Temples, Temples and More Temples

We had a plan to do jogyjakarta in two days...but what we realized is plans are never definite. Finding flights is much more difficult then expected. We finally found a flight leaving from jogyjakarta to Bali but it was a day later then we wanted. In order to get this flight we had to either pay at the airport, at a travel agent or an ATM...strange! We decided to pay for the flights at the airport, so as to be totally sure we were at least paying for a flight and not for somebody's dinner. Thus begun our day of taking local bus transportation.

We started off at our hotel in Borabadour which literally overlooks the Buddhist temple called Borabadour. This is a world heritage site and is stated to be one of the 7 wonders of the world. Anyway people say this is indonesia's greatest tourist attraction. We stayed at this specific hotel so we could visit the temple at sunrise. That is supposedly the time to go and feel most enlightened and at peace. But b/c we werent leaving until the next night we didnt go to see the temple that day. We took off down the quaint main road in Borabadour to the bus terminal. just a quick note, we didnt see one westerner the entire day, not until that night for dinner. So needless to say all eyes were on us. Anyway we found a bus and met a very nice man who used to be a pilot for Garuda airlines who now is an english teacher. he has 9 children and 18 grandchildren...big family! That's pretty much the norm here. He and his wife helped us find our way to the airport...all by bus! That took about 2 hours to get to from the hotel. Bussing it is quite an interesting affair...denise will explain. But it is so much cheaper...maybe 1 dollar for 20 miles. Thats up my ally for sure.

After we paid for the plane ticket we set off for the hindu temple of Pramanan. There we found a guide that gave us loads of info on basic hindu mythology...so cool! We learned about Shiva..the most powerful god...the destroyer, his wife...with 8 arms and son...ganesh...with the elephant head, Brahma...the creator and Vishnu...the protector. Denise was pointing out a lot of similarity to the father the son and the holy spirit. Anyway so much info our minds were swelling, but so interesting. Saddly these temples, b/c of the earthquake that happened last year was closed on the inside, so all we could do was walk around the 6 temples and look at them from the outside. Our guide explained that we could get in to see the main temple of Shiva for a small price to the guards. Are you really shocked??? But unfortunatley we came during the siesta time and no one was there to let us in.

This temple was built in the 8th through 10th century and was completely abandoned and brought to rubble. The Dutch started to rebuild it in the late 1800's...and there are piles and piles of stone laying around that was not used to reconstruct a temple. They had to number each piece of stone and try to fit it back together where they thought it belonged...a lot of work! The guide said there used to be 200 temples in the area, but b/c of many earthquakes and natural disasters there are only 6. Some locals believe a story of an evil man who wanted to marry a princess. She was afraid of him b/c he had killed her father and she didnt want to marry the man. She told the evil man if he built 1000 temples in one night then she would marry him. The man contacted an evil spirit who went to work right away building the temples. Anyway she was getting nervous that he would succeed, so she asked the villagers to make a big fire and pretend it was morning in order to trick the evil spirit...the evil spirit was afraid of the day, so he stopped building the temples. he finished 999 temples...leaving one unfinished. The evil man got so mad at the girl that he turned her into stone. So the villagers here believe that these temples were built in one night. A lot of work to do in one night. Anyway Pramanan was fascinating! After we took another bus by way of the silver city, not a very exciting place back to our hotel in Borabadour to be ready for our sinrise experience at the Buddhist temple of Borabadour. A full day for sure. we didnt make it back to our hotel until 6'ish.

Today we woke up to a 4 am wakeup call in order to make it to Borobadour for sunrise. it was fantastic! Borabadour is supposed to signify the three levels up to enlightenment. many people make the long journey to worship at Borabadour. There are 508 carved buddha statues on the building. Quite a site! Some are enclosed in rock stuppahs. legend says that if you touch the hands or the feet of the buddha inside the rock stuppah then you will have good luck.

We learned so much information in the last two days...way too much to write. But it is abosolutely an amazing place. ok my fingers are hurting and im ready to go shopping in our last day at jogyjakarta. Tonight were in Bali sitting on the beach. love to everyone!!!

