Trans East Java Day 2: Jogja to Surabaya

6 Jan 2013, Sunday 
Jogja - Surabaya 
Duration: 9 hours 
Distance: About 330 KM (goggle map calculation)

Before proceed to Kaliurang, kami singgah makan dia restaurant Soto. Mula-mula tu Pak Budi suggest makan kat satu Restoran ni, apa ntah nama dia… lupa lah tapi yang pasti kos nye saja IDR60K (RM18.50) per person. Errkk… lagi mahal dari semalam. Kami semua tak setuju & minta Pak Budi carikan tempat lain. Bukan nye kami tak mampu tapi kami ni budgetary traveller, so, memang kena budget lah. Aku lunch kat Pavilion pon tak sampai RM18 sehari, OK. Maybe, niat Pak Budi nak promote various type of foods kat Jogja tapi aku rase makanan dia lebih kurang macam kat Malaysia jer… lagi sedap kot. Boleh jadi juga, dia dapat tips sebab bawa kami pergi restoran-restoran mahal ni… hehehe. Finally, he recommended us Restraunt Soto on the way to Kaliurang. Restoran ni takde lah sehebat yang semalam tapi aku suka sebab aku ade kuasa nak memilih. Yang aku paling suka kat kedai ni Tempe & Tauhu nye. Dan disebabkan tempe yang sedap, aku siap tapow bawa ke Surabaya lagi. Nyaman & Puas hati.  

Soto Ayam Nasi Pisah with tempe n Tauhu... Simple but I like

Due to heavy rain, we all decided to cancel our plan to kaliurang. Sebabnya, Pak Budi bilang, nothing you can see if it is rain, so, it depends on the weather at that time you reach there. If you're lucky, than you will see the Merapi volcano at a very close distance. Actually, he has no problem to bring us there because he said still got time. It's true masih ade masa Pak... but it was already 2.30 p.m, lunch may take 1 hr and another 30 minutes to Kaliurang because we're already halfway. And by that time, it was already 4 p.m. After a short discussion with my group, we decided to go straight to Surabaya instead of proceed to Kaliurang. Why??? Ok, macam ni, the route to Kaliurang needs you to go to the north of Jogja, while surabaya to the east... you have to add another 2 hrs to your time to surabaya... meaning 9 hours total... Pukul 1 pagi baru nak sampai. Fuhh, banyak masa spend kat atas jalan ni compare to jalan-jalan.

I felt a bit disappointed but the weather is unpredictable and if we get there still raining meaning we already wasted 2 hours of our time. By cancelling trip to Kaliurang, we saved 2 hrs and now 7 hrs only to surabaya. Maybe, I should revisit this place again next time... Conquer Merapi maybe??

The distance from Jogja City to Surabaya 

Before proceed to Surabaya, we dropped Pak Budi first at Jogja. His service as a guide cover the Jogja area only. Now, only Ismail n Bambang will continue trip with us to Surabaya. 

Nasib baiklah jalan dia OK dan tak horror macam kat medan. If not, then it will be really tiring trip. 

Still a long journey to go. 

Good Night.

To be continued...

Trans East Java Day 2: Sultan Palace & Taman Sari

6 Jan 2013, Sunday
Sultan Palace - Taman Sari

We reached at Sultan Palace around 12 p.m. At the time we arrived, there's something that attract our attention. Rupanye ade sesuatu yang menarik di atas langit di tengah-tengah waktu panas terik begini. Subhanallah, a perfect circle around the sun. And, tidak salah aku juga bulatan itu adelah pelangi. Pelangi ditengah-tengah panas begini... in circular shape pulak tu... apakah maksud nye... maybe ade saintifik explanation disebalik nye. First time in my life aku saksi kan kejadian Allah sebegini rupa. Maybe it did happened before but to me this is something amazing.

Subhanallah... Cincin Pelangi di tengah Jogja City

Sultan Palace (Kraton) 

Opening Hours: 08:00 - 2:00 p.m 

Our next visit after Borobudur.

Sepanjang kami di Kraton, we were guided by a special lady. So, Pak Budi dapat rest kejap masa ni. Banyak juga lah info yang kami dapat disini sebab she is good about Kraton History.

To more detail about this place, you may read further at this page.

Charge of using camera

Tak banyak gambar yang aku amek kat sini sebab masa ni dah penat sangat dengan perut pun dah start lapar. Penat pulang dari Borobudur pun tak habis lagi, kena melawat tempat lain pulak. Tapi memandangkan it was part of our itinerary for day 2, so, we just follow.

