Temples and Ting…

Hi Folks,

Emma and I survived the high seas, and we have some excellent photographs to share with you of navigating Indonesian islands, but we will return to that in a later post…

However, back in Yogja, we departed our homestay, so as to survey our new environment. All of the homestays and guesthouses in Yogja are concentrated around three ‘Gangs’. An interpretation of gang in English would perhaps be ‘alley’, but they are not alleys in the English sense of the word, rather, a gang is a long pedestrian street, in which vehicular access is not permitted, but historically has born witness to a variety of different buildings that have been constructed, as space has permitted.

The view from above

The net result of all this is an entire hive of passageways, which link all of said buildings to the gangs, as if in a gigantic catacomb! It actually takes a bit of effort to learn your way around, as it would be very easy to get lost, as they all look quite similar, save for the street art and associated graffiti, which adorn the walls;-

Bizarrely this was opposite a Mosque

Emma and I strolled up to the main road, Marlioboro, which was awash with trishaws, pedestrians, restaurants and hawker stalls. Almost immediately we were accosted by a man who hoped to guide us into a Batik art shop, claiming it was an exhibition, which was only open for one last night. Common sense took us over, we declined, and later we were to discover that this is a common ruse to rip off tourists. In fact, one local later claimed that these dodgy over priced art shops are actually run by the mafia :-O

These were a few giggly teenagers who asked for a photo with us, almost felt like we were celebrities!!

As always, and it is a blessing in disguise in many respects, Emma and I have no room in our rucksacks for excess tourist tat, so we can sidestep most souvenir vendors. Moreover, despite the connection with Batik art and the Sultan’s Palace, I don’t particularly like any of it, so it was easy for me to decline any such purchases. Instead, we made an educated guess as to a short cut home, and randomly came across a vegan restaurant, which we frequented on and off for the remainder of our duration in the town…

Billy’s delight!

As prior mentioned, the Javanaise Homestay we had booked into was excellent. It boasted a great communal area on the first floor adjacent to our room (frequented by bats of an evening, as it was open plan, thus there was external access from outside via the balcony on our level, and the floor above), the Wi-Fi was great, staff lovely, and there was a mean pancake or omelette breakfast (as you preferred) each day.

One of the small residents of the homestay

What a breakfast!! Amazing considering we were paying £7.50 a night for the two of us!!

The view from the communal balcony.

Moreover, endless coffee was free, the laundry service was prompt, and from our balcony we could listen to the music being performed live at the Bintang Bar just down the block! Said bar showcased reggae, rock, and rock’n’roll 5 nights per week! It couldn’t have been more different from Jakarta – the entire place was relaxed, jovial, and traveller friendly 🙂

Somewhat shocked as to our good fortune, we arose one morning to catch a bus to Prambanan Temple, the largest Hindu structure in Indonesia, constructed in 865 AD/CE! Despite being ravaged by Earthquakes over the years, the Temple has been painstakingly restored, and with sarong firmly in place ( as prescribed by Hindu faith) Travelling Trent was more than sufficiently prepared to explore inside!

Yikes!!

Behind Prambanan stands the remains of Sewu Temple, which is a Buddhist Temple constructed by the Hindu King, Rakai Pikatan. Associated literature explained that both temples bore testament to the consolitary nature of each particular religion toward the other, and whilst the post Earthquake restoration work undertaken on Sewu is less extensive than Prambanan, I would urge a visit to both sites, despite Sewu being largely deserted of tourists, who generally seem to visit Prambanan, then leave this fascinating historical site prematurely…

The restoration is an ongoing process…

These guys were two school kids doing an English project. They nervously asked us if they could ask a few questions so to practice their English!

Speaking of departing the temples, I would strongly suggest to the discerning traveller that you do so avoiding the Travel Agents tours, and muck on in with the locals, utilising the Trans Yogja Express – which is the local bus network. Access is via raised road side platforms; you pay to access the platform, and then the bus weaves across the traffic lanes, at incredible (non health & safety approved) high speed, so as to pick you up.

Each bus has a conductor who guards the doors mid section of their buses, and is responsible for ensuring that passengers alight and depart very hurriedly, prior to shouting ‘clear’ to the driver, who then drives like a maniac to the next stop. Ensure you take the bus at peak commuter travel time – the experience makes the ‘Mad Max’ post apocalyptic road movies look like a 5 year olds Birthday Party. Worth every Rupiah of ticket price, in my humble view… 😉

For our encore that eve, we visited the Bintang Bar, where we saw Black Finit, a local reggae act, who covered the Bob Marley classics, but (thank God), performed some excellent reggae covers of western groups classics, such as The Police and The Cure, in addition to Indonesian songs, given a reggae twist (& dem heavy bass licks) too.

From left to right – Anna, Robbie, Anima and Lisbeth! A great night had by all!

As I stood there, listening to the Black Finit perform The Specials ‘Rudi (a message to you)’, I found myself reflecting on how surreal the entire moment was; The Specials – a Coventry band who wrote some exceptionally good songs about the socio-political experience of being a disenfranchised black or white youth in England, in the late 1970’s, sounding as on form and as relevant as ever, on the other side of the planet…

“Stop your messing around, Better Think of your Future, Time is Spreading Right Out, Creating Problems in Time… A Message to you, Rudi…”. Priceless.

Similarly, & to cite The Clash, ‘Why are you so rude and reckless? Drinking Special Brew for Breakfast? Rudi Can’t Fail’

Lyrics all cited from memory, and perhaps not precise. But no matter; we should all be able to feel free from the shackles of capitalism, even if it’s just once in a while, whatever your chosen method of attaining that experience might be.

“Just switch off your television set and go and do something less boring instead” Eh? 😉

Trent X/*

Billy’s delight!

These guys were two school kids doing an English project. They nervously asked us if they could ask a few questions as to practice their English!

What a breakfast!! Amazing considering we were paying £7.50 a night for the two of us!!

From left to right – Anna, Robbie, Anima and Lisbeth! A great night had by all!

The view from the communal balcony.

The restoration is an ongoing process…

One of the small residents of the homestay

Yikes!!

These were a few giggly teenagers who asked for a photo with us, almost felt like we were celebrities!!

Bizarrely this was opposite a Mosque