YoYo from Yogyakarta ;)

[ by Stian ]

Selamat datang di Yogyakarta:)

Our next destination was set for the known Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. The city is famous for housing two of the most prominent temples of Indonesia, the Buddhist temple of Borodubur and the Hindu temple of Prambanan. I was the one who decided that we should go here cause the photos I had seen online of the temples have been just amazing, so I was ready to be awed of beauty:-)

Meeting Lucas :)

We met up Lucas, the very cute local guy I had a nice chat with the first night on Bali. Actually, I and Lucas got along very well at our first meeting and Lucas really wanted to meet me again, and I really would not mind meeting him again as well to be honest;) At first he wanted me to meet him in Jakarta, and I was considering this option for a day, but if I had chosen to meet him in Jakarta then I would have had to skip Singapore, and I really wanted to stick with my plan and get to see both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur later on. Lucas was though determined to meet me again and then instead chose to meet up and join us while we were in Yogykarta. I had obviously made an impact for sure , and that's nice.

So we met up with Lucas at the airport in Denpasar – and it was really nice seeing him again. Since he likes to arrange things he had made the effort and arranged hotel accomodation for us in Yogyakarta, and he had even arranged for a car and a driver for the two days we were staying in Yogyakarta as well so that we didn't have to rely on taxis – 'cause of what I came to understand later is that there is no public transportation in Yogyakarta whatsoever – so it would have been a hell to get around there.

«Luxurious» living at Fave Hotel

The hotel Lucas had picked out for us was Fave Hotel, located only in short distance from the airport. Upon arrival we were shocked to see how nice the hotel was, especially considering the surroundings otherwise in the area, but we were to see this often later on as well: Luxurious resorts or hotels or single buildings in generally really shabby areas. The rooms at Fave Hotel were very nice, with a see-through window to the bathroom – and there was a really nice pool, along with a bar and a restaurant and so on. I and Kenneth thought it was really nice, though Lucas just referred to it as ok, as he obviously is used to even better standard, haha;) We were also worried about the costs of it – though Lucas told us not to worry about this, cause he would handle the costs. WOW. We were being spoiled by a local, in Indonesia!!! Who would ever had thought that would happen before our journey?

Extremely Local Dining

The first evening in Yogyakarta we met up with two friends of Lucas that lives there. I have though unfortunately already forgotten about their names, but they were a really nice local couple. They picked us up at the hotel and we then left for dinner. They took us to this very popular local place called The House of Raminten for dinner at first. This restaurant is so popular that we had to wait in line for a table. We eventually got a table, though they are so poor in this country that they could not afford chairs to all tables, so we had to sit on the floor, and we had to take off our shoes as well since they can't afford soap for cleaning afterwards, haha, not really;) This is just they way it is many places in Indonesia. The menu consisted of traditional local Indonesian food, and I was starving so I was pleased with the choice of dining place. Unfortunately it would turn out that they were out of almost everything on the menu so we ended up eating some fish-snack for food. They did have drinks though, so we were served the most massive coconut juice ever - and of course several other specialities, even spicy juices;) The funniest thing about the restaurant is that it is obviously a gay/drag-owned restaurant since the representative of the place on the poster for sure is a drag - and every guy working as a was were very very very gay.

Even though I did get full on what we had for dinner, Lucas still wanted to take us to another local place which he assured us had chicken on the menu – and yes, he was right. The place was extremely local in every way – and I don't think any Norwegian would dare to eat at a place like this, cause the whole establishment and the kitchen area was extremely basic and I am not sure if Norwegian health authorities would have approved of this place, but they sure did know how to cook:) So I got my chicken, which tasted really good. We also got something that looked like a rotten egg, but it tasted really nice – and also boiled pig-skin that tasted ok, but had a really horrible texture which just put me completely off;) Imagine pigskin with same texture as «lutefisk» - not my favorite kind of food to say;) So I got to try plenty of REAL traditional food thanks to Lucas and his friends this evening:) So I was very happy:) The name of the place was Gudeg Pawon, or maybe that was the street name... not sure really – haha;)

Borobudur Temple

Borobudur is world famous for being the largest Buddhistic archeological site in the world, and is today Indonesia's most visited tourist destination. The temple complex was built in the 9^th century and consists of six square platforms topped by 3 circular platforms, and is decorated with 2672 relief panels and 504 Buddah statues. A main dome, located at the center of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues seated inside a perforated stupa.

So the next day we were picked up by the driver and the first stop of the day was the Borobudur temple. Arriving at the site there was of course an entrance fee – and this fee is very different if you are local or a foreigner. Lucas got away with paying only 30 000 Indonesian rupiahs, while I and Kenneth had to pay the foreign entrance fee which was 180 000 Indonesian ruphias – that is 6 times the amount of the local entrance fee. Well well, but it was ok.

I was impressed with the whole structure of the temple – but I was still left a bit underwhelmed cause I had expected a bit more. My impressions might have been affected by the fact that it was a cloudy day and mid day, and all photos I have seen have been of the temple during clear sky or in the sunset. But well well;) The visit to the temple was though still way fun because when I and Kenneth got there we got hordes of Asian teenage girls screaming and running after us wanting to take photos with us. We really did not understand this excitement of theirs, but it didn't seem like Yogyakarta is a very touristic town, at least not by tall, white, blond and blue eyed tourists. Even families with small kids approached us and wanted to take photos with us – haha, pretty hilarious to be honest. Lucas was busy taking photos of us getting our pictures taken with the local tourists;) haha.

