(Susan’s descriptions of our travels through central Java continue from here, here, and here)

Once, after  a full day of exploring Yogya, fully restored, Susan and Alea decided to hop a Pedi-cab and go to the Sono-Budoyo museum to take in an evening wayang kulit performance.  Wayang kulitare flat leather puppets managed by three sticks – one for each hand and one to prop up the back. One man manages all the puppets while a full gamelan performs the music; together they retell various Hindu legends.Wayang kulit is experienced as a 360 degree theater.  There are chairs all around the performing area; you can watch from the ‘front’ to see the man manage the puppets and from the sides to get a full-on of the gamelan. The ‘back’ is separate from the front by a screen, so you enjoy the puppets in shadow from this angle.Alea and I walked around the stage about 10 times to enjoy the different views and experiences.  We saw an end section of the Ramayana – a young man is fighting a God only to find out it is really his father.  The shadow fights were something else – the impacts timed perfectly with the gamelan.

(still more info from our Winter Break trip – we’ve already spent time on the islands of Gili Trawangan snd Lombok getting certified to dive,  spent some time in the city of Yogyakarta and visited the Hindu temple at Prambanan. This entry is from an afternoon while we were staying outside the Buddhist complex at Borodubur)

Gunung Merapi (Fire Mountain), at 2911 meters, is just one of the many active volcanoes that construct the spine of central Java.  The United Nations has declared it a ‘decade volcano‘ because of its active and destructive nature.  This is a dubious honor; there are only 15 others on the planet.  We saw signs of its latest work when we drove to Borobudur; roads and river beds washed out by ash and rock flows just last February.  Our hotel guide in Borobudur told us 3-5 cm of ash had settled on the village and they couldn’t see for a day.   1-3 cm of ash had fallen on Borobudur temple and it needed to close for 2 days so more than 200 local volunteers could clean it up and ready it for more visitors.   The Sultan still does annual offerings to Merapi to appease its ‘voice’.

(more info from our Winter Break trip – we’ve already spent time on the islands of Gili Trawangan snd Lombok getting certified to dive, and spent some time in the city of Yogyakarta. This is the recap of a day trip we took from Yogya to the Hindu temple complex at Prambanan)

Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple ensemble in Java.  Constructed between the 8th and 10th centuries, it represents the peaceful co-existence of Buddhism and Hinduism in Java before the arrival of Islam.  The three largest temples are dedicated to Brahman, Shiva and Vishnu, but Buddhist symbols are sprinkled everywhere.  Some historians believe a violent eruption from Agung Merapi in the 16th century caused the evacuation of this site and subsequent move of Javanese rulers to East Java.  2006 brought an earthquake which caused severe damage to the site.  Fortunately for us, much repair work has been done.  However, tourists are still unable to enter the interiors  of several of the temples because of on-going restoration work to stabilize the ruins.

Candi Shiva is the largest and tallest temple.  The story of Ram, Sita and Hanuman, which we know so well from our years celebrating Diwali in India, is carved along its lower panels.  Medallions around the base have the kalpatura (tree of life) with half-human/half-bird kinnara flying overhead.  There are three statues on the inside of the temple, but tourists are not able to view them.  Copies are in the museum – a four-armed Shiva (notable because he stands on a lotus flower – typical symbol of Buddhism), Agastya as an incarnation of Shiva the teacher, and Ganesha, the familiar Elephant-headed God from our time in India. In a separate chamber, there is a statue of Durga, Shiva’s consort, killing a monster-demon.

Candi Vishnu has the story of Lord Krishna on its panels.  Visitors can ascend this temple and see the huge four armed statue of Vishnu as Preserver in the interior.

Candi Brahma has the final episodes of the Ramayana carved on its panels.  It, like Candi Vishnu, has a huge and fascinating ‘monster‘ mouth for it main portal.  Our guide at Borobudur said that temples that have this mouth are designed to remind people to control their words and think about the power that words have.  We are not sure that this is true, but it is a good reminder, none-the-less!    A huge four-headed statue of Brahama the creator resides inside this temple.

