Java Jamboree: Final Chapter: Leaving Solo

Sometimes, I do wonder if people of the past did really talk the way William Shakespeare, the famous English poet and playwright made them talked. In the famous balcony scene in thetale of the star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet for example, Juliet had uttered: 'Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone—And yet no farther than a wan-ton's bird,That lets it hop a little from his hand,Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,And with a silken thread plucks it back again,So loving-jealous of his liberty. To this, Romeo had said, sounding rather corny, perhaps to the modern ears: I would I were thy bird; upon which, Juliet uttered her goodbye: Sweet, so would I,Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,That I shall say good night till it be morrow. In Solo, when we were leaving for home, I am tempted to say, Goodbye, goodbye! Parting is such sweet 'Solo'. Solo is indeed a sweet place if you'd think of the ancient Majapahit ruins out there in the mountains.In 1815, Sir Thomas Raffles, the then ruler of Java visited Candi Sukuh and found the temple to be in bad condition. Statues had been thrown down on the ground and most of the figures had been decapitated. The giant lingga statue had been broken into two pieces. The Majapahit empire was falling apart and a new non-Hindu force had come in to desecrate.... It is sorrowful enough just to think about a blemish in the history of man where man, like an animal destroy... let's then not be filled with sorrow when parting... Goodbye, guys...We'll get to see each other yet!


Photos for the album: Now, can you identify where the pictures are taken?

Coming up next: Sulawesi Surprise!

Java Jamboree: An erotic Majapahit Temple

The Maya Civilization, a Mesoamerican civilization, is said to be established around 2000 BC to 250 AD. Pyramids from the civilization(inset) fascinate and it was with surprise and awe that I came across one that reminds me of Mayan pyramids in Java, Indonesia. Out of Solo, on the western slope of Mount Lawu, a fifteenth century Javanese-Hindu temple called Candi Sukuh stands. It would be great to be here if you want to teach children about the birds and the bees for here, in Candi Sukuh, the temple has sexual education as one of its main themes. You would miss the giant 1.82 m (6 ft) high lingga(phallus) with four balls of course since the structure has been relocated to the National Museum of Indonesia but you definitely would not miss the statue of a male figure grasping his penis.Look for the relief on the floor at the entrance too which shows a paired lingga(phallus) and yoni (vagina) to depict sexual intercourse. The Mayan pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico is said to be as high as a twenty-storey building. In Candi Sukuh, the main monument is not higher than two storey but its structure in the shape of a simple truncated pyramid certainly reminds you of the Mayan pyramid. This main monument is surrounded by monoliths and life-sized figures and one of the latter perhaps will remind you of Pazuzu, a fictional character and the main antagonist in the Exorcist horror novels and film series created by William Peter Blatty in the 70s...

Can you identify the main monument and which structure reminds you of Pazuzu of The Exorcist's fame?

Java Jamboree is coming to a close!

Java Jamboree: A Majapahit Temple

Get out when you are in Solo. Get out to the mountains. Solo would be a nicer place to visit if you include a trip out to a place like Candi Ceto which is at an elevation of five hundred meters or 1630 ft above sea level. You do not just get to see a splendid view from up there but the temple with 14 terraces intrigues. Said to be a remnant from the Great Majapahit era(1293 to around 1500), this temple which is dedicated to the deity Bima houses tattered fragments of narrative relics. You would be able to see composition representing a tortoise on the back of a huge bat. Up to the late 70s, people still came here to meditate and locals continue to patronise the temple up to this day. When we were there, we were lucky to see a group of Indonesian Hindus making offerings to the deities...


Can you spot the group of devotees, their offering of flowers and the bat and turtle too?

Traveling Tip: Get out!

