Day 4: Kaliurang,Prambanan,Jogjakarta

So we assembled at the unearthly hour of 4am at the hotel's main room (lobby sounds too grand) for a briefing and to meet our fellow trekkers. Christian did a brief overview of the volcano as well as the route we were taking, and things to look out for. Apparently the seismic activity in the region had been increasing recently (he only told us this after we got back from the trek), so he had to attend a meeting of the area's rescue committee, of which he was the chairman. In his place, his brother will be our guide.

After being armed with torchlights, we set off on our hike. There were 10 of us in the group. Besides me and Mags were a German guy and a Polish girl, both of them a couple and studying in Cambridge. They were taking a couple of months off to travel around the region, and in fact their next stop would be Singapore. Thomas and Erika (not their real names, not to protect their identity but because I, uh, forgot) were quite a friendly couple, and we were to prolong our acquaintance with them a little longer after the trek. That didn't stop me and Mags however from thinking up awkward conversation openers with the couple... e.g. "You know, it's very nice to see that you guys are a couple, what with how the Germans treated the Poles during World War II", or "So Thomas, any Nazis in your family?". Of course, we never really used them, us two being classy folks and all..

The remaining six people were a bunch of PRC folks working in Singapore (yeah, we kept running into people either living in/heading to/leaving from Singapore. So if you're looking for a place to get away from anything Singaporean, Java isn't it.). The interesting thing is that most of these guys didn't know each other before the trip, and they got together because one of them posted a topic on a buletin board looking for travel companions to Java, and the rest responded. However, by the time our paths crossed it was pretty evident that this group had become dysfunctional. Apparently they left it to the group leader (presumably the guy who first posted) to organize the trip, and he booked them all on a 10 hour train ride from Jakarta to Jogjakarta. It seems like the train ride was such a hellish experience that the rest of the group (the Masses) rounded on their group leader (the Great Leader) and insisted on flying back to Jakarta rather than take the train trip again (the Glorious Revolution of the Proletariat and the Voicing of the People). Of course it wouldn't be easy or cheap to get a ticket back on such short notice, hence a lot of sour faces all around (the Grim Reality after the Revolution). It was pretty easy to figure out who the overthrown Great Leader was - there'll always be one guy lagging behind the rest of us and letting out the occasional yawn or groan loud enough for those in front to hear. It was pretty obvious that quite a few of them weren't keen on going for the trek too... well, having been on trips like this, chaotically organized and with people of differing preferences and temperaments, I could only hope that these guys learnt their lesson and spread their message far and wide - choose your travelling companions carefully if you don't want to regret travelling in the first place.

The hike itself took about 2 and a half hours, and was reasonably easy to negotiate, despite being conducted in the dark and depending wholly on our torchlights to illuminate the path ahead (of course I can say this now, but at that time I was looking at my watch and muttering "another hour of this?"). We didn't climb all the way up to Merapi, the approach we were taking being out of bounds, but we got close enough to see the peak, and the smoke emitting from the peak, while the sun slowly rose and our surroundings gradually became visible.



The locals believe in 3 god-kings (well, 2 god-kings and 1 god-queen) that protect the population of Jogjakarta. The first is the Sultan of Jogjakarta at its heart, the second is the King of Merapi in the north, and the third is the Queen of the Sea in the South (the centre of worship was at Parangtiris, which I briefly considered visiting but had to drop because of lack of time... they have a curious belief that if you go to the seaside wearing green, the Queen (i.e. the sea) will claim you). Once a year a procession sets out from Jogja to Gunung Merapi carrying offerings including tributes from the Sultan (a royal costume, a lock of hair) and set them at a designated shrine halfway up the mountain, much closer to the peak than where we were. It is believed that those who supplicate the King of Merapi will be protected from the volcanic eruptions.

Gunung Merapi is actually scalable, even now, if one approaches from the northern side rather than the southern side, where we were. This is because at the northern side the peak is a culmination of a series of steadily ascending hills and valleys, whereas on the southern side it's just a steep conical approach i.e. how you expect a volcano should look like. This is also why the southern approach is more scenic, and also more dangerous, since the lava would flow mainly in this direction in the event of an eruption. And Merapi's eruptions are not to be laughed at... it's been erupting more or less consistently over the years, the most recent being 2006.

We spent a couple of hours at a few viewpoints, admiring the view while surreptitiously eyeing possible escape routes in case Merapi suddenly erupts (Mags and I decided to go for the more heavily wooded areas, since they clearly weren't in the path of the lava flow). We then headed back for our hotel, more moanings and groanings tailing us all the way.
on the way back.


A final glimpse of Merapi.

Once we got back Mags and I were considering our next step. We wanted to go to Prambanan, but we decided to go back to Jogja first, get a hotel, dump our bags, get our shopping done, and then head out. Furthermore we were hoping to catch a Ramayana performance, which took place at sunset in the Prambanan temple complex on certain days, although we weren't sure which. It turned out that Thomas and Erika were headed the same way, so we decided to arrange for joint transport at our hotel. We settled for 150,000Rp for the five of us, and we were driven by the Asia-Pacific Man of the Year himself, Mr Christian Awuy! Unfortunately we were all quite sleepy and exhausted, so after some conversation during the first part of the trip, we all fell asleep.

