Day 10—27-DEC—Central Java

First, my Editor promised you cool things, so if the following does not excite you…blame the editor, not the writer!  It was exciting for us, but not in entirely all good ways!

The alarm went off at 5:45AM, and we began to rouse, get dressed, and pack.  After a quick breakfast, we were downstairs waiting for the rest of our tour group just before 6:45.  Another couple was already there, and we joked around with them a bit.  The eight of us piled off the ship into the central area just out of the port, and began looking for our tour guide.  After 10 minutes of confusion, we finally found him, and were getting on the bus at 7AM, exactly on schedule!!  The van has four rows of three, plus the driver and guide up front.  The eight of us were able to take a row each and have a middle seat for “comfort”.  But, the 2.5 hour (50 mile) ride turned into more like 3+, since traffic was very bad!  For part of the way we had a police car behind us, flashing lights and blaring siren.  He was escorting one of the big tour busses (not our little “van”), but there was nowhere for us to go, so he followed us with sirens for several miles.

Not a moped.  Seen pretty far inland, actually.

Mopeds swarmed like bees around us, going either direction, but certainly faster than us in heavy traffic (but slower on the highway).  At one point there had to be over 200 leaving a factory and filling our road.  The standard moped works as well for a single rider as a family of 3, or even bulk delivery services!  On the highway (toll road costing 15,000 Indonesian Rupees…about $1.20), our guide pointed out the housing under the bridge.  People move to the city from the country, and work wherever they can and send the money home.  They live as frugally as possible, so a few corrugated sheets of steel makes for both a door and a wall under the short parts of the bridge.

Our guide told us about the culture(s) of Indonesia, especially religion.  His family is “typical”, (which he calls Indonesian salad) in that his parents were Muslim, as is he.  His wife was Hindu before they married.  His Aunt and Uncle are Catholic.  So, they celebrate all of the holidays and holy days as a family, be it Christmas, Ramadan, etc.

Rice paddy at the foot of a mountain.

Our guide pointed out at least 3 of the volcanoes on this island, all of which are considered active.  Two had erupted in 2010 and 2011, and one flowed lava in 2015 (though gently, we might presume).  The volcanoes seemed to loom over us the who day, wherever we went, there was one poking through the clouds, seemingly saying, "I see you!" 

 

 

 

 

Close up from the picture above...this is a hard way to eat!

Another rice paddy and another mountain!

Tilling the soil with a "modern" tool.  It's a muddy mess!

We also saw many rice paddies, ranging from very small (200-300 square feet) to serval acres.  They can grow three rounds per year in a single field, so we saw fields in every stage from planting to harvesting.  I guess that is a bonus when one has very little land to till.  The woman normally plants the rice, since it is detail and manual work.  The man tills the soil and harvests.

One of several saw mills along the way.

We also saw lots of fruit stands, tile markets, and lumber mills along the route.  The lumber yards had round logs about 8 feet long, some quarter sawn, and then building lumber (2x4s, 1x planks, etc).  All of this in a little area not ¼ of an acre. 

Tree?  Anyone order a tree??

Papayas and Bananas.

Ramshackle house, probably no running water...but Satellite TV!!

New construction!

Finally we arrived at Boroburdur.  This was a Buddhist temple built in the 9^th Century, and took about 100 years to finish.  Then an earthquake knocked most of it down.  For 100 years, it lay damaged, then they rebuilt it over 100 years.  Before the 12^th Century, one of the volcanoes buried it in ash, as well as everything else.  So, the starving people (crops do not grow well under hot ashes) moved East to Bali.  Eventually, they came back, but the temple was long forgotten and overgrown with vegetation.  It was discovered first by the local people, who seemed to not care, then “discovered” by the same Brit, Mr. Raffles, who built up much of Singapore.  (It is almost certain the locals told him it was there, but discovery is part finding and part knowing what you found, so we’ll let him take some credit.)  They restored it over the 1800s and again in the 1900s.