Java Jamboree: The River in the Song

When in Solo, we asked to be shown the Solo River. That was mainly due to the famous Indonesian kroncong song written by Gesang Martohartono in 1940, Bengawan Solo, about this longest river that flows through central and eastern Java. We have heard the beautiful song as children but the evergreen song had long been known to the world, especially the Asian world since the Japanese took it back to Japan after World War II. Not only a Japanese singer, Toshi Matsuda recorded the song but there were other artistes like Dutch Anneke Gronloh and Chinese, Rebecca Pan and Frances Yip among others. The river doesn't look as beautiful as expected, not like the magnificent Irrawady River in Myammar or Mekong River in Thailand but then maybe as the song denotes, it was the dry season and the water wasn't much...

Delight yourself now with the Indonesian song, Bengawan Solo, won't you?

Java Jamboree: A Drinking Spree

Walking from Kraton to Kraton under the hot Indonesian sun was not an easy feat even when we had umbrellas to protect our heads from the scorching sun. Upon leaving Kraton Puro Mangkunegaran, we were glad then to come across an eating shop called Malioboro. The name, Malioboro, seemed to have been stripped from Malsboro, the brand of cigarettes famed for billboard advertisements and the Malsboro Man but nay, we were at Malioboro not for a smoke but for a drink. The shop offers a variety of fruit juices and we ordered every type available, from star fruit juices, water melon juices, carrot juices to even durian juices, the last was a surprise and a novelty as it is not available in Malaysia. We shared the drinks and each of us had had the opportunity to try out each of the juices. They were all thick, creamy and indeed heavenly! My friends and I did have a lot of fun out of all those juices! That was a hell of a drinking spree!

Can you spot the fun drinks and identify which one is a durian juice?

Traveling Tip: Share!

Java Jamboree: Inside a Kraton

I suppose we could count our lucky stars. Kraton Surakarta Hadiningrat may be closed when we were in Solo but Puro Mangkunegaran was not. Umbrella in hand, we walked down the streets in the opposite direction under the hot tropical sun. Taking a trishaw would be nice, I think, since the two kratons were really not so near to each other. We bought our tickets immediately and hired a guide too, who explained to us the intricacies of Javanese dance and took us around the kraton. If you have seen great palaces of the world, maybe you'd not mind missing this kraton unless of course, you want to view the gold chastity lock for the past Sultan or ogle at portraits of the royal family...

Can you spot our guide?

Traveling Tip: Use your umbrella!

Java Jamboree: From Kraton to Kraton

Kratons abound in Java Island. Kratons are palaces and in Solo, there are two, Kraton Surakarta Hadiningrat (Palace of Pakubuwono II to IX) and Kraton Puro Mangkunegaran. The two are not really far from each other and you can visit them all in one day. If you are fit and wishes to burn the calories, you can forgo the trishaw and walk like we did. We went for the Kraton Surakarta Hadiningrat first. You would know you have arrived if you come across high white walls. Just look for the entrance and buy a ticket to enter its compound. My friends and I were there when the kraton was closed; so, we just walked on to the nearby Pasar Klewer which is the biggest textile market in the region. If you love batik, you would love this place; otherwise, you would find it a bit drab, dark and even seedy. Don't hang too long here then and move on to the other kraton...


Off to the kraton...If you are wondering what the woman wearing the scarf is doing by the roadside, well, she buys gold from anyone who cares to sell!

Traveling Tip: Walk!

Java Jamboree: Street Delights

I suppose you can find delights when walking down the streets of Solo. Keep your eyes open and you'd perhaps come across a poster advertising Sate Kuda or Sate Landak which I suppose is a type of food -like the satay we had back home -skewered meat barbequed over charcoal embers, only now the meat used were horse meat and porcupine meat and the advertisement claimed that they were aphrodisiacs. Then, you'd get to meet the jamu lady too, the lady selling traditional Indonesian herbal concoctions called jamu to pep up your health and well-being. And a school nearby may just beckons and you'd perhaps like my friends and I, zero in and get all ga-ga over schoolchildren playing in the school compound. We really had a fun and memorable time mingling with some schoolchildren and their teachers...


Can you spot the jamu lady and her jamu?-

Traveling Tip: Visit a school!