The Overseas Adventures of Annie and Steven Berger August 29th through December 18th, 2015: 10/3 Jogya: Sultan's Palace, Sunset & Ballet @ Prambanan

In the morning we walked to the Keraton or Kraton, i.e. the Sultan’s Palace, located pretty close to our guesthouse, but we took the most convoluted route there through a maze of streets and alleys and occasionally asking for help with directions.

Noticed that unlike Bali and LBJ there were no dogs at all. We had read that rabies is a huge problem in many parts of Java and the rest of Indonesia and many people die every year from unvaccinated dogs. The government, we read, ‘removes’ stray dogs in an attempt to curb the serious health threat.

En route to the Kraton:

All of this is located in a complex of walled compounds, narrow lanes and massive gateways and bounded by a fortified outer wall measuring 1.5 miles on each side. The Sultan still commands great respect from the local people although his only legal power is as the Governor of the Special Province of Yogyakarta or Jogja.

Steven thought these Beetles might be used for weddings but we learned later anyone could hire them.

Just need to get inside these walls somehow.

Schoolchildren playing in the Kraton's courtyard entrance.

Finally after a good 40 minutes we arrived at the Kraton, a little crabbier and a lot hotter than when we had left the guesthouse!

Success at last especially when we discovered that the Kraton didn’t close at 11:30 as we had thought so we had more time to walk around rather than having to rush through. There were guides available to take tourists around but we chose to wander at our own pace.

Construction of the sultan’s palace began in 1755 and lasted for almost 40 years. It houses not only the present Sultan, Hamengkubono X and his family but also private meditation and ceremonial chambers, a magnificent throne hall, a mosque, several court yards, etc, etc.

Photos of the Kraton:

No idea what these men were transcribing or why.

Batik Museum: It was much smaller than we thought. Couldn’t take any photos inside but took a few from the doorway til that too was forbidden.

Guess it must have been a really big doorway!

Toured the elementary school that had been used til 1965 for the 10 Sultans' children over the years. Now the school rooms are used to house memorabilia belonging to the former sultans.

Steven with photos of most of the first 9 Hamengkubono Sultans.

Photo of the 10^th and current sultan's 5 grown daughters.
I overheard a guide say that there are no sons YET!

Photos of gamelan orchestra area.

Entered what the guard sitting outside between the 2 wings said was the Crystal Museum but only saw lamps and clocks. Your father would have loved seeing these, Ivy.

Security guards!

Guard telling Steven how to pronounce exactly 'thank you' in Javanese.

Museum of the 9^th Sultan: Beautiful AC glass building furnished just as it had been in his private living quarters. How luxuriously he lived.

The 9^th Sultan died in DC in 1988, I think, while undergoing medical treatment.

Imagine having to wash these glass doors and walls all the time!

More views of Kraton:

Didn’t realize til then that all the buildings we’d just seen were located behind the Sultan’s Kraton or Palace where the current Sultan still resides.

Central area in front of the Kraton where all the young children in uniform had been playing earlier.

I didn’t realize til now that Steven had taken the rest of the chocolate sprinkles from the bowl at breakfast! It was the funniest thing I can ever remember his doing, licking the bag to make sure he got every last sprinkle out, even the melted bits!

In front of the Golden Hall.

Shadow Puppet Show accompanied by the gamelan orchestra:

Noticed women participating in this orchestra unlike any in Bali.

Since we still had an 8 hour trip planned in the afternoon and evening, we hired the traditional means of transport in Jogja, a Becak, or bicycle rickshaw, to take us back to the guesthouse as we were melting in the heat by then.

Our driver, knowing we had some time before being picked up at 1:45 for the next tour and he therefore could earn some more money, took us to the local underground mosque.

Scads of becaks waiting outside the Kraton for weary passengers.

En route to the mosque a short ride and walk away:

This man was pointing out his bird cage to me.

Photos of underground mosque:

This entrance is where the iman or Muslim leader prays facing Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Strolled a few steps to behind and just west of the Kraton to Taman Sari, the ruins of the architecturally ingenious royal pleasure garden.

