Tracing the Ancient Java in Jogjakarta

Quote: Jogjakarta, or Jogja, is the perfect place if you want to explore Javanese culture. Jogja is one of special regions in Indonesia other than Aceh and Jakarta. In the beginning of Indonesian independence from Dutch colonialism, this city was the capital city of Indonesia.

Jogja has a sultan who lives in a palace called Kraton, but his role is merely symbolic. Although the sultan doesn’t have any power as a king anymore, Jogjanese are still showing a deep respect to the sultan. The Kraton also opens for the public from 8am to 2pm everyday, except Friday, when it opens from 8 to 11am. By paying R8,000 (US.8) you will get a free tour guide who will explain the sultan’s palace or Kraton in a glance.

Another interesting attraction is Taman Sari, a water castle located 2km from the Kraton. If you are tired of walking, you can take a bicycle cab called a becak for R5,000. Ask the becak driver to take you to Pasar Ngasem bird market. Pasar Ngasem used to be the water castle complex. Go through the Pasar Ngasem and see various birds sold in that market. In the back of Pasar Ngasem, you will find a ruin from original building of Taman Sari. Climb up through the stairs of the ruin and you will find a nice view of Jogja. The famous street where a lot of souvenirs and batiks are sold can be viewed from the "tower." Some local boys usually fly beautiful kites here.

Recently, some part of Taman Sari was renovated with financial aid from UNESCO. Therefore, the renovated area is not original anymore. You have to pay R8,000 to enter the renovated area.

In the Taman Sari complex, you could find the sultan’s employees who live there. Take your time to see the Taman Sari and its surrounding. Most of them have ability to make batik and wayang puppets. Before the economical crisis in 1997, there were hundreds of such puppet artists. Now, only a few of them can sustain and continue the business. Their devotion to the sultan does not prevent them from continuing the modest life.

If you are interested in learning how to make batik, you could take a lesson from an artist by paying a certain amount of money to buy the materials. It takes a minimum of a day to learn the basic batik processing.

Quick Tips:

Like other cities in Indonesia, Jogja is hot and humid (28° to 35°C). Use your summer cloths and drink a lot of water to avoid dehydration.

Batiks that were sold on Malioboro Street are usually offered for cheap, but they are poor in quality. It’s better buy the batiks from the representative shops for a better quality. You could also buy a batik directly from the artist in the Taman Sari complex.

Be careful of becak drivers offering you a very cheap fare. They will take you to certain shops for a commission. Of course, the prices in those shops are more expensive.

Best Way To Get Around:

A public bus is available, but for practical reasons, I prefer to walk or take a bicycle cab for a short distance or city cab for a faraway location. A shuttle bus to reach tourist places is also available in most hotels. You could also rent a car, which costs R350,000 per day.

Quote: It is located close to Malioboro Street and the train station. The rate is in the vicinity of $6 to $13. For a $10 room, you get breakfast and A/C.

Surrounding the motel, there is an Internet café and small bars, which get quite crowded at night.

If you go by train, you can walk to reach this motel. However, if you bring a lot of belongings, a bicycle cab could be an alternative.

Quote: This market is the back entrance to the Taman Sari water castle. It used to be a complex of Taman Sari. After the independence of Indonesia from Dutch colonialism, Taman Sari was abandoned. I don't know when it starts, but now Pasar Ngasem is a place where Jogjakartanese find birds as pets. It is the Javanese culture that makes Jogjakarta men like to have birds as pets.

Quote: The Ramayana ballet, or sendratari, is performed at night from 7:30 to 9:30pm by hundreds of dancers. Ramayana is an epic about the fight of Rama, the king of the Ayodya kingdom, and Rahwana, the king of Alengka. They’re fighting to get the beautiful Shinta. Another major star in this ballet is Hanoman, an ally of Rama, who tries to save Shinta, who is kidnapped by Rahwana. If Shakespeare created Romeo and Juliet, Indonesia has Rama and Shinta as a romance legend.

In May to October, the Ramayana ballet is performed in an open theatre under the full moon, with the magnificent Prambanan temple as the backdrop. The entire Ramayana epic consists of four episodes. Each episode is performed each night. I recommend the episode of "Hanoman Duta" (Hanoman, the ambassador), since you could see an attractive performance of a white monkey called Hanoman burning the Alengka kingdom. Although the performance is held for 2 hours, you will not get bored by the enchanting dancers’ clothes, the live music from gamelan, a Javanese tradition set of music, and the ballet performance, which is really different from the European ballet. Other than from May to October, the ballet is performed in an ordinary theatre.

Tips: You can go for the performance in casual clothes.

Quote:

Volcanoes are one of the interesting attractions for some people, especially for me and my friend from Austria. There are a lot of mountains in Austria, but none is a volcano. On our trip to Jogjakarta or Yogya, I want to show my friend Merapi a volcano in central Java. We have to go to the volcano observation post in the Kaliurang highlands.

Someonw in Jogjakarta must know where Kaliurang is. Kaliurang itself is a name of a long street in the north of Jogjakarta. UGM (university) is one of landmarks on Kaliurang. To reach the volcano observation post in Kaliurang, go north and take Kaliurang until the street is finished. There are quite informative sign boards along the street.

Reaching Kaliuarang national park, you will see a waterfall that, some people believe, has a healing power. Last time I visited Kaliurang, the waterfall was dry and had only a few drops of water falling from the cliff. Although a bit disappointed, a guy selling soft drinks told me that there was a more interesting place to see on the peak of the cliff. From the peak we could see the Merapi volcano from afar and see evidence of its explosion in 2003.

