Shake, Rattle, and Roll
Travel Location: Jogjakarta,Indonesia
By: Christina
Yogyakarta (pronounced “Jogjakarta” or “Jogja” by those in the know) is a sweet city with a small town feel in the center of the island of Java. Though it was a long (eight hour) train journey to get here, the views from the train windows were beautiful, and the time passed quickly as we sailed past terraced rice paddies and creeks bisecting jungles. We didn’t know what to expect of our hotel in Jogja as I had used gift certificates from my parents (a Christmas present) and booked online. We were hugely pleased at what we found at the Grand Mercure Hotel, a refurbished mansion built in 1918 with all our favorite amenities – satellite TV, pool, gym, spa, wine bar with pool table and a good happy hour, super friendly staff, and probably the best breakfast buffet we’ve ever had. Best of all, however, were the three new friends we met there: Kenny, a friendly Danish guy finishing up a semester studying in Kuala Lumpur, and Cate/Liam, an Australian mother-son duo whom we clicked with in a huge way.
Exhausted from the train journey, the four of us were content to play a quick round of pool, take showers, order room service, and get into bed to watch a movie on HBO. Ah, the joys of travel. The kids in particular were happy to do what I call “pretending they are in America,” but I will say, Dan and I enjoyed the evening a lot too. With less than a month of travel to go, I think all of us are turning our sights homeward and are more inclined to do more “vacationing” than “traveling” at this point.
We put on our tourist hats the next day, however, with a visit to Jogja’s Kraton, a walled city within Jogja, where several sultans and their families make their homes. Apparently, the Sultan (Number 10, if you are keeping track) still is a big power player in these parts and everyone working within the Kraton is his servant. No one makes any money, but in return for their services, the Sultan provides them a home in the Kraton. These folks are allowed to hold second (and third) jobs if they choose, so there is an abundance of batik shops and touts hustling everything from mineral water to salty snacks.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Kraton was the fact that a 6.0 earthquake (emanating from nearby Merapi volcano) did extensive damage in May, 2006 and killed 5000 people in the greater Jogja area. Coming from California, we don’t usually have much damage and certainly no deaths from an earthquake of this magnitude. Here, however, the buildings are hundreds of years old, or are poorly built, so massive destruction from natural disasters is a fairly common thing.
Unbeknownst to us, all of the museums in Jogja are closed on Mondays, so our grand plan to hit a few museums, fell by the wayside. We did duck into the grounds of the Benteng Vredeburg, a 250 year-old Dutch fort with some very cool architecture. It was here that we met the aforementioned Liam and Kate and made plans to meet at the Grand Mercure’s swimming pool later in the day (they are also staying there). A quick visit to the central market (where I admired the vast selection of ladies’ head scarves) was followed by an internet session (the kids are done with their math workbooks, so we need to go online for math assignments), and then we headed back to the hotel. Liam proved to be a great companion for both kids (he is 10) and the remainder of the day was spent hanging out with him and his mom, as well as Kenny, who also was escaping Jogja’s humidity with a dip in the pool. When we told Cate about the day trip we had booked for the next day, she got on the phone and arranged for them to go too.
Early in the day, Dan had headed over to the local hospital, in the hopes of getting his stitches removed. After twenty minutes, he was unable to find anybody who spoke English, and had progressed only as far as getting a form to fill in (all in Bahasa). So, he decided to take advantage of our fine hotel, and do it the easy way. Late in the afternoon, two doctors (arranged by the hotel) arrived at our room to remove the stitches. These were two very official looking fellows. Both were wearing white doctor’s coats and both had little name tags listing their credentials. One of the guys seemed to be the designated “spokesdoctor”, asking Dan all of the questions about the accident, and to whom we paid the consultation fee.
The other doctor was the “surgeon” who we were supposed to pay for the removal of the stitches. However, when we were told the cost for the “surgery” (calculated on a per stitch basis), the amount requested would have made even an American doctor blush. Since Dan was pretty sure that Abby could do it with the right tools, he declined the surgeon’s services. Instead, there followed a lengthy debate and some negotiation over the right collection of supplies to buy. It was all pretty lame, because the guys spent longer figuring out how much to charge for a surgical scalpel and some tweezers, than it would have taken to remove the darned stitches. Ultimately, we became the proud owners of a couple of new tools and Cate, who is a nurse, removed the stitches at the low, low price of a couple of happy hour gin slings at the hotel bar.
