Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Yogyakarta - round 1

Hello, again

Sorry it's been a little while, but there is always so much to be done... I was in Yogyakarta last week with some of the other bules, learning Bahasa Indonesia. Now I'm back in Jakarta. Then I'm back to Yogya again next week!

Yogya was cooler than Jakarta and the bloody mosquitos didn't seem nearly as bad. It has a large university, so things are laid back and hip. We rented a house a few blocks from the language school, Wisma Bahasa. Our classes were the first and last of the day. The course was well-run, and I learned far more than I knew previously. Hooray for numbers! Jen and I were entirely new to Bahasa, with Jen & Rob having spent several weeks in Indonesia last year. We wished there were an Indonesian version of Sesame Street we could practice with. Especially since Jen's and my Spanish skills kept wanting to fill in the blanks when we didn't know something.

I had lots of yummy food in Yogya - hot noodle soup off the street, an amazing goat soup curbside, fresh grilled fish, kebabs, and great coffee - and shopped for batik fabric to have shirts and skirts made from. We mastered the art of taking a becak, or three-wheeled 2-seater bike taksi, around Yogya. My feet were worn from walking, too. Conveniently, there was a spa just down the block from the school, where I had a much-needed pedicure.

With our free time and holiday (Aug 18th was Indonesia's Independence Day), we went to the sultan's palace at Kraton - the walled city within Yogya, a ballet performance of the Ramayana in front of the Prambanan temple, and also to Borobodour, a very large and beautiful Buddhist temple outside Yogya. Kraton was interesting and remains an important center of traditional Javanese performing arts and music. The traditional orchestra is called a gamelan (gemalan? sp?). The ballet depicts the classic text of the Ramayana to gamelan music. Morals of the story - guy gets girl and don't give monkey gods fire to play with. The ballet was very well done and I enjoyed the whole thing. Definitely something to see if you get the chance. I shot a little video and will try to post it on YouTube - stay tuned.

We spent several hours at Borobodour. It was amazing. The temple is solid and has 10 levels corresponding to the 10 levels of desire and spiritual enlightenment. There was a "technical error" (yeah, right) when the temple was restored and friezes at the first level - earthly desires (read: sex) - were covered up. At the 4th(?) (sorry, can't remember exactly) level the friezes going around clockwise depict the last Buddha's life and progression to enlightenment, as well as his previous lives. We spent the most time at this level, with our fantastic guide, Jean. The carvings are truly beautiful. The top 3 levels represent heaven with all sorts of interesting symbolism. It was really crowded at the top with all the holiday traffic, so I was actually glad to leave heaven and head back to earth...

I like Yogya and won't mind being back there next week. Our project is validating a new rapid, onsite test for influenza A (including HPAI H5N1) for use in Indonesia with the PDS/R program. [Stock tip here: buy into Synbiotics] I will be there next week to assist in transferring the samples to the government lab for confirmatory testing. No more trips to Borobodour, but I know where the good coffee is! And I won't have to deal with Eric's driving - becak, car, or otherwise. Next time I ride with him remind me to bring my ojek helmet.

New photos posted for Yogya and some of its sights!

Hugs to all, E

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