The Borobudur temple was first rediscovered in the early 1800's when Java was under British rule. There is no accurate knowledge of when the temple was abandoned completely – but the most likely theory is that the temple was abandoned in the 1400's during time when the population converted to Islam. Another theory of the abandonment might be the relocation of the capital to the eastern part of Java because of a serious of volcanic eruptions happening back then. Today most of the temple is restored and in 1991 it was included in the UNESCO world heritage site foundation. Today it is an important place for Buddhist pilgrimage. The original main purpose behind the construction of the temple is unknown but what is known is that the reliefs that covers the walls of the temple tell about «cause and effect», in other words: The law of the karma.

Prambanan Temple

Afterwards we left for the east side of the city to drop by the other famous temple, Prambanan temple. Candi Prambanan or Candi Rara Jonggrang is a 9th-century Hindu temple compound dedicated to the Trimurti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Preserver (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva). The temple is the largest Hindu temple in South East Asia and originally consisted of a total of 240 temples. 3 main temples were dedicated to the the three main Gods respectively, with the tallest central temple dedicated to Shiva. Another 3 slightly smaller temples in front of the main temples were dedicated to the vahana (spiritual animal) of each God. Then there are another 10 smaller temples inside the main center square, and originally 224 temples arranged in 4 concentric squares surrounding the main temples. The 8 main temples are all restored today, while only 2 of the 224 Pervara temples are restored. In 1991 also Prambanan temple became a UNESCO world heritage site.

I have to say that I did like this temple a lot. I guess it's the attraction to Hindu god Vishnu that just make the gay in me appreciate it;) haha. But even here I was a bit underwhelmed and had expected a bit more.. At Pramban temple the hordes of Asian teenagers were even worse! There were groups of 30-40 girls running towards us and it was actually getting a bit tiring in the end, but we are kind people so we let them have their photos. I am really glad that this is not my everyday life cause it was really exhausting, and I did start to hide behind walls on purpose every time I saw more than 3 girls walking together. Poor Lucas though ended up being the one having to take the photos – and I do think that he felt a bit left outside since no one approached him for photos – but well – I had to make up for the lack of attention later anyways, so in the end it was all good, hopefully;)

Streetfood

This night we ended up eating at a street restaurant... since our hotel was a bit far from the city center we wasn't able to find a decent restaurant in this neighbourhood. They served fried rice which always should be a safe choice, but both I and Kenneth felt a bit funny in our stomachs the next morning... well well.

Taman Sari

«At Yogyakarta's centre is the kraton, or Sultan's palace. Surrounding the kraton is a densely populated residential neighbourhood that occupies land that was formerly the Sultan's sole domain. Evidence of this former use remains in the form of old walls and the ruined Taman Sari, built in 1758 as a pleasure garden. No longer used by the sultan, the garden had been largely abandoned. For a time, it was used for housing by palace employees and descendants. Reconstruction efforts began in 2004, and an effort to renew the neighbourhood around the kraton has begun. The site is a developing tourist attraction» (source: Wikipedia).

The city of Yogyakarta has throughout time spread in all directions of the Kraton, so we were literally in the center of the city. Taman Sari, the old bath of the sultan, is a nice old bathing-complex and I really liked this place because of its architecture. Today its main function is of course being a tourist attraction. There are three separate baths/pools, one for the women, one for the children and one for the sultan himself, where he of course could invite whomever he wanted to join him. There is also a small village connected to the complex which was really intimate and nice and had some nice souvernir-shops. I really liked this one «art-gallery» that had commercial art made on cloths, and most of it was in batik-style and Kenneth purchased a piece of «art» as well, and even though both I and Kenneth felt that Kenneth did a good job on the bargaining, Lucas told us that Kenneth was really ripped off, haha. We really are a pair of noobs when it comes to bargaining;)

Not far from the Taman Sari we then went to the to the main pavillion of the sultanate palace, the Pagelaran. I believe this place is still used as official coronation place of the royal family. This area was just ok though – there was nothing that really impressed me about this pavillion, but it was ok. I got my photos but wasn't really impressed compared to the temples we saw the previous day or the old bath that we'd just seen.

Yogya Kembali

The rest of the day we hang out at a shopping complex in the main street, had some food, before we then headed for Yogya Kembali, a war memorial museum. The war museum was actually already closed for the day because of lack of visitors – but one of the security guards working at the museum let us in anyways so that we could have our photos and see it. It was a massive building but really nothing inside so we got through it within 15 minutes so it was ok. We learned that Indonesia used to be occupied by the Dutch and got their independence in 1949. Even though they were supposed to have their independence in 1945 after WWII the Dutch re-invaded Indonesia and didn't give up fighting until 1949. Lucas even speak Dutch and there is a lot in Indonesia still reminiscent of the Dutch colonial area as I understand. Of course we tipped the guy a bit for his courtesy before we left.

It had been raining for some time at this point so we just headed back to the hotel, which was just perfect because I was really tired by now and needed to get some relaxation. Later that night we had dinner at a very fancy Japanese/Indonesian restaurant, Garden Restaurant, quite a distance from our hotel... it was nice, but Lucas was left unimpressed since they had the same kind of Indonesian food that you can get anywhere else in Indonesia as well, but I was pleased because to me everything here is new anyways;)

Return 2 Indonesia

The next morning we had to leave pretty early. Our flight for Singapore was at 07:30 in the morning so we had to say goodbye to Lucas very early. It was sad to say goodbye once again – but at least this time I have decided that I will return to Indonesia again in a few weeks time so that I can spend more time with Lucas and then we will see how everything goes :) Coincidentally it happens that Kenneth will return to Australia at the same time cause he seem to have unfinished business downunder – so once again we will be having some time apart from each other – and the plan is to meet up in Japan in May again:)

This is it from Indonesia for now – in 6 weeks time there will be more stories to share from Indonesia:)

Terima kasih untuk waktu Indonesia. Aku akan kembali.