Candi Sewu, built during the same time period, is a separate temple in the same compound.  It has one main Buddhist temple with 240 guard temples around it.  The interior has four rooms facing the four cardinal directions.  These are full of beautifully carved niches that must have held statues at one time.  We were not allowed to ‘explore’ Prambanan, so Alea enjoyed the opportunity to get up close and personal with a few secret spaces at this temple.

(Susan’s travelogue about getting our diving certifications)

This was our first ‘working vacation’; we wanted to get PADI Open Water diving certified. We went to Gili Trawangan, a small island off the coast of Lombok (east of Bali in the province of Nusa Tengara).  We stayed at Dream Divers, one of more than 15 dive centers on the island.  Our dive instructor, Yudi, put us to work within an hour of walking through the door (or, rather, walking across the pool deck).  We watched 2 ½ hours of instructional video – the first three chapters in our book.  The next morning, we hit the pool and were under water for about 3 hours.  That afternoon, about 24 hours after arriving, we went on our first ocean water dive! We went to the Trawangan Slope.  I couldn’t believe how fast PADI got us in the ocean!  It was amazing for me and Alea (buddies).  Unfortunately, Breck had a problem equalizing his ears and couldn’t complete the dive.  He was heart-broken, but he and Dave (buddies) had to sit out that first dive. Alea and I were down for about 40 minutes.  We saw the endangered Hawksbill turtle, HUGE pufferfish, colorful soft and hard coral, and all sorts of little damsels.

When we got back to Dream Divers, we had to watch another 1 ½ hours of instructional videos and read another 2 chapters in our book.  Yudi told us Breck’s ear/equalizing issues may be because he had residual gunk in his sinuses from a cold he had last week.  I did the worst thing a mom can do (self-prescribe) and put Breck on a full hit of antibiotics.  We had to have the hard conversation about how maybe PADI couldn’t happen for him this vacation.  It was a pretty quiet dinner, despite the excitement and hard work of the day.

The next morning, we hit the pool again and did what I thought was the worst part of this whole process – breathing through a partial regulator and breathing under water without your mask.  Yuck – but we all passed!  Yudi was a super star and paid special attention to Breck as he practiced equalizing in the deep end of the pool.  That afternoon, we went out to the Ocean again.  This time we all four had success.  Breck went down easily and effortlessly and had no issues whatsoever.  Relief!!  We dove the Meno Slope.  We saw green turtles, butterfly fish, banner fish, groupers, anthias, and eels, to name a small number of the glory we observed.

Paper tests aren’t confined to schoolsJ  We had our first round – 50 questions- when we got back to the dive center.  We all passed and were ready to celebrate with cold beer and ice cream. BUT NO!!  We still had 1 ½ hours of video and the last two chapters to read in our book!!

Our last day, we went for a morning dive at and did some more under-water testing (mask off, no regulator, emergency ascent, etc…)  We were at a lovely spot, Coral Fan Garden, so the three who weren’t testing had lots to see: sea cucumbers, anemone, clown fish, eels, angelfish, parrotfish and unicorn fish.  There was also no current, which had been a huge factor in our dive the day before.  After lunch, we went out again to the Home Reef.  We did our final round of in-water testing and enjoyed the fantastic sea life, though the current was much stronger; a fellow diver said it was ‘like watching a movie reel go by’.  We saw a banded sea snake, porcupine fish, lion fish, and a blue-spotted stingray!!

After this last course dive, we still had to go to the dive center, swim 200 meters, and tread water for 10 minutes! We definitely felt deserving of ice cream and beer after that!  BUT NO!!  We had the final written exam to take – another 50 questions.  Sigh.  Once again, we all passed well within the margin and were really ready to celebrate being official PADI Open Water divers.

To celebrate, we went on our first ‘fun dive’ the next day.  Vidim, a Dream Divers instructor/photographer who offered his services, offered to go out with us and take photos, so Yudi and Vidim changed groups of divers.  We went to the Bounty site and had yet another fabulous dive: more hawksbill turtles, puffer fish, angelfish, batfish, triggers, Moorish idols, and clownfish. And this was Breck’s big day – he was the only one (besides Yudi) who spotted a huge eagle ray!

We have tons of pictures from our time in the water on our “Swimming with the Fishes” blog post!

Thank you, Yudi and Dream Divers, for a fabulous experience.