Simbol ini ade kisah disebalik nyer

Gong... alat muzik diraja

This area was Gold plated

Sesuatu yang menarik di sini adelah seorang pewaris pengawal Istana. Si comel yang cute. Kecil-kecil lagi dah diasuh taat & setia. Kagum juga, a 5 years old kid with the warrior spirit.

Pewaris terbilang...

Dua Generasi tapi satu misi mempertahankan Sultan & Istana

Our next visit was Taman Sari.


Taman Sari

Location: Jalan Taman, Kraton, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. 
Opening Hours: Monday - Sunday at 9.00 am - 1.00 pm 
Entrance Ticket: Domestic, IDR 3.000 
                            International, IDR 7.000 
Camera charge: IDR 1.000 

It took less than 10 minutes from Kraton to Taman sari water castle.

Taman Sari also known as Tamansari Water Castle is a site of a former royal garden of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta built by portugese's invisible hand in 18th century. It is located about 2 km south within the grounds of the Kraton Yogyakarta. The Taman Sari had multiple functions, such as a resting area, a workshop, a meditation area, a defense area, and a hiding place.

The name Taman Sari comes from the Javanese words taman, meaning a "garden" or "park" and sari, which means "beautiful" or "flowers". Hence, the name Taman Sari means an area of a beautiful garden adorned with flowers. An old article described it as a "water castle" (Dutch: waterkasteel); as by shutting the watergates, the complex would be completely immersed in water, leaving tall structures standing out.

Taman Sari consisted of four distinct areas: 

• a large artificial lake with islands and pavilions located in the west
• a bathing complex in the centre
• a complex of pavilions and pools in the south and 
• a smaller lake in the east

Today only the central bathing complex is well preserved, while the other areas have been largely occupied by the Kampung Taman settlement.   

You may read further story of Taman Sari at this page.

 (source: Tourjogja)

Main Entrance to Taman Sari Water Castle

View from on top of Taman Sari Castle

Taman Sari Entrance

Too many visitors at this time

The Tamansari bathing areas, where the concubines of the Sultan of Yogyakarta would bathe. The Sultan, standing on top, would then choose one of them to accompany him for the night by throwing a flower to one of them

Nice Pool @ Taman Sari Water Castle

Kena menapak sikit nak ke Taman Sari Tunnel on the other side... passing thru a village

Sudah sampai

The Tunnel

The tunnel looks like a Kubah shape

The elevated platform inside Sumur Gumuling where the four staircases meet in the center

We did not cover the entire area of Taman Sari cause we're too tired to proceed.

We ended the tour around 2.30 p.m and proceed to Kaliurang (as per initial plan).


To be continued.

Trans East Java Day 2: Borobudur

6 Jan 2013, Sunday 
Borobudur, Jawa Tengah

Borobudur Temple –Pawon & Mendut

Continue from previous post

Without having breakfast provided at Hotel, we started our journey as early as 6am from Oasis Hotel. If we want to wait for the breakfast, maybe we have to start Borobudur trip at 7.30 a.m since the breakfast only provided at 7 a.m. It's OK, I already have my own breakfast at 5 a.m. Since, we don't have much time on the 2nd day, so, the earlier the better and more places we can cover.

It was 40 km distance from our Hotel to borobudor which took around 1 hour. We arrived Taman Wisata Borobudur around 7 a.m. And by the time we arrived, the entrance was already full with visitors. Seriously, memang wrong timing lah ko sampai makcik. It was last day of school holidays. So, faham-faham jelah crowded nye Borobudour area... can u imagine. Susah nye nak ambil amgle menarik sebab every single angle & area at Borobudor is full of people. Everywhere... Anywhere. Memang seriously keciwa yang tak dapat aku gambarkan lah sebab ramai nye orang. Uwaaaa...

Nampak nye kena revisit balik lah tempat ni. Make sure, next time please plan wisely. 

Lesson learnt... Never come on school holidays if u want to enjoy taking photos and jalan-jalan. To me, tobat aku tak datang on school holiday lagi dah.... Never. 

Forget about my dissatisfaction, lets explore what is inside this so called world amazing heritage area.

Heading to Mid of Java

Perjalan menuju Borobudur merantasi laluan larva Gunung Berapi

Welcome to Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur

Entrance for International Visitors... entrance fee pun lain lah herge nye

You have to wear sarong before get inside. Katanye... To show respect. But, only for international visitors. Local visitor tak pakai pon. Maybe that's the rule for outsiders. Layan kan saja. 

