 |
Java September 2001 |  |
 Home Page |
Vladivostok 2005 |
Japan 2004 |
Shanghai 2003 |
Queensland 2003 |
Laos 2002 |
Java 2001 |
Jordan 2000 |
Immortals 04 |
Arsenal Double 2002 |
Family Page |
College Scribbles |
Random Thoughts |
Jimmy's Corkboard |
The What is Up Page |
|
Four go mad in Java just after the 11th of September some more So where to start with this one? Well unlike the previous saunter around Jordan I had the two other brothers O'Brien and Niall with me for company. Four Ang Mohs lost in ulu Java. After two misplaced passport scares on the first day (both originating from the same traveller) we arrived in Yogyakarta (Jogjakarta) and made our way to the Lonely Planet's recommended Hotel Asia-Africa, still have not really figured out the African connection but it was a nice enough place. We managed to acquire two rooms with fans and most importantly Anglo-American toilets (not the French style holes in the ground so common in Asia). At a price of about 3 pound per head it was not bad value especially given the nice swimming pool in the garden. Certainly beat the knickers off Club Quarters Wall St and of course just as I had observed in Bali the hotel had far more staff than guests. The choice of JogJakarta as a destination was not due to the wondrous beauty of Jogjakarta itself, despite being the cultural capital of Indonesia, the usual laissez faire attitude to town planning and basic construction fundamentals so common in Indonesia were abundantly obvious. To be blunt were I to choose between living in Jogja or spending the rest of my days in a kampong it would be an easy choice. Not that a few westerners hadn't settled down in that town but more on them later. So first priority was to get out of Jogja and see some of the marvels left behind by the various Javanese empires of the 9th and 10th centuries AD. First ancient wonder we visited was Borubodur. A big favourite of Sir Stamford Raffles and it was not hard to see why. It stands at a fairly impressive 37m tall and 120m x 120m length and breadth, but within the monument are 4 km worth of walkways. The monument in true South East Asian style was lost for about a thousand years buried under Volcanic rock. It has nevertheless been restored painstakingly and the whole building is covered with reliefs most of which depict the core ideas of Buddhism. The lower circles of the structure have engravings showing the temporal world of action and re-action. The central levels show the suppressing of earthly desires to achieve enlightenment and the top of the structure is Nirvana. I could not help but think though, all that effort just to give up meat and girls! Another day another ancient mystical temple. The next day we went to see the local Hindu masterpiece Prambanan which is about the same age as Borubodur and covering a similar area. The temple is covered with engravings that tell the Hindu story of Rama and so it is the location of the Ramayana ballet which is shown at night in the temple grounds. One of the highlights of the trip had to be us sitting at a restaurant over looking the temple waiting for the ballet to start as the night drew in. As it got darker a storm moved in and the temple was lit up by forks of lightening in the sky around. We sat outside as long as possible as we wanted to make sure that as Brits, we waited till all the other Europeans had taken shelter first. The traditional Javanese ballet was very entertaining and the backdrop of the temple and the bats flying over head certainly added to the atmosphere. The other major day trip was our ascent up the side of one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The place where we perched to watch the Volcano was some distance away, no peeking over the crater's edge for us. Mind you that would probably have not been a good idea given the jets of molten lava that were spewing out of the top. The climb up the mountainside was fairly steep and at first when we reached our perch we were disappointed as mist and cloud surrounded the volcano top. Happily as the sun set the cloud cleared and the Volcano came into sight and we could see a large plume of smoke rising from the top. The site of lava shooting down the mountainside was something else. One thing I noticed was that unlike the films lava travels very fast, faster in fact than any Hollywood actor can run. Imagine seeing gold and orange shooting stars travelling down a mountainside. Those were the main attractions but we did sample some local dishes. One trip to Anna's cafe was particularly eventful. Eating our Nasi goreng in the cafe we noticed a very large cockroach crawling up the wall near our table. Just after my brother asked whether they could jump and I informed him they could fly the roach illustrated its airborne dexterity by flying off the wall and straight onto my head. Distressed at the cockroach's actions I brushed it away and it landed in my food. I then set about beating it over the head with my beer bottle. However the roach was still wriggling after several blows. Only when the waitress squashed it flat with the palm of her hand was the doubty creature cleared away. We also sampled the nightlife of Jogja which consisted of one bar. In here local androgynous youths draped themselves over old foreign tourists and the Jogja based expats gathered to drink away the night, week, month, decade. It was in this interesting place that my brother Dave got to meet the nicest girl there (a mere 6 years older than him). She has the old trick of getting her gay friend to talk to him first. So that was the social scene in Java, Dave made friends with a top bird and I got up close and personal with Monsieur de Roach. |
|
 |
Borubodur The ancient pyramid in all its glory |
 |
The three boys hanging out on top of a temple
Will, Niall and the wee one all together. That is Buddha in the middle by the way, in case you were curious like... |
 |
Prambanan A side on view on this most evocative of temples |
 |
Mount Merapi The volcano belching smoke |
 |
On the mountain path Shame you cannot actually see us |
 |
David and Vitry My brother in action. Unfortunately we have no photos of Monsieur de Roach |
 |
Battle scene from the ballet Not the best light but one can just make out some of what we saw |
