Around Jogyakarta

The day starts at 8.30 with a taxi ride to Borobudur. Borobudur is a huge Buddhist temple about an hours drive from Jogya. Built between AD750 and AD850 and is now one of South-east asia’s spectacular sites. Though surviving intact despite all of the surrounding volcanic activity, the temple was completely buried by volcanic ash and recently rediscovered in 1815. It has now been beautiful restored at huge expense was given World Heritage Listing status. A visit here should be a spiritual experience but it is hard to have a special moment when you have to start by fighting your way through endless markets with hard-sell vendors. Once you make it to the magnificent temple you share it with hundreds of other tourists.

Mount Merapi made world news last year when it erupted sending a wall of heat and ash down a valley on it’s southern side and wiping out a village (Kinahrejo??). The spiritual caretaker of the mountain refused to leave and was killed. His decision to stay probably influenced others as over 100 people chose not to leave, also perishing. Or they feared losing their possessions if they left. The site is now a thriving tourist stop for international and local visitors. And the village is being rebuilt while Merapi simmers in the background. Sadly I suspect her work is not yet done. The scale of the destruction is amazing. Trees were stripped for miles and valleys filled with grey mud. There are remnants of buildings to reflect the human cost. Rocks and ash rained down as far away as Jogya. There is an interesting side effect though. Freddy explains that a rare tiger thought to be extinct around here, came running into the villages!

Anyway, from destruction comes opportunity. Vendors have set up shop at the end of the road for the many tourists that come up here for a look. And there are many!

From here we go across the other side of a ridge to another of merapis villages, Kaliurang. This was spared, although covered in ash. The fine grey dust is everywhere. Agung’s fathers’ sister lives here. She is a beautiful old lady who has lived here all her life. they grow flowers, chillis, mushrooms and passionfruit for the markets. The soil is rich and everything grows easily. When Merapi spoke, this village was evacuated but fortunately suffered lightly. This area like any mountain town is popular with local tourists so there are many hotels and flash homes.

The sun has just set and we off to a popular beach spot for dinner. there is a busy mush market here with freshly caught fish, squid, prawns and muscles of all sorts. Aging seeks out the best looking product, checking out the gills of the fish for freshness. The next step is to get it cooked and that is all dine here too.

For a small fee, you get your fish cooked beautifully at a traditionally styled kitchen.

The beach is lined with the fisher boats that supply the markets. They go out at midnight and get back in the morning.

The day isn’t over yet. Agung wants to have a moment with his God so we call into the neCatholic church.

This church is like no other Catholic church I have ever seen. It is built in traditional Indonesian style with open walls and beautifully decorated supports and ceiling. There is a space for an orchestra of traditional Indonesian instruments to take part in ceremonies. This church is new because the original one was destroyed in the earthquake of 2006.

On that day the usually crowded church was deserted, avoiding loss of life when the building collapsed. Why it was deserted that day is a mystery, they must have been warned!

Outside the church compound are vendors selling all kinds of religious icons, candles and incense. Very handy!