April 12 - Medan to Yogyakarta, Java Indonesia
Breakfast was another “interesting” buffet. Lots of
salad. Other than some small cakes there wasn’t any Western food, which
for an airport hotel seemed strange. However, they probably don’t see a lot of
Westerners as tourists. So, fruit and toast with no jam but chocolate which
might have been a Nutella type spread. Many soups, pastas, rice dishes etc.
Since our early morning flight got rescheduled to a later morning flight and then cancelled, we now had a later afternoon flight, I had hoped to do a short tour of a couple of the sites in Medan, but the airport was an hour away from anything and then the traffic and time to tour and then the hour or more back to the airport, we decided it really wasn’t worth it. So, lots of time to kill at the hotel. The only reason for the airport hotel stay was for our early morning flight or we would have stayed in the city. We probably needed a down day anyway to unwind.
The Anara Sky Kualanamu Hotel was much better than the airport
hotel in Kuala Lumpur, but still just basic. No hand towels or wash cloths and
water is puddled behind the toilet and the sink leaks. The bathroom is the
smallest we have had yet on this trip. However, it doesn’t stink and is
brighter. Really not a bad hotel.
We just chilled until our 1:00 checkout. We found out
that Indonesia has different luggage rules. Aerosols must be in carry-on and
not in your checked luggage no matter how large they are. Greg had to open his
flashlight to show the battery. We then had lunch at A&W and left around
2:00 and arrived in Yogyakarta around 5:00 on a flight that served nothing on a
3-hour flight and didn’t even sell drinks or food.
We were met at the airport by our guide Toni and driver Vishnu to be taken to Gallery Prawirotaman Hotel. Gallery Prawirotaman Hotel Yogyakarta - Official Website It was around 6:00 when we were picked up and the hotel wasn’t far away, so we thought we’d have plenty of time to have dinner at or near the hotel. We didn’t learn that we were around 2 hours away due to the traffic until we were in the car and on the road. We could have eaten at the airport if we had known. We had hoped to have free time in Jogja, but we arrived too late for that.
So, we are getting room service at 10:00 at night. We both ordered spring rolls and they came quickly and were hot and crispy. We managed to get settled in and things ready for our tour tomorrow to Borobudur and Prambanan temples.
April 13 - Borobudur & Prambanan - Yogyakarta, Indonesia
In case you wondered Yogyakarta pronounced Jog ja karta. Or just Jogja for short. The g isn’t overly prominent, so it sounds more like Jo-ja.
Today we had a full day tour of Borobudur & Prambanan temples.
Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world and ranks with Bagan in Myanmar and Angkor Wat in Cambodia as one of the great archeological sites of Southeast Asia. It is a world heritage site that dates to the 8th & 9th centuries in central Java. It was built in three tiers: a pyramidal base with five concentric square terraces, the trunk of a cone with three circular platforms and, at the top, a monumental stupa.
Our driver was fantastic, but the guide drove us crazy. He gave long lectures in or out of the vehicle and was very soft spoken even though he attempted to use a microphone in the car. We often asked if he could speak up.
In or out of the vehicle he went on and on talking about minutia that was overkill. Brought out books in the car to show us photos of what we were going to see. At the sites he talked on and on and then moved on before we had time to actually see it. Reminded us of the scholar at Angor Wat. While some key facts are helpful, it’s more important to us to experience the place and take our time looking closely at the reliefs and taking photos.
One of the unfortunate things for us was the new rule that everyone had to wear the same type of sandals to tour. They said it was to help with wear and tear. They were brutally uncomfortable, and I eventually needed a band aide for the blister they caused. Seems stocking feet would have been better. With foot issues, they really were torture devices.
Everyone is put into a small group and has a guide provided by the temple. It was a break from Toni and even though he gave a lot of information you could wander and take photos. We learned much about nirvana and the various levels.
We toured Borobudur’s ten terraces with magnificent
bas-reliefs and statues that had been buried under layers of volcanic ash for
over ten centuries. Around the circular platforms are 72 openwork stupas, each
containing a statue of the Buddha. The monument was restored with UNESCO's help
in the 1970s.
As we walked back to the vehicle, I spotted some gelato and of course we all had to get some. (breakfast of champions)
Toni took us by a place to see how Kopi luwak, also known as civet coffee, aka poop coffee, is processed.
We had lunch at Borobudur Silver Restaurant.
After lunch we visited the Prambanan temple, Java’s most interesting Hindu shrine of the 9th century and regarded as one of the most beautiful Hindu’s temples in the world. It is also known as the loro Jonggrang temple or the temple of the ‘slender virgin’. This temple, representing the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva with a bas-relief depicting the famous Ramayana story. Built in the 10th century, this is the largest temple compound dedicated to Shiva in Indonesia. Brahma is the god of creation, Vishnu the god of preservation and Shiva the god of destruction.
Rising above the center of the last of these concentric squares are three temples decorated with reliefs illustrating the epic of the Ramayana, dedicated to the three great Hindu divinities (Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma) and three temples dedicated to the animals who serve them.
Unfortunately, we were running short on time and instead of making sure we saw it all, he continued to talk on and on. When we walked away hoping he would get a move on he talked to other people not on the tour. Stopped to take photos of other groups, which is nice, but not when his focus should have been on getting us to the last 2 sites. Even after we were down the steps, he wasted time asking us multiple times if we wanted to see the next one. Isn’t that what we were here for?
The sun was setting, so photos were difficult. We would have liked to have spent more time there or the same amount of time with a better guide or even on our own.
On the drive back to the hotel Toni says that tomorrow you have a free day. We told him we are supposed to have a Javanese culture tour and a batik factory. He got on the phone with his agency and Greg messaged Jason at Asia Highlights. Toni worked it out to do the tour for us.
Meanwhile Asia Highlights says that the tour was with a different company. News to us. The other company hadn’t contacted us to tell us what time to meet or anything and it was late.
We all grabbed dinner at the hotel since it was too late
to go into town and left Tom & Cathy saying we would let them know as soon
as we got tomorrow sorted out. The other tour guide only made contact after AH
contacted them at 9:30 at night. So, we are trying to cancel Toni for tomorrow and let Tom & Cathy know tomorrow’s pick-up time. Late to bed due to this. If
we had known, it was a different operator we wouldn’t have stressed out Toni.
Tomorrow, our tour is Javanese Culture & Batik Factory.
For larger photos https://photos.app.goo.gl/6ZGmHLbXdx9wh7EWA
No comments:
Post a Comment