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Borobudur
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Now that I am in Lombock, I have a hard time remembering all the things i have done and seen along the way. Let's backtrack to Yogya.
In Yogya, i wnt to see a sarong collection that includes more than 3000 sarongs from Java and the Yogya area. Some of the sarongs are stamped but the majority is hand painted. Most sarongs come in colors black, brown, yellow whcih are received through natural dyu, other colors aremore difficult to produce. Natural dye colors are from various parts of the treee. The collection is not a public place, its rather kept as a secret and one is brought over here by "salesman" who hope that you will buy something so they can get a commission. The prices differ but can be between 250K and 380K rupiah.
One Friday, I finally made my way to Borobudur. After arriving at the bus station, i was welcomed by some friendly locals who made me sit down and have coffee and breakfast first and practice my indonesian. Then, of i went with the becak to the temple which was only 5 minutes from the bus station. The entrance is a hefty $11 and before even getting to the entrance, one is hassled by lots of sales people. The Temple is rather impressive; I spent about 2 hours circumnavigating every level of the temple all the way to the top. Along the way, I was asked numerous times to have a picture taken with me. It was fun. I also met three guys from East Timor and we communicated in a mix of english and spanish. After the temple,I wandered through town to see a smaller temple, Candi Pawon, near by. Not worth a mention but the village was the highlight of the day. I was invited to observe a Selapan Muslimat NU event of the muslim woman organization. The language of communication was javanese, the reading and singing from the Koran in arabic. I received tea and food and I think the highest honour was to sit among the men. The head principle of the school, Zumrodin Asngari, took great care of me. The muslim org. members were easily recognized in their green costumes whereas the teachers wore orange outfits. The climax was a well known muslim speaker (so i was told)dressed in black who addressed men and women alike. After the ceremonies, I was invited for lunch, then we took more pictures and finally i was taken back to the bus station. I was sad to leave the village as this was by far the best cultural experience and the friendliest village i have visitied. Thanks to all again.
One the way back to Yogya, I met a friendly chap on the bus who offered me to take me back into town from the bus station. Anton tunrned out to be my buddy for the next 2 days. He took me all over town introducing me to his friends. He was just happy having found his own private english teacher. The next day, we went to Ketapi Pass fromm where we had cloud covered views of Merapi and Merebu volcanoes. This is a beautiful area with small villages surrounded by terraced fields growing rice and vegetables. Later, we went to visit his friend in a small village where I got to try "jamu", a medicinal herb drink of Java. I also got to try kupat tahu which is a mix of tofu and rice cubbes with bean sprouts. Very yummy. In addition, I got teh Tjangkir, which is tea only grown in the Mutilan area.
The next day, I left for Bali with the noon bus. We only made it to Solo where the bus broke down and we were stranded until 7PM. But we did get to bali the next day at 10am. On the bus, I met Wayan who invited me to visit his village. But this is another story. More thumbnails ...
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