A must procedure for international visitors only, wearing Sarong
Dah macam pahlawan Gadis Jawa

Lenggang Mak Limah ke candi Borobudur

Borobudur from far

Listen... listen... listen...
Explanation by Pak Budi our guide

Jika Mesir berbangga dengan piramid dan Sphinx, China dengan Tembok Besar, Kemboja dengan Angkor Wat. Maka, warga Indonesia pulak berbangga dengan Borobudur… satu Tapak Warisan Dunia UNESCO... yang penting aku tahu pernah masuk Buku sejarah sekolah.

Borobudur ialah kuil atau candi agama Buddha yang terletak di desa Boro, Kabupaten Magelang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia dan terletak kira-kira 100 km di barat daya Semarang dan 40 km di sebelah barat laut Yogyakarta. Luasnya saja 2500 km persegi. 

Dalam Bahasa Indon, bangunan keagamaan purbakala disebut candi… istilah candi juga digunakan meluas untuk merujuk kepada semua bangunan purbakala yang berasal dari masa Hindu-Buddha di Nusantara. 

Batu Bersurat Candi Borobudur

History… 

Borobudur adalah stupa Buddha mazhab Mahayana, dan monumen Buddha terbesar di dunia. Ia dibina antara tahun 750 dan 850 Masihi oleh pemerintah Jawa Dinasti Sailendra dan Sanjaya. 

Borobudur dibina sebagai tempat pemujaan penganut agama Buddha kerana ketika itu seluruh pulau mistik Jawa didiami penganut Buddha. Setiap tahun, sambutan Hari Wesak telah disambut di sini pada bulan Mei. Pembinaan semula kuil Borobudur menyebabkannya semakin terkenal di kalangan penganut Buddha dari seluruh dunia. Hari Wesak adalah untuk memperingati hari kelahiran, nafas penghabisan dan masa apabila Boddhisatva menjadi Buddha. 

Pengaruh Buddha dan Hindu merosot dengan ketibaan agama baru iaitu agama Islam. Sehingga kini hanya terdapat 2 juta penganut Hindu Buddha di Indonesia dengan tumpuan di pulau Bali. Selepas Islam, pengaruh Kristian turut berkembang luas di Indonesia selama 350 tahun dengan jumlah penganut seramai 5 juta orang. 

Kemerosotan Borobudur semakin teruk apabila ia ditimbus oleh abu lava gunung berapi. Terdapat dua buah gunung berapi yang masih aktif iaitu Gunung Sundoro-Sumbing dan Gunung Merbabu-Merapi di Sungai Progo. Kawasan ini terpilih sebagai tempat pembinaan kuil kerana penduduknya ramai dan pertanian padi sawah dapat dijalankan kerana tanah lava gunung berapi sangat subur. 
(source: various)

Sila Follow... Procedure of visiting Borobudur

Dont's

Banyak teori yang berusaha menjelaskan nama candi ini. 

• Istilah Borobudur tidak dapat dikesan dalam mana-mana artifak kecuali catatan Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles saja antara 1814-1816 iaitu ketika British mengambilalih sementara Bangkahulu dari Belanda. 
• Asal usul istilah Borobudur ini tidak jelas kerana penduduk setempat tidak lagi menjadi penganut agama Buddha. Penduduk pulau mistik Jawa telah lama melupakan agama Buddha. Kita akan merasa aneh akan kewujudan kuil Buddha ini kerana 99% penduduk Indonesia beragama Islam. 
• Bore ialah 'nama sebuah kampung' di situ. Budur ialah 'candi'. Jadi Borobudur bermaksud Candi Bore. Biasanya setiap candi dinamakan sempena nama sesebuah kampung berdekatan. Sepatutnya Raffle menulis 'BudurBoro', bukan 'Borobudur'. 
• Dalam manuskrip Nagarakartagama yang menggunakan bahasa Jawa kuno, karya Mpu Prapanca pada 1365 menyatakan 'Budur' sebagai Budha. Jadi diandaikan 'Budur' dikaitkan dengan ajaran Buddha. 
• Borobudur juga dikatkan dengan Sambharabhudhara yang bermaksud "gunung" (bhudara) di mana di lereng-lerengnya terletak teras-teras. 
• Borobudur dikatakan perubahan sebutan "para Buddha" menjadi borobudur atau 'budha'. 
• Dalam bahasa sanskrit dan Bali, Boro bermaksud 'kompleks candi' atau biara. Beduhur bermaksud "tinggi" atau di atas tanah tinggi. 

Asal-usul nama Borobudur pun tidak berapa jelas, sebab banyak sangat version nye. So, kalau nak tahu kisah lebih lanjut lagi tentang one of the wonders of the world ni , rajin-rajin lah lah google wikipedia for English and Malay.

