[ A Buddha statue looking out to the valley in Borobudur]
Happy New Year or Sugeng Warsa Engga, as they would say it in Java. As 2013 came to a close, I caught myself looking back at the moments that made me insanely happy and the moments that made me indescribably sad. And what a year. Life changing indeed. So i wanted to do something for myself at the end of the year. Now what could that be. I certainly didn't want to stay here in Singapore, and didn't have enough vacation leaves to make the journey home and back. I opened my laptop and went onto the Tiger Airways site and booked myself a ticket to Yogyakarta, then booked the hotel. And in 10mins, I was ready to fly away. I've done more impromptu things like that, but never alone. Actually, I'd never traveled alone, ever. Always thought it would be too depressing. But I was in for a huge surprise.
Yogya or Jogja as they call it, is a city in the Javanese group of islands in Indonesia. You can read all about it on Google, but in short, it's steeped in culture. It has been under a Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist rule and each dynasty only added to the beauty and the intriguing history of Jogja. I was fortunate to get a guide who was patient enough to explain every single small detail about Jogja's history and he told me, that the city get's it name from the Indian city of Ayodhya, like Adyodhyakarta. Ayodhya, of course is Rama's city in the epic, Ramayana and most Javanese supposedly believe that the epic unfolded here in Java and not India. In fact on my way from Jogja to Borobudur, there is a town called Mantila, which derives it's name from the Indian town Mithila, Sita's hometown in Ramayana.
I am a sucker for all things related to the Ramayana and Mahabharata. And coincidently, I was reading a book called Many Ramayanas which speaks about the different takes and views on the epic and how vastly different they can be within India and across South East Asia. So I was already in a Ramayana mood by the time I hit Jogja!
[A Buddha with a "teaching" mudra]
[The bell shaped stupas with Buddha idols inside them on the higher levels in Borobudur]
[This is how is looks at 4 AM in the morning]
[ A view from the lawns below]
[You can see the faint outline of the Menoreh hills, in the distance, it's supposed to be the sleeping form of Borobudur's supposed architect : Gunadharma, who wanted to be close to Borobudur after his death and hence took the shape of this hill]
My three days, were beautiful. I didn't do too much of the touristy stuff and basically chilled. Read a lot, ate a lot and just relaxed. What I did do was the Borobudur sunrise tour on January 1st. So on the first day of the year, I was up at 3:00 AM, on my way to Borobudur.
Borobudur, is a buddhist temple. It's a stepped-pyramid structure of 6 rectangular storeys and 3 circular terraces and a central stupa forming the summit. The whole structure is in the form of a lotus, the scared flower of Buddha. The lower levels of the temple are rectangular, and the higher levels are circular and a lot less ornate than the lower levels, thus depicting a higher stage of enlightenment. It's made from giant blocks of lava-rocks, built on a hill and surrounded by valleys. The reason why the sunrise tour is popular is because you get to see the rays of the sun spreading it's golden light on the stupas and buddha idols inside those stupas, while you are seated on the highest level on enlightenment. It's almost like the buddhas come alive it seems. I say it seems, because unfortunately I couldn't witness this majestic sight thanks to cloudy weather on Jan 1st. Although it could have been lovelier, it was still a lovely experience. My guide made sure he told me about the significance of every small carving and detail about Borobudur. I don't think I could have started the year on a better note.
From what my guide told, there are 504 buddha statues in the temple with various hand positions or buddhist mudras. Each mudra depicting one of the five directions:
East : with the mudra of calling the earth to witness
South : the mudra of blessing
West : the mudra of meditation
North : the mudra of fearlessness
Center : the mudra of teaching
The lower rectangular levels depict reliefs from the buddhist sutras and it's lovely to go around looking at these stories and teachings. Borobudur reflects the 10 levels of a Bodhisattva's life, which he must develop to become a Buddha/the awakended one.
It's definitely worth a visit. It's one thing you should definitely do. Next on my list is Angkor Wat in Cambodia!
The other touristy thing I did is visit the Prambanan temple complex.
[Prambanan temple complex from a distance]
I have mixed feelings about that. It's beautiful indeed, but WAY too crowded and unfortunately for me, there were just too many unruly children around. And what was sad was, most people just wanted to capture the temples in their cameras and moved on, no one studied the temples and understood what they stood for. It was almost like they were in front of a beach in Bali. Sad. So I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Borobudur, simply because it was so crowded. In short, the Prambanan temple complex houses temples dedicated to three Gods from Hindu mythology : Brahma: the creator, Shiva: the destroyer and Vishnu: the protector. There are often questions on which one of the Trimurti should be given the highest stature. Most stories in different mythological texts accord this place to Shiva, some others to Brahma, and a few to Vishnu. There are very few Brahma temples in India, because supposedly Brahma was cursed (and there are different versions of this curse depending on the purana you are reading) that no being will worship him and hence the lack of temples. The one at Prambanan was in fact my first Brahma temple.
The epic of Ramayana is a huge part of Prambanan. In the Shiva temple, carvings tell the story of Rama and Sita. Ramayana has close ties with the temple complex, in fact there are ballet performances telling the Ramayana story, held in an open air theater, with the Prambanan temple complex looking beautiful, in the background in the evenings. The open air performances are only open in the summer,but I did manage to watch the ballet in a covered amphitheater, which wasn't so bad also, because it wasn't completely closed, but open from the sides. The story depicted in the ballet was not vastly different from the ones told in India, except that Hanuman, the monkey God is white in the Javanese tradition. It's a must watch on a trip to Jogja.
My last stop, and for this, I am SO thankful to my guide, was Plaosan temple. It's a little far from Prambanan, but so peaceful, not crowded and a beautiful temple in itself. By the time I reached there, it was time for the sun to set and so I got to sit on the stairs and watch the sun melt, watching it go down behind the green paddy fields surrounding the temple. I'm so glad I went here before we head back to the Prambanan complex to catch the Ramayana ballet
[The giant Guardian statue in front of Plaosan Temple, these guardians are called Dwarapala]
[Plaosan Temple]
[Sunset from Plaosan]
[Juju, my driver stopped the car near a paddy field and asked me to take a picture of the setting sun!]
[The Prambanan temple complex from the Ramayan Ballet theatre, it was around 6:30 PM]
[The same sight at 7:30 PM]
I am terrible photographer equipped with just my Nexus 4, and frankly I am not big on clicking pictures as well. I feel like it takes away from enjoying the moment there and then, with your eyes and not a lens. Or maybe I am just a horrid photographer trying to justify my weakness!
All in all, it was a great trip and I've been wanting to blog about it for sometime now. I decided to go on a spur and my parents were initially a little hesitant, but they've never really stopped me from doing anything, and so I went!
I received several emails and pings on why I should travel alone from my friends whenever I got nervous about going on this trip. I am so glad I didn't back out and actually went. The first day i was there, Dec 31st, it was indeed a little lonely. Imagine being all alone on new years eve! But the next day onwards, it was blissful. There's this weird sense of freedom associated with travelling alone. I could go anywhere, do as I please, and generally I am not someone who likes noise around me, so the silence and my book and many many glasses of banana smoothie, was enough for me. I didn't connect to the hotel wi-fi and being away from social media helped calm my mind. And the Javanese massages had the same relaxing effect on my body.
When I came back to Singapore, I felt like I had been away for a week or more. It was a perfect way (although expensive) to start the year. It's not like I am going to make travelling alone a habit now, but at least having done it once, I now know that it's not that bad at all and I might just do it again! Thank you Jogja!
Here's me signing off, hoping for a lovely 2014.
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