We had to climb the cliff, following a slippery and steep small path. For a lazy person like me, who rarely works out, it was really exhausting. We finally reached the peak and unfortunately could not even see the Merapi peak, since the mist was surrounding it. However, I could see the traces of the magma and hot clouds of the volcano explosion from the dead trees in the forest surrounding the Kaliurang peak. The soft drink guy also showed me some pictures of when the Merapi exploded.
Although I was quite disappointed of the trip, the journey to the Kaliurang itself is really beautiful. Later on, I was informed that the more interesting place to see five mountains, three of them volcanoes, is from Ketep Pass.

So, if you have a chance to visit Yogya and are interested in seeing the beautiful nature of central java, you could visit Ketep Pass.

Quote: Java is very well-known for the batiks. People paint batik from plain fabrics like cotton or silk with paraffin. If you go to Malioboro Street in Jogjakarta, there are a lot of batik shops and stalls, but if you want to see how to make batik, I recommend that you to go to the Taman Sari complex.

Enter Taman Sari from Ngasem bird market. Taxi and bicycle drivers know where it is. I myself prefer to walk from sultan’s palace.

When I reached the bird market, I was a bit confused and asked someone the way to Taman Sari. Then, he started to explain everything, although I already refused to get explanation from a guide. "No! I’m not a guide. You don’t have to pay me. I’m a sultan’s employee. My family has been live here from three generations." Later, I found out that he was a batik painter who could not continue his profession since he ran out of money.

There were hundreds of batik painters in the Taman Sari complex, but due to the economic crisis, only a few who can sustain this living. The fabrics and paraffin are too expensive for them. Although only a few batik painters are left, we still could see lots of batik painting in Taman Sari.

All batiks in Taman Sari are traditionally handmade. After sketching with pencils, they start to use paraffin on the sketch. They colored the half-finished fabrics with natural plants. The washing process is also interesting. They don’t use hand gloves, so their hands are brown from the melted paraffin. Maybe gloves are too expensive for them.

If you want to learn how to make batik, you can pay around 750,000 rupiah. Unfortunately, I don’t remember my "tour guide’s" name, but if you have a chance to visit Taman Sari, there are a few shops offering lessons on how to make batik

Quote: History

Imogiri is the name given to the royal cemetery located 20 km to the south of Jogjakarta. The cemetery complex was build by Sultan Agung, one of the Moslem kings of Mataram, Surakarta and Jogjakarta Kingdoms. He passed away in 1645 and was the first buried there. After the separation of Surakarta and Jogjakarta in 1755, kings from both kingdoms have their own grave here. Although the role is merely symbolic, Sultan Agung’s ancestor is now still ruling as the king of Jogjakarta and Surakarta.

Sultan Agung, the greatest Moslem king in Java, built this cemetery in 1632. It took almost 8 years to finish it. Although the king is a Moslem, the architecture of the building has a lot of Hindu style.

The name Imogiri itself literary means mist hill. The complex consist of 3 major royal houses, namely Mataram, on the centre; Surakarta, on the left; and Jogjakarta, on the right. Each houses contains 8 graves with hindu-styled gateways.

The aim of my visit to Imogiri is to see how Javanese people respect their kings.

Pilgrimage

You should prepare yourself to walk up to the stairs. The stairs are almost 45o and 200 meters long. Total number of the stairs has never been precisely counted. That’s why local people called these stairs as thousand stairs. To lessen the exhaustion, I was been advised to zigzag walking up.

Javanese people have long been known that they honor and worship their ancestors. It appears in the practice of visiting the cemetery where the ancestors are buried. A visit to the royal cemetery means a pilgrimage for the Javanese. The purpose of a visit is either a contemplation to take good examples for the persons buried there or asked for good luck blessing.

Since Imogiri symbolises Javanese connection to their ancestors and their rulers on important occasions such as a month before the fasting month of Ramadhan, the Javanese clean up the graves and send their prayer.

It is believed that the late kings were supernaturally powerful. Therefore, a lot of people make some request for their blessing.

There are four pitchers that you could see on your way up to the grave of Sultan Agung which are believed have magical healing power. These pitchers were presents that were given from neighbouring kingdoms of Sriwijaya, Aceh, Turkey and Thailand. The Javanese believe that the water flowing from the pitchers has the highest healing power on Friday and Tuesday.

The Sultan Agung’s tomb located in the highest place is believed to be the most sacred one. The fragrance of flowers and burning incense, and the candle lit the tomb render a mystique aura to the place. A guard sitting crossed legged in Javanese cloths ask visitors to sit beside the tom and raise both hands to send a prayer. After a short service, he gives flowers wrapped in banana leaves which believers think can give a good omen.

Another popular destination for pilgrims is the tomb of Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, father of the current king of Jogjakarta, who passed away in 1988. Many visitors coming to his grave is a testimony to his immense popularity.

Time and Manners to Visit

The grave houses aren’t open everyday for public. Only on Sunday, Monday (10am-1pm), and Friday (1:30pm-4pm) public could visit the tomb. During the fasting month, the cemetery is closed. The royal family usually visits the tomb on the birthday and the death day of the king. Ordinary people may visit the tomb when it’s open for public.

People wanting to visit the Sultan Agung and other royal family tombs must wear unique traditional cloths. The men wear a batik sarong wrapped around the waist. The women wear batik sarong, batik bustier. You could rent the cloths from the guard who lives there. It’s really interesting that my friend and I could have a chance to wear the traditional clothes together.

People

Another interesting thing about the cemetery is people who live there. Those people are the king’s guards who are from generations to another become the King’s employee. Some of them are very old already, but they’re very nice. Although they don’t expect us to give a donation, they would be very happy to receive some money. The King cannot give a sufficient salary for them, but their devotion to the King is more than enough to feed them and their family.