JOYS OF YOGYA (Part 2)

Yogyakarta is an excellent tourist destination for many reasons, but I would list reason #1 as accessibility to a great number of varied tourist experiences, both inside and a short distance outside the city. There are organized tour options available from agents downtown and at the hotels, or hire a car and guide for relatively short money.

Just 25 km north of here, the Merapi volcano towers over the city, a perpetual object of both fear and reverence for Javans. This is the most active volcano in a country of many, and thousands of people live on the flanks of the mountain despite a very real danger of eruption. The volcano emits smoke most days of the year, and serious eruptions in 1994, 2006 and 2010 resulted in pyroclastic flows and death tolls. There is new museum and tourist site on the mountain side where you can hire a 4x4 to tour the areas impacted by the 2010 eruption.

Gunung Merapi ("Fire Mountain")

Perhaps the most beautiful place I’ve seen since arriving in Indonesia is Borobudur, a spectacular Buddhist monument constructed in the mid 9^th century, at a time when Java was ruled by a Buddhist-Hindu dynasty. It is built from two million stone blocks in the form of a large symmetrical stupa, with square platforms topped by circular platforms in a distinctive design. There are 2,672 relief panels showing scenes from the life of the Buddha, and 504 statues of the Buddha. A great part of monument’s beauty is its location, literally wrapped around a mountain, with green terraced rice paddies and soaring volcanic peaks in the distance. No wonder this is Indonesia's most visited sight. Borobudur benefitted from a UNESCO restoration in the 70s, and was made a World Heritage site in 1991.

The "skirt" was required, not sure why

Borobudur panorama

As part of my tour of this area I visited the local agricultural village of Candirejo, where a new home stay program has been developed to give young people an idea of day-to-day life here. A young man showed us around by horse-drawn cart. There were ripe rambutan fruits to pick and eat off the trees, beautiful rice paddies, and a small cassava chip production facility (these salted, fried chips are extremely tasty, especially warm out of the fry pot!).

through the fields in Candirejo

The temples of Prabanan are just 17 km from Yogya, on the road to the town of Solo. These also were built in the 9^th century, before Java was converted to Islam. The largest and finest temple is dedicated to Shiva, with lavishly carved “medallions” depicting scenes from the most well-known  Hindu epic, the Ramayana. The other memorable temples are those to Vishnu and Brahma. All are outstanding examples of ancient Hindu art. Prabanan is also much less of a tourist destination, which makes visiting a bit easier.

At Prabanan, in cognito as one of The Village People

All of these sights can be conveniently combined with others for a good day trip, but do consider at least two or three days in the area. Farther afield, in Solo city, there is a beautiful palace and kraton with displays of dance masks, jewelry, and gifts to its sultan (but these cannot rival Yogya’s kraton). Across the street from the kraton in Solo is a small antiques flea market called Triwindu, which is fun and very inexpensive from what I could see. Finally, an old Dutch enclave in Solo called Kampung Laweyan constructed in 1546, houses a warren of small cottages that have their own boutique batik businesses. Most of these are generations old. Here you can see batik being made and buy the finest quality for a bit more than wholesale.

Well, that’s some of my trip to Yogyakarta. I didn't get to write about Parangtritis Beach, Kasongan pottery or the herbal medicine called jamu, but maybe at some later point. I encourage all travelers to Indonesia to spend some time in Yogya to taste the rich flavor of Jawa (“Java” in Javanese). It’s a great city, with plenty of fun things to see and do, even on a budget.

Thanks for reading!