En route to Taman Sari:

She's applying wax to the already stenciled batik pattern.

He's cutting out puppet patterns in leather.

Photos of Taman Sari:

There had once been a large artificial lake, underground and underwater passageways, meditational retreats and a series of sunken bathing pools. Sadly little of that grandeur now remains.

So funny when our beck driver said here 'Don't worry, be happy' when there were so many cars, motorcycles and becak drivers all trying to pass through these outer walls of the Kraton!

Getting pretty darn close to oncoming traffic as we exited the Kraton through the walls here. What a tough life our becak driver must have having to push passengers of all sizes day in and day out. He had the friendliest of manners too. Got back at the guesthouse safe and sound although I had had some momentary doubts on the way when crossing multiple lanes of oncoming traffic!

Great having time back at the guesthouse as we needed to relax and wash away the morning’s grime and grit before being picking up at 1:45 to visit Candi Prambanan and see the sunset Ramanyana Ballet performance overlooking the temple.

Photos from Candi Prambanan:

Chatted pretty well the whole drive to Prambanan with Martin, a student living near Prague and traveling by himself, and Alina and Mihai (Michal?), a lovely couple from Romania now living in Brussels. As always we loved hearing about their lives and stories traveling.

Had never seen any pamphlets on our travels in Dutch before.
It was further indication of the former Dutch control of Indonesia.

When the shuttle driver dropped us off about 2:45, he told us we had 3 hours to see the temple and watch the sunset before needing to be back at the bus. That seemed plenty of time, we thought then.

Mihai & Alina whom we had just chatted with on the bus: They were delighted to know we had had a great time visiting their homeland last year.

Prambanan, built around the 9^th C., was dedicated to Shiva. The temple consists of 3 yards arranged concentrically and centered with the first one beig the most sacred as it is located in the middle. At one point there were 240 temples at Prambanan.

Earthquake Monument: On 5/26/06 Prambanan suffered extensive damage in an earthquake; over 2000 people were killed here.

Only color we saw apart from the temple colors and landscape.

After walking up and down oodles and oodles of stairs in the many stupas among throngs of people, we left the main complex and walked along the empty road in search of the 3 smaller temples near Prambanan.

Photos from our walk to see 3 smaller temples from Prambanan:

A horse and buggy ride looked like a great idea right then after all the walking
we'd done AND were about to do!

Photos from Candi Lumbung: This temple complex had one main temple and 16 others who lie in a line and encircle the main temple.

Now onto Candi Bubrah:

Photos from Candi Bubrah:

I may be totally irreverent or just temple weary by this point but what I shall remember about Temple Bubrar is the deep, fine sand or dirt that we had to walk through to see the temple as it was in the midst of being renovated!

Photos from Candi Sewu:

The final and finest of the 3 temples was Candi Sewu; Wish we had not dawdled at the other temples and gone here first so we could have taken longer to enjoy its grandeur and magnificence. Only other people we saw was a small group of Muslim girls giggling on the stone steps and a man photographing the wonders of Candi Sewu.

The ancient inscriptions, which comprise the information about Sewu, date back to 792 A.D. The Hindu based Sewu Temple complex is comprised of the major temple and 248 lesser temples. I thought the complex at Sewu was magnificent because of seeing it in the bewitching sunset light, the absence of tourists and its sheer size.

The sun was setting so we half jogged and walked briskly back to enjoy the remaining sunset at Prambanan.

Snnset at Prambanan:

All I can say is thank goodness we were wearing shoes that we could
wash off in the sink after walking through sand, inches deep in spots!

En route to the bus and dinner before the show:

Included in the ticket price was dinner at a local restaurant where we ate with Martin, the student from near Prague, and Dusamba, originally from Belgrade, Serbia. She works in Theater so was looking forward to the evening’s ballet performance. She was able to swing getting VIP tickets because of her theater connections. We had great seats in the center just behind her in the 1^st class area. Coincidentally both Martin and Dusamba were flying to Ubud in the morning.