The Kraton, Yogyakarta

Due to our time difference, it seems like every other time I talk to 'Tut, he's at our fave nasi campur warung. So since we speak several times a week, several times a week I end up with a craving for nasi campur made just the way I like it. I would love to have some right now, as a matter of fact. This place is outside Ubud near Pengosekan and has absolutely nothing to do with this post, except when he called from there yesterday, 'Tut mentioned something about our trip to Yogya a couple months back. That reminded me I had not posted about the Kraton, which I've been meaning to do.

Yogyakarta in general kind of struck me like a bigger Denpasar; not sure what I was expecting. The Kraton, of course, is the palace complex where the sultans of Yogya lived - and there is still one in residence when he's not busy other places.

We got there early in order to beat the heat ("mad dogs and Englishmen" and all that) so the exhibits were not quite open. But no surprise that some shops right in the Kraton were. We ended up in this kris shop where the owners live in back.



The two photos above are 'Tut examining a couple of the kris, checking them for beauty, and much more importantly, power. As it turned out, the more attractive ones that day were not all that powerful, so he did not make a purchase. 'Tut comes across so westernized I forget sometimes that at his core he's Balinese.

Finally the various exhibits opened, and I snapped a few photos in a building of carriages owned by the sultans. The one above was one of the oldest - 17th century, I think. Seemed like from a fairy tale.

For some reason 'Tut wanted me to snap him in front of one of these carriages, and then I noticed most of the tourists there were also positioning themselves for photos where the horse should be. No idea what's up with that, but I took the photo above. I see now 'Tut looks tired with red eyes, because he's so exhausted from all the cremation ceremonies he had been part of in Bali for the preceding month and a half.

Later in the day, we took a becak (basically an Indonesian rickshaw) over to the Water Palace. 'Tut loves these things. I prefer the little horse-drawn carts myself.

Borobudur, Yogyakarta, Java

The day after we went to Pranbanan (July 2008) , we visited the famous 10th century Buddhist temple site of Borobuduer near Yogyakarta. It is so big, I could not fit it into my lens view - not having a wide angle lens.



Ketut looks up the steps


'Tut sits on the steps waiting for me. We arrived shortly after sunrise.


Just a few of the many. many stupas. Under each is a statue of Buddha.


Peeking through to Buddha


Buddha uncapped


These Japanese tourists were pushing everyone out of the way, yelling at people to get out of their frames and climbing all over the statuary - throughout the temple! I began giggling uncontrollably, the British woman next to me followed suit and 'Tut tried to shush us to no avail.


One of my favorite views






'Tut

Pranbanan, Yogyakarta, Java

I went to Yogyakarta, Java, rather than stay in Ubud, Bali, for the Coq's cremation (the Coq was Ubud royalty if you haven't read previous posts), but watched part of it on Australian tv from Yogya. They said there were 300,000 people in the tiny streets of Ubud. What blew me away before I left was the Media Center sign on the quickly constructed gate around the soccer field/playground off of Monkey Forest Road in Ubud. Media Center? In Ubud? Friends who attended said it was an unbelievable crush of people.

When we returned the night before the big Padang Tegal cremation of 87 people, of which Tut's grandfather was one ( a second cremation for a different banjar), I was sick with a bad cold. I always get sick when I get exhausted. I slept two days while 'Tut stayed up most of the following 48 hours, as he had a lot of duties to perform for that cremation.

So instead of cremation photos, I'll give you some from Yogya. In this post, are photos of Pranbanan, the 10th century Hindu temple complex built about 50 years after Borobudur. It suffered a lot of damage in the earthquake that rocked Yogya a few years back, and there are still some scaffolds up as repairs continue.