Beautiful Borobudur to downpour, becak to batik

Saturday 7th May
Yogyakarta airport
21.36-ish
Waiting for our Bali flight

 
Borobudur is simply stunning. We set off quite early for our visit (Fri 6th May) with our driver but not at sunrise as I wasn’t going to have another too early morning! I was getting fed up with these early starts for now. I figured just before 8am was fine especially as it was only an hour’s drive away from our hotel.

When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised to find that tourist wise, Borobudur was rather empty. In fact, there were more workers scraping away volcanic ash from its walls (from Gunung (Mount) Merapi’s recent eruption) than tourists. Result!

In the searing heat, Mat and I were able to admire Borobudur’s awesome bas reliefs in relative peace. We took a ridiculous number of photos between us with our respective cameras and can only hope that a few turn out ok for our memories as the intricacy of some of the stone carvings were beautiful.  To respect Buddhist tradition, we were made to wear sarongs over our clothes so some of the photos of us look decidedly dodgy as they had a tendency to fall off or ride up.

We didn’t quite reach our ‘nirvana’ at Borobudur as the top layer was sealed off due to all the volcanic ash but we were still able to get a good look, just not scramble around in it.

The other main highlight at Borobudur, however, was witnessing yet again Mat’s ability to attract a ridiculously high number of Indonesians wanting to have their photo taken with him.                       
Friday was the last day of school for Indonesian summer break-up so there were quite a few teenagers at Borobudur celebrating this.  Budget George Clooney struck again and at some points, I felt a bit like the token camera person so many people were asking to have their photo taken with Mat. Many of the girls were swooning over him to the point that some were saying, “heee eees bee-youu-tee-fuull”.  I kid you not! 

Had I known Mat would attract this much attention, I could have made a TON of money touting him to Indonesian TV so much sooner!  It did get silly at some points where we couldn’t even go over to parts of Borobudur without a giggly teenager asking for a photo. We are still trying to work out whether they thought he was someone else but I was watching other men who sort of resembled him and they weren’t getting chased for photos. It was all very bizarre. I didn’t quite get a diva moment from Mat but he came close... Watch out Mariah!  I, on the other hand, didn’t get a look in. Obviously. What with me looking like I come from Java and the like. Never mind.

After Borobudur, we went to Kaliadam which is the area nearest to Mount Merapi. Our driver thought it would be interesting for us to visit so that we could see the effects the volcanic eruption of Merapi has had. It wasn’t the most cheerful of visits given the devastation erupting volcanoes cause and leave behind but it was interesting to see how the landscape had changed and how communities had re-formed so soon again as the last eruption was only 6 months ago.

Apparently some lava is still being emitted but we didn’t go too near. Instead, we had a couple of scooter rides up to near the summit. We rode pillion behind a couple of likely lads with me holding on for dear life to my driver.  Although it was good fun, it wasn’t worth the 20,000 rupiah (yes just over a pound but not the point) each we got asked to pay for it. Talk about royally getting ripped off! And I had some of them laughing at me. Probably because I looked absolutely terrified and a little silly on this thing and as Mat said, probably because they knew they were charging us double the price for the privilege.

Lunch was at this very strange restaurant which consisted of a bunch of buildings on stilts over giant fish ponds.  Most of the fish ponds were decorative and full of koi, goldfish, catfish etc but as Mat pointed out and having looked at the menu, should you fancy any of the fish swimming around underneath, it was ‘fished’ out for you!

Our waiter spoke no English so couldn’t explain any of the menu so I ended up having some random fish dish which wasn’t very tasty at all. It had been fried to dryness and the sauce I had chosen to go with it was so spicy hot I couldn’t eat it. Mat’s chicken dish was no better. Probably our most disappointing meal in Indonesia so far.  We would have been happy with a little warung but our driver thought we would like this place for some reason.

Our final destination was Prambanan, the massive Hindu temple here. Except it wasn’t so much as a visit as more of a soaking. Where we had absolutely blazing sunshine for most of the day, by around half three a massive tropical rainstorm decided to unleash itself. We sheltered in the main waiting area with other visitors but after around 20 minutes of waiting for the rain to ease, Mat and I figured that our feet would get wet anyway wandering around the site and as we had umbrellas we just went out in it. It wasn’t cold anyway and I was fed up with waiting.

It was quite comical at times as the rain was so strong but whether it was the weather or not, I wasn’t as impressed with Prambanan as Borobudur. It was still worth the visit but not as awe-inspiring in my opinion. Just call me a Philistine! I can take it.

Our random toot buying has also increased and to add to the random pieces we have at home Mat felt compelled to buy a small stone stupa for our garden. The lady we bought it from must have thought we were mad as we chose the one that had been out in all weathers covered in moss - the least pretty one. She was getting out all these perfect ones but no, we wanted the lived in look thanks! She wrapped it in newspaper and a bamboo cage to protect it and as we were walking through our hotel, one of the other guests thought we had bought a live chicken!

We did have plans to venture out to a Javan restaurant for our evening meal but as the rains had brought the local frogs hopping about on the street and flooded some roads,  I didn’t really fancy slipping and sliding on the way there and making my cold worse and so we had our Javan feast back at the hotel. It was absolutely delicious.
During the evening, we were very amused by the antics of the staff trying to retrieve the house kitten. It had escaped where it normally lives and you should have seen how this tiny fur ball was running rings around the staff who just couldn’t catch him/her! Even Mat had a go but she was refusing to budge from underneath any of the wooden furniture which was too heavy to move.  Apart from a tiny mewing sound every now and again we never did see him/her again.    

Most of today has been spent visiting Yogyakara’s other two main historical sites - the Sultan’s Palace and the Taman Sari (the Water Castle). Again, call me a Philistine but they were alright - good to visit but I wouldn’t go mad over them.  I think the most memorable thing for me was seeing that the Sultan had batik oven gloves - very cool!

The rest of the day was spent wandering around Yogya’s markets and batik vendors. In between stops we thought we would catch a becak to rest our weary feet. Trust us to get the two most unfit becak drivers in Yogya! I thought we were going to kill them they were getting so slow and breathless. They got us to where we wanted to go but I bet they were glad when my well fed backside got off! 

Our batik shopping in the end wasn’t too bad and didn’t involve oily salesmen. It did involve having to walk through very heavily crowded areas full of shoppers which at times got a little overwhelming especially with the traffic fumes.  However it was worth it as we got a beautiful batik bedspread and no hassle.

And now we are at the airport wating to board our Bali bound flight. Unsurprisingly, it’s delayed which is giving me the opportunity to observe fellow passengers bound for Bali and I’m a little nervous about whether it’s going to be my cup of tea.

There are quite a few women here wearing very little which doesn’t really bother me but given it is a muslim country, I find a little disrespectful. It’s not exactly Malibu beach here either - it’s an airport. And wearing bikini dresses - a bikini top that turns into a dress (nice) is not flattering on anyone let alone a woman of a certain age.  And the pièce de resistance, a man who is so morbidly obese his belly resembles a ginormous, sunburnt orange beach ball walking around with his shirt fully undone showing off his belly like it was a prize marrow he had just won. Oh. My. God.  Everyone is just staring at him. And he is loving it, walking around with his mate and his bottle of beer like they owned the place. Not quite sure where they are from but they weren’t Indonesian that’s for sure.

I know it sounds snobby but I’m really hoping that Bali is not full of people like this. I don’t think I could bear it.  Knowing my luck, massive belly man will probably be sat next to me on the plane. Alright darlin?!