Once we got to Jogja Mags and I parted ways with our friendly Polish-German travel companions (without mentioning the war even once) and started looking for a hotel. This being our last night, and having had more than our share of dodgy hotels, we decided to splurge a little and get a better hotel. In the end we decided on Hotel Amina (or Hotel Amanda or something like that), a decent enough hotel in one of the cul-de-sacs off Sosrowijayan (btw Mags' theory on how the name came about - there was this Indian guy caled Vijayan, and he used to walk around with a bottle of Teh Sosro in his hand...). Although I don't remember the name exactly, I do know that it was next to a hotel called Hotel Monica (I'm glad to have you as a friend, Monica!).
The hotel was pretty decent (2 or 3-star, I figure)and rooms were going for 300,000Rp, which was quite a decent price. The room itself was quite cozy.

After checking in and unloading our bags, we headed out to do our shopping. But first we decided to check out tour agencies for packages to Prambanan, hopefully with the Ramayana performance thrown in. It turned out however that this wasn't one of the days where they did the Ramayana at Prambanan. However they did have a nightly Ramayana performance at a cultural hall in Jogja, so we figured we'll do that then. The total cost for Prambanan (transport + entrance fee only, no tour) and the performance was 450,000Rp for the both of us, if I'm not wrong... in any case we decided it was pretty affordable, so we decided to get the package. After that the friendly guy who brought us to the tour agent 'invited' us over to his batik painting 'exhibition', which is actually one of the many batik painting galleries around. The paintings were beautiful, but they were unfortunately out of our budget and a bit too bulky to bring back. We didn't really know how to say no to the guy who was talking to us, we being such soft-hearted guys and all, so Mags opted for a tried and tested tactic that we had been using pretty frequently throughout the trip - offering a ridiculously low price (say S$1). Surprisingly, it worked pretty well for us, the seller being so insulted by so lowly an offer that he'll let us go.

We parted ways and went about our shopping. I got a few batik shirts and a sandalwood scroll depicting Arjuna from Mirota. I was tempted to buy more craftwork, which were so beautiful and so cheap, but I figured there won't be enough room in my bag. Mags bought the chess set he was interested in as well as a couple of batik shirts - for his dad.

At 2pm we were back to our hotel and awaiting our transport to Prambanan. Prambanan is the site of the biggest Hindu temple in Java, built around the same time as Borobudur and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The complex consists of three main candis representing the Trimurti - Vishnu,Brahma and Shiva. The temple of Shiva was the one in the middle, the God of Destruction being the main deity (it struck me as apt since the people had to live in constant fear of destruction from the volcanoes). In front of each candi was a smaller candi commemorating each deity's vehicle - Garuda for Vishnu, Angsa (swan) for Brahma and Nandi for Shiva. The temples were quite badly hit by an earthquake in 2006, so restoration works were in progress when we got there, so the temples and the surrounding compound were unfortunately out of bounds to visitors. Couldn't be helped I suppose.

Me in front of the temple complex.




The various reliefs on the outer walls.






Nearby the Hindu temples were a couple of Buddhist temples, built about the same time. The Buddhists and Hindus in the island during those days seem to have coexisted pretty well and even inter-married, quite interesting when you consider that Hindus believed in many gods and the Buddhists believed in none. If only we had a smidgen of that kind of acceptance and co-existence today...

oh, deer!

I thought having deer in the park was quite a nice touch.


Candi Lumbung.


Candi Sewu, the biggest Buddhist temple in Java after Borobudur.

a demon guarding the entrance.




We were allowed 3 hours to roam around the complex, but we got done an hour early, so we had a quick dinner (consisting of indomie goreng and some yummy fried chicken) before getting aboard the van. Once we got back we had a couple of hours to freshen up and sneak some internet time at a cybercafe (while watching Man Utd go 3-1 up against West Ham) before heading for the Ramayana performance. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance, even though it was an abridged version (the complete version would take 4 hours to complete). There were some variations from the Ramayana that I was acquainted with, but that wasn't so surprising since apparently there are quite a few different variations of the story. The performance was in the open air, and combined with the hypnotic gamelan music provided an otherworldly atmosphere to the retelling. One could just close one's eyes and imagine being cast back hundreds of years when this was the only form of entertainment around, combining mythology, spirituality and 'Drama Minggu Ini' in one multi-level grand soap opera.

Definitely a memorable experience.

By the time I got back to the hotel I was totally exhausted as a result of such an eventful day. I walked around town for a bit, stopping for an unsatisfying foot massage in the process (hairy legs and oil don't go together) before limping back and crashing in bed for an early night. So much for partying on my last night in Java.