Tuesday, February 20, 2024

So many things to se,e and so many things to do. I remember thinking that we hadn’t even started, and I was already feeling a bit overwhelmed. I even forgot to bring my phone to breakfast, and the breakfast buffet in Hotel Phoenix is a sight to behold! I did remember on other days, but the pictures will not do it justice since I was a bit intimidated about taking pictures of so many stations.

I wish I could say more about how this trip was organized, but I can’t. My daughter did all the planning and organizing, and I just showed up when I supposed to. We had a lot of adventures, and they were really all her doing. I do not think I would have found so many cool things to do on my own.

The first thing I needed to do on this day was have a work meeting at 4 AM. This actually isn’t a problem for me because I generally get up every day at 3. The issue was finding a place to do the zoom meeting since my daughter does NOT get up at three. Luckily, Hotel Phoenix is full of great places to sit even when it’s still dark out. I call this spot “My office,” which is located next to the elevators.

Work is another reason that I will probably have to finish the blog for this trip when I get back to the States. Taking a “vacation” in the middle of the semester is not the best timing, but it was the best timing for my daughter and her work and to get to see my friend’s mom, so I got permission to come. Still, this means that much of the early mornings are devoted to work, and I was too tired at the end of most days to even transfer photos, let alone write.

After the meeting, I had plenty of time to check email, get ready, and have breakfast, which starts at 6, since the driver for the tour wasn’t coming to pick us up until 7. It takes about 40 minutes to get to our first destination, Borobudur.

This was really the only place I knew about in Indonesia before I came. Kiana visited here last year, and so did my friend, Yumi. Both raved about it’s beauty, and they were not exagerating. It’s more than beautiful. It’s majestic and peaceful at the same time.

When we first arrived, we had to pick up our tickets. We got a package that included an official tour with the required slippers. You have to wear the slippers when walking (climbing) onto the temple to help preserve the structure.

The Borobudur Temple is the largest Buddhist temple compound in the world with an incredibly ornate design. Built in the 9th century, it has over 2500 relief panels (over 1400 of which are narrative panels), over 500 statues, and covers a diameter of 123 meters by 123 meters.

Visitors get to climb up the structure and go to three different levels. I was very thankful to our guide for taking us up the ramp rather than having us do the stairs to the first level.

Once we got to the base level, we got to learn about the story behind some of the reliefs and other historical facts about the monument. It was funny because I was getting a very cleaned up version of the history from the tour guide and a much darker and funnier history from Kiana. I learned from her about Sir Thomas Raffles, the British ruler of Java, who “rediscovered” the monument in 1814 and spread the word after hearing about it from the locals. From what I gathered about him, this was the best thing he did, which is ironic because many of the info web pages about him do not even mention Borobudur or only mention it briefly.

There are several levels that you can go on. Stairs are very steep, but it really isn’t a difficult walk because there aren’t that many.. The views on the levels and from the levels just get better the higher you go.

You can see in the pictures the different levels of giant bells. In each is a buddah statue. You can see one of the bells without the top with the top of a Buddah head peaking out in the picture on the top right.

Also notice that the lower bells have odd shaped holes. The next level has diamond shaped holes, and the next level has square-shaped holes. Each of the shapes represent an increased stability going up the closer you get to heaven. The very top center is completely solid to represent the complete stability and serenity of heaven.

Another interesting thing about the structure is that it was put together like legos. All the stones are cut and connected by their shapes. They fit and stick together without any kind of cement just based on the shape. If you look closely along the floors, you can see the different patterns.

We headed down after this and got some more pictures from the other side of the temple.

The area around the temple is beautiful, too. I couldn’t find how big the park itself is on any of the sites in English. I think people get so overwhelmed by the temple that they do not think to talk about the grounds. You can visit the grounds for a cheaper ticket. There are trails to walk and some small museums to visit.

When we were ready to leave though, we got lost.

One of the things you will quickly learn about Indonesia is that there will always be someone willing and wanting to sell items, and they are very smart about how they set up where to sell you things. It reminds me when I took students Warner Brother’s Studio’s The Making of Harry Potter in England where they conveniently placed the store right after the full experience. You literally cannot get out unless you go through the store and believe me, by the point, my students were salivating for anything Harry Potter.

Unfortunately, for us, at Borobudur, this involved loads and loads of stalls and people telling us we were getting to an exit to the parking lot only for us to find more stalls! It was pretty funny.

We had to call our driver to tell him where we were because we had found a parking lot but had no idea how to get to the one where we parked. I’m sure he was wondering how on earth we got to where we were.

He then took us to get lunch, but the original place wasn’t open. Instead, we went to a nice cafe. Kiana got some spicy chicken dish, but I wasn’t really hungry because I was just too hot. Did I mention how hot I was? I’m not good in the heat, and when I get too hot, I lose my appetite. All I wanted was something to drink. But they also had ice cream, and I’m not to ashamed to say that I had ice cream for lunch.

Afterwards, our driver took us to the Sultan’s Palace . Built in 1755-1756, it was the home and base for the Sultanate of Yogyakarta.

The Sultanate Yogyakarta is the only royal family that is still acknowledged by the government after Indonesia declared its independence in 1945, probably because of the major role the Sultan at the time played in the indepence movement. The Sultan is still the governor of the region, and major official events are held in the public spaces. In fact, when our guide found out we were from the United States, she mentioned seeing Hillary Clinton during one of her visits as Secretary of State.

We spent most of our time outside looking at the different pavillions because those are the areas open to the public. My favorite spot was seeing all the instruments; we were not able to see a performance because they only do musical performances on Mondays and Tuesdays.

We also got to see two royal palanquins, which for Indonesian royalty are called jempanas. Usually, even for important people, palanquins would be carried by 12 men, but our guide, a royal servant herself, said that these could take up to 20 men.

Our guide said she has worked at the palace for over thirty years, for she is one of the royal staff who received her royal role as an inherited position. Royals guards can pass their position down as well. This used to be the only way to work in the palace, but that changed under the current Sultan. People can still pass down their positions, but people can also apply for royal household jobs.

We also visited the exhibit about royal weddings.

I love weddings. I love the idea of people getting together to be witness to love and partnership but also the drama and the food and the music. I like how weddings represent cultural and family values.

After we finished at the Sultan’s Palace, I was exhausted. Much it was because I was so hot, but much more of it was because I was seriously overwhelmed by so much information and difference and trying to take in all the beauty.

We came back to room and ended up just ordering room service. I wasn’t even adventurous and just got a Hotel Phoenix Ceasar salad. But Kiana did point out that all of our lamps in the room were shaped like the bells at Borobudur.

That was the end of the day. The following day was a trip planned to visit some caves!