Java
Friday–Tuesday May 15–19, 2009
We flew from Kuala Lumpur to Yogyakarta, in central Java, to see Borobudur, an ancient Buddhist monument, to compare the (Muslim) Javanese culture and food with those of neighboring (Hindu) Bali. After arriving from Kuala Lumpur, we left the Yogyakarta Airport and were driven a few miles to see two ancient Hindu temples.
The first place we stopped had no visitors at all. This is Plaosan, built in the early 9th century.
After Plaosan we got back into the car and drove a short distance to a related temple, Prambanan.
This temple was built in the tenth century, and is a Unesco World Heritage site.
Prambanan is a large monument, and a lot of it is in good shape—it was damaged in an earthquake in 2006, but has mostly been rebuilt. Here are two views of the detailed stone work.
The next morning we woke up at 4:15 am and left our hotel at 5 am for the Borobudur monument. We were told watching the sunrise was an experience not to miss. And that it would be overrun with tourists later in the day.
It turned out that the sun rises behind two volcanoes. It was peaceful, but most sunrises are that way, Borobudur or not.
After sunrise, it became clear Borobudur (yes, a Unesco World Heritage Site) is a large monument. Each one of these bell–shaped structures (stupa) has a statute of the Buddha sitting inside. An example is shown to the left, without the surrounding stonework.
The lower level walls of Borobudur are filled with carved reliefs, each one telling a story.
Our guide said that if you start walking around the temple on the lower level, and when you are done with that, move up to the next level and repeat, you will have walked five kilometers by the time you reach the top.
This photograph generally shows what Borobudur looks like; it is not possible to fit everything in. People can be seen starting the climb up in the lower right side of the photo.
The dozens of recessed windows above also each contain a Buddha statue. There are 504 statues of the Buddha.
Borobudur has been rebuilt (it has had several earthquakes over the past one thousand years) but there are a lot of stones left that nobody, yet, knows what to do with. Here is a sample.
One hot afternoon we took a long walk away from our hotel. Rural Java, what we saw of it, will have a village with ten or twenty houses every so often, with chickens and ducks underfoot. And a shop, just like this one.
When we reached this spot, after quite a while walking, there was talk about being lost and the soon–to–set sun. And then a man on a motorbike selling ice creams to children said, “This way!” and we were back at the hotel within five minutes.
On another walk, near Windusari, we climbed up the side of a beautiful valley that leads to a volcano. All of the valley is in agriculture, mostly rice. In both Bali and Java, the terraces are eye-catching. They show the effort needed to grow rice; there is always work going on with a shovel, hoe or another tool. They know how to move water on both islands, and are way ahead of anything we’ve seen anywhere else, except, perhaps, in Holland.
In the rice fields, men move the soil, and women grow and harvest the rice.
We visited a small temple by taking a short walk at the end of our very scenic drive.
We had a thorough tour of the market in the nearby city of Muntilan. Unlike in Ubud, Bali, there was just one level, but the market covered a lot more ground. It would have been easy to just get lost in it, without our guide. As in Ubud, a lot of the market is dimly lit. Most of the salespeople are women. Here is one selling chilies.
Did we spot differences in the two islands? In terms of food, there is no pork on Java; not a big difference. Perhaps Java’s food is a bit more complicated than Bali’s food. Both are straightforward though, with very clean flavors.
In terms of the people, everyone we met was very friendly on both islands.
Certainly Bali, with its beaches, has far more tourists than rugged central Java. I think Java was a bit more “authentic” look at life for us than Bali. However, in Java there were no traffic stopping parades to temple ceremonies. Just the amplified calls to prayer at the mosques.
Next—north to Singapore from Solo Airport to see the Botanic Gardens and to have lunch in the Food Centres.
