dedicated to the three God Heads of the Hindus: Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma. Similar to Borobudur Temple, it was abandoned when the Hindu rule fell. But it was rediscovered and renovated and is currently one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites as well.

When we enter the temple we have to wear a sarong to show respect. Additionally we have to wear a construction helmets when we are certain temples.

You can see the distinction from the old stones and new stones. During renovation they have tried their best to harness the old structure as much as possible. When you look at the composition of the temples, they are small and big pieces of stones depicting various stories from the Mahabarata and other Hindu books. Somehow it seems like a huge 3D puzzle to put together and the renovators were very successful.

More Facts About Indonesia...

• Tax in restaurants. Not that I am complaining about tax, I do enough of that in Canada. But it’s always a shock to my system when I don’t pay tax for anything else. And suddenly its 15% tax in the restaurant.
• Kolak: pumpkin, brown sugar water, coconut shavings, cassava, banana boiled, jack fruit, water and coconut milk. It’s a dessert eaten/drank during Ramadan. It’s really sweet and you’d think it’s odd to have cassava and jack fruit in the same bowl, but it’s surprisingly very good.
• Lebaran: is a long national holiday. Almost 2 full weeks. Everyone goes back to their home town to celebrate the closing of the fasting month. The last two to three days are called Eid Al Fitr, where huge celebration takes place. Families gather from all over the country to break fasting.
• Jakarta and Lebaran: Since Jakarta is composed of people outside of Jakarta, this city becomes a ghost town during the holidays. I went outside to have breakfast at 9am and the streets were empty and stores apparently don’t open till 10am… on a Wednesday… except for Dunkin’ Donut. So I had a doughnut and chocolate milk. Meh.
• Culture shock: If you want to have a culture shock in Indonesia, the best place to go is Yogyakarta. The city represents the country very well. Except for the hotels the rest of the city is well preserved and rooted to its traditions and customs.
• Temples: For a full out Muslim country, they have one of the biggest Hindu and Buddhist monuments. It because they believe in harmonized living with other religions. They are very accepting of other religions and its practices. However, I think the monuments are also preserved, so well, is because of the revenue it creates. There isn’t a large community of Hindus or Buddhists living neither anywhere near the temples or in the Java Island.  Maybe a few. But they are still kept well is because of the money.
• Caesar Dance: tv stations have special shows during the fasting month. Yuk Kita Sahur is a really famous show that everyone watches. And during this particular show, this guy called Cesar invented a dance for one of their traditional songs. And of course it went viral and whole country is going crazy for the song and dance. It’s called “Goyang Caesar”, which means Caesar’s dance. Check out the link. The video is not the best quality but the dance makes up for it http://youtu.be/cv-hHPaMQk4?t=2m32s

Kawah Sikidang, Dieng Plateau and Mount Merapi

Kawah sikidang “Kawah” means crater. “Sikidang” means deer. Even though it is not active, there are many sulfur mines which moves from one part of the mountain to another, hence the name deer.

Dieng Plateau is a region with small hindu temples. There were originally 800 small temples built, however, there are only 8 remaining. Each of the temple is dedicated to one the Gods in the Hindu story Mahabarata.

Mount Merapi is one of the most active volcanoes in the Java Island. There were some fatal eruptions in 2006 and 2010 causing great destruction for the people who were living in the flanks of the mountain. When I went to visit the mountain, pretty much everything was destroyed and the place was deserted. We had to take a jeep to get to the foot of the mountain since regular vehicles will be damaged in the process of getting there.

Got to drive the jeep for a bit

 There was a house filled with damaged things. And it wasn’t a pretty sight. Reminded me of how blessed I am.

Mount Merapi

This is was the path we had to take.

A bunker at the foot of the mountain. It wasn't a very good bunker because 6 people died during the last eruption

Malioboro and Batik

Malioboro
If you want a full culture shock of Indonesia, the city to visit is Yogyakarta. It is a city filled with culture and traditions; from the buildings to the public transportation to the stores and simply just the people. There’s just soo much soak in when you’re there. The city is of course filled with tourists so many people there seemed to speak or simply just understand English. And of course I checked out all of the tourist locations and more.

One area is called Malioboro. It’s an area filled with stores where you can buy traditional cloths and lots and lots of souvenirs. And you can bargain your price (if you know how to) and get it cheaper. They will for sure mark the price up once they know that you’re a foreigner. If I wasn’t slow at  figuring out what the numbers meant I would’ve had a chance at bargaining… but the numbers are all in the thousands and it gets confusing between thousand and ten thousands. Anyway, Maliaboro is a lot of fun to visit; it’s a long street with lots of stuff to buy.

Batik 

Just like many South East Asian countries, Indonesia is also famous for its Batik clothes. And the city in which Batik is famous is Yogyakarta. I got a chance to check out one of the batik factories. You would think it’s filled with machines making these awesome designs. But all of the batik is handmade, including the waxing, painting and the final products.

The work is divided into four groups of people.

1)     The artist: who comes up with a specific design that he/she wants to makes. He/she then pencils the designs onto the long white cloth.

2)      The waxing women: they use a wax pencil to outline the artist’s pencil work. It’s a very delicate and time consuming job.

3)      The Colouring people: once the wax dries up the following people remove the wax and add colour to the white cloth. They also add sequence or paint, depending on what the design needs.

4)      The Colour changer: There is a huge pot and when I say huge, I mean like taller and wider than me huge. The pot has different colours where they soak the white cloth in.

And yes, these awesome names are made up by me. I think they should officially be called by these names.

The artist can also be replaced by pre-made stamps with designs. Check out the picture and imagine how hard it would be to do the waxing on some of them. And how much patient one will need to do this. 

Borobudur

On top of being one of the most diverse countries in the world, Indonesia also has one of the biggest Buddhist monuments in the world. At first I was very confused as to why it would be in Indonesia of all places. As I read more about Indonesia’s history and asked a lot of questions, I found out that Indonesia is one of those countries with lots of resources and for centuries everyone wanted a piece of the pie; dating all the way back to the 8^th century. So during the long holiday I booked a flight to check out what makes these temples so special. It is 3 hour drive from Yogjakarta. It’s one of the most spectacular buildings/temples I’ve ever seen. The structure is meant to last forever. Every brick had a story and even the damaged ones had stories.

According to my tour guide and Wikipedia, it was built in the 9^th century but was abandoned when the Hindu rule in Java came to an end. However, in 1800s it existence was realized and the temple went through multiple restorations and it is now one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites.

So when you enter the temple there are two entrances: First entrance is for the local people, which cost 50 000 Rupiah ($5) to get in. The second entrance is for the tourist. And it cost 180 000 Rupiah ($18). I really don’t understand why we get charged more.

Before we get to the temple itself, we have to wear a sarong to show respect. 

The top view

At the base of the temple

The view from the top of the temple. It was foggy that day. 

There's a Budha statue inside each of the tiny temples.

The souvenir lady