Bernhards Random Ramblings BACKUP

Our last dinner in Yogyakarta was at Hani's on Jl. Prawirotaman, and by far the most delicious food we had this week. While most everything we had was good or very good, this was fantastic. Early morning flight. You can tell that the photographer still had bleary eyes... One last greeting from the Merapi volcano as we are leaving Indonesia, and make our way back to Singapore.

We arranged for a driver to take us to Goa Jomblang, a vertical cave in Semanu, about 2 hours by car from Yogyakarta. Things to know: The entrance fee includes lunch after you return from the cave, guides, as well as all the equipment needed to safely get in and out of the cave. Make sure to bring enough cash. You need to wear boots to go into the cave, which are supplied, but a little bit smelly. Bring long socks. The helmets are clean and no problem to wear. Most importantly, there is a limit of 25 visitors per day. Be at the cave no later than 10am. It's quite damp and warm in the cave. Bring drinking water. This tour involves walking on and climbing across muddy cave floor and steep slopes into and within the cave. We had a lot of fun, but this is not for everyone.  Arrival and waiting for the tour to begin  Picking out boots The cave is basically a giant sinkhole, 50 meters across. The edges and walls are overgrown with dense forest. Jomblang cave Pairs of visitors rappel...

Well, after our return from Pramdanan , Tamansari, the swimming pool of the first sultan, was already closed. However, a nice lady showed us a spot from where you can take a look over the walls. Quite neat. She also showed us into the shop of a local Batik artist, which we admired, and then left with friendly grunts. The village area in the old palace compound is made up from many small, but very cute houses, and there is a super-friendly vibe in the neighborhood. We wanted to visit the bird market next, but learned that the map we used was outdated, and the market had moved. Nevertheless, a man from the neighborhood showed us the old water castle, which is no longer surrounded by water, but rather by houses. The former main hall of the Water Castle View to the West from the top of the Water Castle We were shown the connecting tunnel that allowed the sultan to go from his residence and office in the water castle to Tamansari, where his concubines lived. This tunnel went straight below ...

Prambanan temple as seen from the north Today we took ViaVia's "Prambanan and hidden temples" tour. We started the tour with a drive through rice fields, small side-streets, and tiny villages on the way to the Ijo hindu temple . Our guide Vita was a fountain of knowledge and more than happy to tell us about the symbolisms of Hinduism, Buddhism, even Animism as practiced in Java, as well as lots of background about life in Indonesia in general, and Yogyakarta in particular. Loaded up with knowledge we continued to Barong temple for a short photo stop. We continued to Sojiwan temple where Vita taught us more about Buddhism's symbolism, numerology, and things we didn't quite notice while we were at Borobodur, e.g why are the holes in the stupas on one level diamond-shaped, while on the next higher level they are square? And there are no holes in the stupa at the top. Next up was Prambanan, the largest Hindu temple complex in Indonesia. Vita and our driver stayed be...

While Yogyakarta has regular train service , I only managed to take a photo of a switcher type engine in the front yard at Benteng Vredeburg. Most trains here run on cape gauge, 1067mm.

After traveling to Yogyakarta yesterday, today we did the sunrise tour at Borobodur . On the upper three levels of this massive structure are bell-shaped stupas housing Buddhas. A few of them are open, like this Buddha looking west. The best part of the sunrise tour is to climb the temple in darkness, wait for the sunrise, and see how the temple materializes from darkness as the sun comes over the horizon. Photography is ridiculously hard here. Lots of people and very difficult light conditions. As the sun came out from behind the clouds and rose higher our cameras started to cooperate more. On the lower levels of the temple are exquisite stone carvings. Finally, here's a shot to give an idea of the size of the monument. The stupas are at the very top ...