The narrative bas-reliefs stories position on Borobudur wall. All of these stories derived from Buddhist sacred texts such as Lalitavistara, Manohara, Avadana, Jatakamala, Jataka, Gandavyuha, including Karmavibhangga carved along hidden foot covered by additional base encasement. Source Wikipedia

Cross section and ratio of Borobudur. Borobudur is stupa with stepped pyramid base in shape of mandala and consist of three realms in Buddhist cosmology: Kamadhatu (realm of desire), Rupadhatu (realm of form), and Arupadhatu (realm of formlessness). The ratio containing the number 9:6:4 Source: Wikipedia

Dan puas lenggang Mak Limah, naik tangga pulak yea

The beautiful Borobudur you could see the moment you step onto the last stair

The corner of Borobudur

The Buddha rest in peace

Macam tak caya jer dah sampai sini

Everey angle in Borobudur has its own unique characteristic

Borobudur... from the other side
We were told that most of structure at Borobudur has been reconstructed after damaged by the Merapi Volcano explosion

Every ukiran has its own story

Lost of right hand side

Some of the Buddha no longer in their perfect shape

Cerita keperwiraan Pahlawan Jowo

I admired the architecture

So many missing parts of Buddha

Jangan terkejut pulak bila nampak so many buddha were no longer in their perfect shape... lost of hand, lost of head and some other body parts too. We were told by Pak Budi... some of it was stolen by irresponsible people... and perhaps to be sold. Dan jangan terkejut sebab herge jualannye saja bisa mencecah sehingga jutaan rupiah. Patut pun.

Lost of head

The real situation when still in school holidays

Pendengar tegar cerita Pak Budi

Hanya yang pakar tahu cerita disebalik nyer
So, really advisable to take guide if you want to learn something about this place, so, takdelah sia-sia kedatangan korang ke sini, at least you know something

Please Welcome

Naik tangga lagi nak sampai ke puncak...

Missing one person here

View of Merapi Volcano from Borobudur

In Prambanan, we called it as Ratna... here, it was called as Stupa

Open Stupa... purposely open to show there was a Buddha inside

End of tour inside Borobudur... the tree nearby the childrens with blue shirt was the best place to capture the full picture of Borobudur

Aksi wajib GGK
Not really full pic of Borobudur cos I want to avoid many people on the left side

We ended the tour around 10 a.m. Before that, we asked permission from Pak Budi nak shopping for half an hour... just to buy souvenirs. After that, we proceed to our next destination, Candi Pawon & Mendut.

Many souvenirs shop just outside the Borobudur area... dont miss it to catch some

Candi Tingga Serangkai

Selain kuil Borobudur terdapat 2 lagi kuil di kawasan berdekatan iaitu kuil Pawon dan kuil Mendut yang terletak dalam satu garis lurus... katanye. So, on the way nak balik ke Jogja city kita orang singgah kejap. Walaupun takde lah sehebat Borobudur tapi Candi ni pun ade cerita menarik nye juga.

Borobudur, Pawon dan kuil Mendut yang terletak dalam satu garis lurus (source: wikipedia)

Menurut dongeng tempatan, ada jalan selari dari kuil Borobudur ke kuil Mendut. Katanye, dulu terdapat jalan berlapis batu yang dipagari pagar langkan di kedua sisinya yang menghubungkan ketiga candi ini. Namun tiada bukti saintifik adanya jalan raya beralas batu dan berpagar. Mungkin ini hanya cerita dongeng orang dulu-dulu. Sebab, aku ade bertanye pada Pak Budi kesahihan cerita nye, and he also not sure about the story, so, abaikan saja. Setiap Mei atau Jun, penganut Buddha mengerjakan perjalanan dari kuil Mendut, ke kuil Pawon dan tamat di kuil Borobudur. (source: wikipedia)

Candi Pawon... our next visit after Borobudur

Candi Pawon... front side

Next visit was Candi Mendut.

For more infos about these two Candis, you may click for Candi Mendut and Candi Pawon.

Happy reading.

Candi Mendut... front angle

Setiap Ukirang batu disini juga has its own story

Inside Candi Mendut

I was wondering how they arranged the rocks to make it the candi stand still

Some of the collection of collapse rocks

Also got shopping place on the way to Candi Mendut

Souvenirs in Stupa Shape

Aku tertarik dengan Stupa shape kat atas tapi tak berani lah beli sebab takut terpesong akidah plak nanti... hehehe. So, aku cuma beli keychain & Fridge magnet in stupa shape saja lah buat kenang-kenangan.

Around 11 a.m, we proceed to Jogja city to our next destination to Sultan Palace & Taman Sari Castle. We followed the same direction we heading to Borobudur... almost 1 hour to reach there.

Again, passed by Larva flowing path on the way back to Jogja city

To be continued...