The next morning, after a massive pig out at the breakfast buffet (typical fare for both kids: waffles and sushi – a sort of east meets west feast), we all piled into a minivan to head to Borobudor, perhaps the most important historical monument in all of Indonesia. Built in the early Ninth Century, Borobudor is on par with Angkor Wat, and pays homage to Buddhism on a grand scale. Naturally, it’s a World Heritage Site. The best thing about the place was that it was covered by volcanic ash and soot from nearby Merapi volcano for hundreds of years, thereby preserving the bas reliefs carved on nearly every inch of the structure in close to perfect condition. These carvings were nothing short of amazing. We spent about an hour climbing the various terraces and admiring the hundreds of Buddhas in and out of stupas all over the structure. Our guide was really good, combining the academic (explaining the meanings of the various panels) with the fun (rubbing Buddha’s foot (females) and hand (males) for good luck) and testing the kids on their knowledge.
For some reason, we are constantly being asked to take pictures with Indonesians. I thought at first the novelty was the kids, but, in fact, they don’t seem to mind who is in the picture, so long as it is a westerner. We were very popular at Borobudor (the blond Aussies with us probably contributed to this), and we had trouble getting out of there with all the picture requests coming from the Indonesia paparazzi. We also were “interviewed” by several sweet Indonesian students who asked the identical set of questions (What is your name? Where do you come from? How do you find Indonesia? Etc.).
After Borobudor we visited the lesser-known, but no less remarkable, Prambanan temple complex to the east of Jogja. Comprised of something like fifty temple sites (many still need to be unearthed), this spot is Hindu, with temples dedicated to Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma soaring into the sky. Of course, it too is a World Heritage Site. Sadly, these temples all suffered greatly in the recent earthquake, and there is a lot of work to be done restoring them. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our time walking around (with another great guide) and had the place virtually to ourselves. The temples are surrounded by acres of open grassy areas and park land, so Dan, Cate and I made the best of the area, strolling the grounds, while the kids played a rousing game of hide and seek. On the drive home, the kids celebrated the LAST TEMPLE OF THE TRIP! (I guess when you add up all the religious monuments we have visited, they have been extensive).
After some rest at the hotel, we went to see a shadow puppet show. Indonesia is famous for its puppets (there are several varieties) and we thought, to round out our time in Indonesia, we probably should check out a show. We lasted about 30 minutes. Somehow, it never really clicked for us. Perhaps it was the gamelon music and accompanying singing, which, although harmonious, was quite screeching at times. Or, maybe it was the fact that we had no idea what was going on, as the narration was in Bahasa-Indonesia. Whatever the reason, we gave it our best shot, then bolted. Grayson’s words in the taxi aptly summed up the experience, “Well, that was something that we probably needed to see, but it wasn’t very good.”
On our last day in Jogja, we made good use of the pool, gym and pool table (once the school work was done, of course). Cate lent me her Hello! Magazine (those Brits really know how to do gossip rags) and we all hung out at the pool. We did have to say a sad goodbye to Kenny who was headed back to Denmark after his six months in Southeast Asia.
Cate graciously agreed to watch the kids while Dan and I got in some final sightseeing in downtown Jogja. This time it was the sultan’s Water Palace (“Taman Sari”) an area within the Kraton that used to be full of pools, canals and palaces for the sultan and his family. Nowadays, the monuments are pretty much in ruins (earthquakes will do that), but we still enjoyed walking around with yet another great guide. Best sight of the day was the fantastic view of Merapi volcano as seen from the sultan’s swimming pools. Nearby is the city’s famous bird market (the “Pasar Ngasem”) where hundreds of song birds are sold daily. Despite assurances to the contrary, we steered clear of the place based on our concerns about bird flu.
Our final night in Jogja was spent with Liam and Cate at Via Via, a restaurant in the southeastern part of town. It is across from the Ministry of Coffee, a restaurant/coffee shop/guesthouse, that looks just beautiful (had we not stayed at the Grand Mercure, we would have stayed at the Ministry of Coffee, if only for the name). Our dinner was great, as were the roving musicians who came in from time to time to serenade us with a very random collection of songs including “Country Roads”, “La Bamba”, and a lot of Creedence Clearwater Revival classics.
We left Jogja richer in experiences and happy at heart. Dan and I enjoyed some adult company and the kids had a blast with Liam. They also claimed to have liked the visit to Borobudor and Prambanan (perhaps with temples in the rear view mirror, they can afford to be gracious). I’ll take it, however, for fond memories is what this trip is all about.
Note: lots more photos attached!