Wheels on the Bus

Spent 5 hours riding around on the public bus system yesterday! Quite an interesting experience. However, we did manage to meet an english speaking Javanese on about each leg of the trip. They were very friendly and seemed eager to practice their english with us two bulees (white girls). So we managed to make it around ok.

It's quite an efficient system, with a bus leaving it seems every 15 minutes. It is a 2 person operation: the driver (with a Redbull closeby) and the money guy. The money guy hangs out one of the 2 doors shouting out the destination. "Jogja! Jogja!" People board and take a seat if there is one. Then he comes around and asks where your stop is...there are at least 20 stops from Yogjakarta to Borobudur which is only a 30 mile drive. You pay him your rupiahs and look for your drop off zone. The fare was 10,000 rps (current exchange rate is 9,000 to $1) for one way. Cheap compared to the 170,000 taxi ride we bulees took getting there. The driver manages to dodge 25 motorbikes and a big trailor that are coming at us in lightning speed. We try not to watch.

In addition to an efficient means of transport, it is one of the best ways to people watch! So many people getting on and getting off, each with their own story. We got in on a few of them. We met a 71 year old man that teaches english in Jakarta. He told us about his 9 kids and 15 grand kids. He expressed how much he loves America and appreciates all of the help our country gives them. Hmmm... He also explained his government's new way of population control. Each family can only have 3 kids, otherwise they are severely fined. Also, they recently attempted to keep birth rates down by offering Indonesian men a motorbike if they received a vasectomy. Ouch! Hope they don't have to ride their new bikes home from the hospital!

Another benefit of traveling by public bus is the ambience. At about every 4th stop, a new guitar player boards the bus and sings. Of course he immediately comes over to us and begins his jam session. We get that uncomfortable mariachi feel and pretend not to notice at first. Ha! Our futile attempt makes the artist sing Elvis even more loudly, "Put on those blue, blue shoes!" After a couple of stops, he comes around with an empty chip bag. We've learned that it's easier to drop some coins and go with it, rather than not. One of the first times, neither of us had any change, so we both shook our heads when he came round with the bag. "Stupid, stupid," he sneered. Needless to say, now we make it a point to carry change before getting on the bus.

Yogyakarta

Keva and I met two nights ago at the luxurious Grand Hyatt in the busy, busy city of Jakarta. We enjoyed being queens for a night! We left the next afternoon for Yogyjakarta on a quick but questionable flight on the infamous Adam Airlines. As the yellow and orange outfitted flight attendant with matching eyeshadow asked us if we wanted a cup of water, we couldn't help thinking that we were suddenly transported into a bad 70s movie starring Austin Powers. Our whiplashed landing shaved off about 8 hours from the original plan of the overnight train.
After finding a hotel for the night, we enjoyed dinner and music at a local watering hole. The next morning (today) we explored the city. The kraton, or the sultan's compound, was unique. The sultan is the religious leader of Java, who is comparable to the Pope. They worship him and especially his father, sultan IX. The current sultan is the first in history to only have one wife. The guide that toured us explained that the others liked to entertain a harem of women. One sultan had 30 wives and over 80 kids! That is one busy household! Today's sultan is said to have married for love, so was devoted to the one wife. She bore only 5 girls, so the next sultan may be a woman! We thought about Hillary Clinton for some reason...
Later we watched traditional dancers perform to the gamela, or the orchestra made of mostly percussion instruments. We thought Thailand's dancing was more engaging. But it was an experience. Following this riveting adventure, we toured more of the town and Keva even tried to walk through the lucky Banyan trees in the town center....blindfolded. Legend says that if you can walk safely through the trees without mishap, then you will have good fortune. Sadly, she'll continue to buy her daily "scratch off" lottery tickets.
Which brings us up to date. More tomorrow after Borobudur.

Borobudur and Beyond

Sorry for not posting anything yet folks...We've been in transit for the past couple days. We are just outside Yogyakarta now at the famous ancient Buddhist temples of Borobudur. Tomorrow we plan to wander around the ruins, so we'll post more pics then.