Tips and Tricks : Around Jogja (Kraton & Taman Sari)

After surviving a whole day visiting the temples the day before, we decided to have a closer look at the Jogja town instead. One of the better attractions was the Taman Sari. The Taman Sari Water Castle is located 2km south from another attraction, the Kraton. Built in mid 18th century, the Taman Sari had multiple functions, such as a resting area, a workshop, a meditation area, a defense area, and a hiding place. But put in another manner, it was the place for the ruler to satisfy his fetish of spying on bathing maidens, true story!

Pool View

Locals and strolling through the Tajug buildings

Elevated Stairways in Sumur Gumuling

Souvenirs sold within the vicinity of Taman Sari

The labyrinth of Taman Sari isn't exactly complex per se, but an accompanying tour guide wouldn't harm. Just remember to tip him off for a small fee, depending on how much you think the guide is worth.

Musical Instruments at the Pendopo 

Kraton, on the other hand, is basically unimpressive to say the least. The reason being is that the place is made to be museum like, and it is generally swarmed with tourists and locals alike by morning. Give and take the weather of Jogja, walking around in Kraton could be tad uncomfortable at times, but maybe that's just me. Skip-able if it's were me.

Half a body, near the Vredeburg entrance

Vredeburg Fortress is another tourist enigma. This Dutch influenced barracks is now another museum showcasing dioramas of events that took place in Yogyakarta during the period of 1830 till 1949. The fortress was deprived of tourists when we were there, quite possibly all of them are centered at Kraton or Taman Sari.

High fashion pose from a becak dude

Yogyakarta from a view

In comparison with the temples tour, the town itself breathes a different set of attractions that you may be interested in visiting. Going around, don't shy from taking the andong or becak, both forms of transportation that even locals take daily. Jogjakarta Tetap Istimewa (Jogjakarta's always special), I do agree!

Tips and Tricks : Prambanan

Right after our Borobudur tour, we were then taken to Prambanan, another prominent temple when it comes to Jogjakarta. Located around 18km east of the city, Prambanan is actually located nearer to Adisujipto airport, which explains why local guides flocks around the airport to offer a quick tour there.

Ideally, tourist choice would be to watch the Ramayana Epic Ballet at the temple in the evening, but since we opted for the sunrise tour in Borobudur, we settled for the day trip in Prambanan instead.

Another UNESCO heritage site, this temple built around 850 CE, the temple is of Hindu influence, and was threatened by nature (earthquake and Mt.Merapi eruption) but the archaeological site remained strong and became one of the tourist favorites, both locals and foreigners.

Prominent information that you should know, not every part of the temple is accessible due to the hazard limits put by the authorities from the 2006 earthquake damages. The inner zone houses the temples of Trimurti dedicated to the Hindu Gods Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Keeper) and Shiva (Destroyer, jeng jeng jeng).

Some 224 smaller temples or the Pervara temples are renovated but most of them are still of deteriorated state. So equipped with safety helmets when accessing parts of the temples, we braved the scorching sun and walked to most of the parts of Prambanan offers.

Bro tips, if you can't stand the sun, don't go during the afternoon as there is not much of a shaded path for you unless you want to stay within the temple inner compounds. And thus, that concluded our day trip to the two temples. Of course when we went back to the hotel, we continued the sleep that we were deprived due to waking up at 4 friggin am. Till the next blog post :)

#Brotips : Candi Sewu and Candi Plaosan are also popular Hindu influenced temple around if you wished to continue your temple adventures.

Tips and Tricks : Candi Borobudur

Borobudur, a UNESCO World Heritage Site is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist Temple in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument consists of six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. A main dome, located at the center of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues seated inside a perforated stupa. The monument's three divisions architecture symbolize the three "realms" of Buddhist cosmology, namely Kamadhatu (the world of desires), Rupadhatu (the world of forms), and finally Arupadhatu (the formless world). Constructed on a bedrock hill, its passages are designed to encircle the edifice, which allows monks to walk around it in silent, meditative prayer. For further reading, do find our friend Wiki :)

The highlight of our trip, Candi Borobudur and Candi Prambanan. Dubbed as one of the most visited places in Indonesia (alongside with Bali of course), you should not give this a miss if you’re here in Yogyakarta.

Seizing the opportunity of tourist potential, you will be spoiled with choices for how you would want to manage your trip there. From the adventurous end of the spectrum, you may opt for renting motorcycles and make your way from Yogyakarta central or hotels that are in close proximity with Borobudur. That is probably the cheapest tour option given that you have done your extensive research on how to shave the cost around.

Foreign tourists are charged much higher compared to the locals. So if you look the part, you could try going incognito as the local and enjoy the entrance fee at a much cheaper price. Speaking of entrance fee, there is a notable difference between the time of entrance which will spark the question in your head, to sunrise or not to sunrise.

The Sunrise Tour is managed by Manohara Hotel, which charges (tourist rate) 400,000 rupiahs per entry for sunrise period, and only 200,000 rupiahs (if I’m not mistaken) for ‘after sunrise’ period, which is essentially after 7am, GMT+0900. Manohara guests are charged differently though, which you could find out by contacting them at their website.

Entrance tickets and the sarong. Flashlight also included :)

I opted for the Sunrise Tour for various reasons.