That’s pronounced “Joag Jakarta” by the way, with a long “O.” I’m not really sure why it is spelled that way, but that’s how the locals do it, so that’s the way it’s being blogged, darn it.

After our New Year’s pool party adventure, we took a day to get our heads screwed on straight and then headed into Central Java. Yogyakarta is called Indonesia’s cultural capital, and we wanted to spend a few days seeing what the fuss was all about.

After a bit of an adventure getting to the airport on time (our driver didn’t show up on time, and neither did the taxi we called), we found out that our plane was delayed (of course). So all our early morning freaking out had been for nothing. But, at least we got to take a picture with our crazily growing morning glory – check out the pictures from the start of the year and now:

Once we got into town, our cultural experiences started up. Susan took the time to research and learn about all the cool things we saw, so I’ll let her travelogue take it from here:

We flew into Yogyakarta early in the morning and went out right away to explore the ‘cultural heart of Java’.   Yogyakarta has been – and continues to be ‘ruled’ by – a Sultan.  As a city, it was established by Prince Mangkumbi in 1755.  According to our Lonely Planet, and confirmed by our tour guide at the Kraton, the area had always been resistant to Dutch colonial rule and locals worked hard to establish independence after WWII.

We walked around the Kraton, in the center of Old Yogya, which is still the home of the Sultan.  We walked there from our hotel, stopping at the Taman Sari on the way.  The Taman Sari is the Sultan’s pleasure palace and pool area. It was built built between 1758 an 1765.  As we discovered over our week in Central Java, everything built here must at some point be destroyed by an earthquake or volcanic eruption – and this was the case with the Taman Sari, as well.   It was extensively damaged by an earthquake in 1865 and the majority still lies in ruins.  The main pools and lounging pavilions have been restored and provide shade and respite from the Java sun.

The Kraton itself has also been damaged by earthquakes (the most recent in 2006), but it has always been repaired given it is the home of the Sultan.  The Kraton is a huge walled city where 25,000 people still live and work.  According to some estimates, up to 1,000 people are employed by the Sultan.   The living areas for the people who still reside here look much like the rest of Yogya – small homes, shops opening onto the streets,  bamboo cages with chickens, cats running around (no dogs – Muslim area!!), tons of pedi-cabs, laundry lines…  The Palace itself is a set of smaller pavillions and buildings.  All the pavilions are open air with deep, high roofs to prevent rain from bothering those on the inside.  The entire perimeter held drop-down bamboo shades to provide shade as the sun marched across the sky over the course of the day.

Tourists are not allowed to enter the actual home of the Sultan.  He still lives there, but was in Jakarta when we visited.  He has five daughters, three who now live overseas in England, USA, and Australia, and two that still reside in Indonesia.  Because he has no son, his brother will become Sultan when he dies.  Our tour guide mentioned briefly that there was much talk among the locals about whether a Sultan was ‘necessary‘ any more given Indonesia is now a democratic society and official are suppose to be elected.   The Sultan’s home has a very western feel to it – no surprise given it was constructed when the Dutch were ‘colonizing’ much of Java.  Our tour guide was very informative and dropped tidbits of information about modern Java into her conversation about the past.  She mentioned one Sultan had 25 wives and more than 80 children.  She also mentioned that Indonesia now had family planning and the best families were one husband, one wife and two children.

 Our usual choice of transport was by foot, but there were bicycle cab options as well. These becaks are human-powered, as opposed to the India-style rickshaw becaks we have in Jakarta. We actually found them to be a bit of a pain, because 1) they fit 3 people max, so we always had to take 2, 2) They were unmetered and hence we always had to bargain even to get a tourist price, and 3) their ubiquity meant that when we wanted a regular cab, they were tough to come by!

We also had the chance to see batik being made, in the traditional “by hand” style. First, a design is drawn on cloth in pencil, which is then covered with wax (pictured). The cloth is dipped in dye, and then boiled to remove the wax – everything covered by the wax is still the original color. A second layer of wax is applied to some of the uncolored areas, a second dipping takes place, and there you have the traditional 3-colored batik. Fascinating to see performed, and amazing to think about the amount of time it takes to cover both sides of a piece of cloth! Susan bought a section of fabric that she intends to have made into a pillow case here.