Temples in Central Java

We had a magnificent morning in Prambanan  last Thursday. We woke up early and beat the crowds and heat of the day and had an excellent tour of the ancient temples with our guide Tis Lingga. Prambanan represents the full glory of the royal power of the Hindu kingdom of Mataram at its peak.

In contrast to the glories of Mataram, yesterday we traveled high into the mountains above the city of Surakarta to see the last of the Hindu temples in Java, Candi Sukuh and Candi Cethu. Here we had, Pak Juno, an expert in the temple history and symbolism, give us a tour of the temples. Candi Sukuh, he explained, was not built to honor any Hindu gods, rather it was a return to the ancient animism that existed in Java before the arrival of Hinduism. These last temples of the Majapahit kingdom are linked to the Hinduism in Bali. Remnants of the kingdom fled to Bali and established cultural practices which have been passed down in Bali to the present day. 

Learning Indonesian

During our time here, we have been attempting to learn some of the language.  Indonesia has over 700 indigenous languages, such as Balinese and Javanese, but the national language is Bahasa Indonesia.  Important phrases we all know are good morning, (selamat pagi),good day/early afternoon  (selamat siang), good later afternoon (selamat sore), good evening (selamat malam), Maaf (I'm sorry), and terimah kasi (thank you).  We are slowly working on learning to order meals, count, and ask simple questions. ("Apa" is "what", and we can all count satu, dua, tiga, from people taking photos!!) 

Brahma Tirta Sari studio workshop

We had the lovely experience of visiting Nia and Ismoyo, two contemporary batik artists, in their studio.  They demonstrated contemporary batik chap (stamping) and batik tulis (handrawn) resist techniques.   They dyed our batik samples for us, but we didn't get to take them home with us.  This morning we are going to meet them at Candi Sukuh.  We will get our pieces when we meet them.  

Papermoon puppet workshop

We were thrilled to learn contemporary puppet making techniques from the gang at Papermoon. For many of us, it was our first time making puppets. We used crumpled paper and tape to sculpt the faces, then covered that with paper mache. We are waiting in anticipation to bring them to life! 

Malam Minggu in Yogya

Saturday night in Java is called Malam Minggu, which literally means the night of Sunday as the night precedes the day. Malam Minggu is a great time to go out and see the exciting nightlife of the city of Jogyakarta. Our excellent guide, Tis, brought us to the southern palace park (Alun-Alun) where we rode about with hundreds of other Javanese in these brightly lit up pedal cars that were blaring pop music. The other popular activity in the park is to walk blindfolded from the north end of the park through the two banyan trees in the center of the park. This is very hard to do, yet 3 of our students (Emily, Chelsey, and Abby) made it!

The following day we had a batik workshop were everyone had a chance to try their hand at the ancient art of wax resist where we used small pen-like tools (called canting tools) to apply hot wax in intricate patterns. After the wax is applied the fabric is submerged into dye then boiled to remove the wax.

We also traveled out to see the magnificently restored Borobudur temple. It is hard to believe these walls and relief carvings are over 1000 years old.

Flying into Java.

As we were flying into Yogyakarta, Java we passed Mount Merapi. Mount Merapi is the 13th largest volcano in the world and one of the most active volcano in Java.  It sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is a beautiful sight.  

Now in Java!

We arrived in Java today after a beautiful early morning flight looking down on volcanos puffing smoke, and crystal clear crater lakes.
Including recent pictures as follows: the group posing with some other tourists after a sacred water blessing at Tirta Empul, our basket making workshop, the group at Batur Lake temple, our coordinator Rucina explaining offerings, group overlooking Batur Lake, and some rice farmer carrying a heavy load to market.

Balinese hotel

We are staying in a beautiful hotel in Bali; The view from the rooms, such as this one from the second story, are full of exotic trees (there are several coconut trees in sight) and brightly coloured flowers.  The buildings are decorated, such as the stunning carvings on the doors.  

Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary

The Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud is a place that everyone was really exited to see and is only a short walk away from where we are staying. Inside the sanctuary there is a beautiful temple (it is a sacred Balinese Hindu site), some incredible forest, and a whole bunch of wild, stuff-stealing macaques. Most of them were petty calm and friendly actually but we were constantly on the lookout after the theft of and fighting over some hand sanitizer. Right now there are a lot of baby monkeys so we spent extra time watching that cuteness. I think it is safe to say that it was well worth the 30,000 IDR (approximately $2.28) to visit this incredible site.

Balinese Cuisine

Lunch today is Roasted Tofu with Peanut sauce and garnished with carrots, chili, cucumber. The dish is served with nasi or rice garnished with fried onions.

Arriving in Denpasar

Here we are in Denpasar. A little weary after our long trip, but soon we drove up to Ubud, had a wonderful lunch, and began exploring the neighborhood of Nyuh Kuning south of the monkey forest temple. I expect there will be plenty of pictures of rice field terraces, temples, and monkeys posted very soon.

Departing San Francisco

So long for now . . . we have a plane to catch.