1.       I was swayed by various blogs and sites that the sunrise view in Borobudur is worth every rupiahs.

2.       Lesser crowds, more camwhoring opportunities.

3.       Enjoy the visit with less scorching and blinding sunrays.

The other end of the spending option for tours is getting a private English speaking tour guide, and a driver for the entire trip. That means, flexible timing on your part. Of course, the pricing again differs from a hefty 500,000 rupiahs to 1,000,000 rupiahs per person, depending on how you want to mix and match your tour needs.

We opted for a tour via online, since I preferred getting all the tours in place and order before the actual tour. The trip started at an ungodly hour of 4am, with the tour guide, Pak Irwan arriving at the hotel to pick us up. Driving in the dark, and navigating the roads here I would say requires experience and unless you’re a local, or with a local, you’re better off driving when it’s slightly brighter in the day. It took us about an hour to arrive at Magelang from Yogyakarta central, where we signed up at Manohara Hotel and given an entry ticket, torch light and sarung each. The sarung was meant to put on as a sign of respect to the temple.

We were lucky that there was not many tourists when we went up that day (at around 5-ish). Making the way up in the dark isn’t exactly scary, I felt tranquil heading up the magnificent architecture with the main stupa vaguely visible on top of the Candi. At the Arupadhatu level of the temple (highest level), we made ourselves comfortable at a spot facing Mount Merapi and waited patiently for the sunrise to appear.

Few notes to take, if you’ve got a hunch or know that the weather is gloomy or wet, don’t disappoint yourself by getting the Sunrise Tour. If you’ve prearranged the tour ahead, you can talk to your tour guide to opt for the after sunrise entry (if you’re adament of entering Borobudur) so that your cash does not go to waste. Rules of thumb, food are not allowed in the site, and be respectful of the other visitors around there. We were comfortably sitting at our spot while Pak Irwan was explaining the history and sharing stories of Borobudur and Mt.Merapi when a Caucasian lady rudely shhhed us. I wasn’t provoked per se, but was kind of irritated with the way she does that. Oh, Madam Righteous was all about respect, and respect was what she failed to give when she openly munched her breakfast despite being forbidden from doing so. I wonder how she passed through security clearance. Pfft.

Madame Righteous

Sunrise. It is really depending your luck, really, to get that picture perfect moment of the round sun figure and the amber sky. We however were deprived of all that, but we counted our blessings since the weather was fine enough for us to get a clear view of Merapi and the Candi surroundings.

We then walked around the temple like how thousands of Buddhist pilgrim in Indonesia does, by entering from the East entrance and walk around clockwise. Representing the Buddha’s Sphere of Formlessness, unembellished stone walls surrounds this higher terrace, with the main stupa itself is empty and said to symbolize nirvana. 72 Buddhas scuptures resides individually inside the stupa with surrounds the main stupa. Some of the stupas were exposed though while many remained intact which we will have to peek inside to see the Buddha statue.

The stupas architectures, stories carved on the walls and Buddhist sculpture really mesmerized me. You don’t exactly have to be a staunch Buddhist to appreciate what I consider to be one of the Ancient Wonders of the World.

We slowly descended to the Rupadhatu level, where the Life of Buddha from heaven descend till enlightenment was immortalized on wall scupltures. Among the 504 Buddha statues, a lot of them are beheaded due to vandalism and nature disaster but many of them are still intact. Each statue displays a mudra, or hand gestures with depicts the four directions including central.

1.       East – Mudra calling the earth to witness

2.       South – Gesture of Blessing

3.       West – Gesture of Meditation

4.       North – Gesture of Fearlessness

5.       Zenith – Gesture of Teaching.

Behind Sharky there are tourists actually :P

As the hours passed by, the weather is getting warmer and the tourist influx started coming in progressively.  Exiting the temple site, you WILL be pestered by the locals to purchase souvenir, which you can politely decline if you don’t wish to purchase them. 

Before leaving to our next location, we were treated with a complimentary light breakfast by Manohara itself. Nothing fancy, just a light bite to freshen us a bit. And oh, there’s actually Wi-Fi at the cafe, though don’t expect High Speed Broadband alright?

Before heading to Prambanan, we made stops to another two other Buddhist candi around Borobudur’s vicinity, namely Pawon and Mendut. Pawon, is said to served to purify the mind prior to ascending Borobudur. The exact reason of the construction of this candi remains speculative. The slightly larger candi than Pawon, Candi Mendut is alligned with Pawon and Borobudur.

Stairs of Borobudur

Three beautifully carved large stone Buddha statues are in the main division. The 3 metres tall statue of Dhyani Buddha Vairocana was meant to liberate the devotees from the bodily karma, at the left is statue of Boddhisatva Avalokitesvara to liberate from the karma of speech, at the right is Boddhisatva Vajrapani to liberate from karma of thought. These divinities are said to be the spiritual purpose of the temple establishment. Deep indeed.

Candi Pawon

Inside Candi Mendut

Candi Mendut

The passage of rites, during Wesak, Buddhists in Indonesia will start their journey from Mendut, crosses through Pawon and finally ascending Borobudur. This might be a whole new intriguing experience that I might sign up for future Wesak Days. Who knows.

Tree Swingin'

Next stop, Candi Prambanan. As we said Selamat Tinggal to the Buddhist architectures here, we are set in mind to be amazed by the Hindu influenced temples of Prambanan.