The 9th Century Buddhist Temple, Boroburdur.

Part of the carving on "Pleasure". 
This panel is the effects after drinking too much.

One of over 500 Buddha statues in the alcoves.

Over half of the Buddha statues are missing their heads. 

A detail of one of the corners.



Large statue of Buddha, with volcano in background.

Buddhism’s focus is on Buddha, who was a prince born about 200 BC (plus or minus).  His mother died very early, and he was said to have taken his first steps right about when she died…7 steps exactly, and on lotus flowers.  This has great significance, but I didn’t catch that.  The goal of Buddhism is to achieve perfection (Nirvana) by balancing all things properly.  Anyway, the temple is laid out on ten levels, but broadly on three zones.  The first is “Pleasure”, and reflects all of the bodily needs.  There is a carved frieze reputedly the longest carving in the world on this level.  He showed us some of it and told us the story it displayed.

Some of the 72 stupas on the top level. 

The next level is “self-control”, or managing the pleasures.  Finally, on top is “Nirvana”, where it all comes into balance.  There are 72 stupas, inside of each is a statue of Buddha.  The number 7 represents perfection, and 72 is 7+2, which represents 9, which is the highest number, since 10 becomes 1+0 which is back to the beginning.  (Not really mathematicians, I propose!)  Anyway, the highest level is an enormous stupa, which seems to be solid.  It is not accessible, since we mere humans can not achieve perfection, except that we have jet packs now and so we can!  Oh yeah, drones are a strict “No-No”, as they apparently are not perfect but could perch atop perfection.

One of the stupas was partially dismantled,
so the Buddha inside is easily visible.

A brief moment and spot with almost no people!

It was quite hot up there, and the only shade available was a south wall, where the sun shone behind.  And since this is kind of vacation for most of the school children, there were families and tourists everywhere!!  It was so good to get out of that mess, and back on the bus to lunch!!

 

 

 

 

 

A "civet", or sort of a "tree cat".  Very soft and plush, BTW.

But first, we stopped at a little coffee house, that served ONLY Luwak (Civet) coffee.  If you are a little weak stomached, you might skip this paragraph.  So, there is this animal, called a civet, which is sort of like a cat, but lives mostly in trees.  It eats coffee beans right off the tree, but it can’t digest them, so it poops them back out.  But, the stomach enzymes change the bean a little on the way.  People pick up the coffee bean laden poop, wash it twice (the beans, not the poop), remove the husk, and then roast them.  This is called "Luwak" coffee.  Since the civet is not domesticated, the supply is very irregular and labor intensive.  Thus, it is perhaps the most expensive coffee in the world, going for up to $160/lb.  We could also buy it by the cup, which was a mere 25,000 (Indonesian Rupees), or $2 US.  Yes, they were happy to accept US Dollars!!  The cup was tiny.  The coffee was, well it was $2 cup of java, so let’s just call it an “experience”.  No one will be getting it for a late Christmas gift from us!

Coffee beans, uh, midway through the "process".

Luwak coffee.  (Yes, I will get change...it's enough for 4 cups there!)

Finally we made it to lunch.  They brought things fam9ily style, and we had soup, chicken, fish, beef, some sort of prawn chips (looked like white pig skins and tasted vaguely like prawns, and of course rice.  It was nice and relaxing, but little did we know what it was going to cost us!  Before eating, we expected a 60 minute ride to the next site and 2-3 hours to the ship.  As we left lunch, it was 90 minutes to the next stop, and 2.5 to the ship after that.  Welllllll….

Prambanan, as viewed through fence slats!

Two hours after leaving lunch, we had not arrived.  One person called the company, and was told that due to traffic, it could be as much as 5 hours from the site to the ship.  That was at 4:00.  Our ship leaves (LEAVES) at 11PM.  This was NOT acceptable!!  Everyone got riled up and things got intense, just as we arrived at Prambanan, a Hindu temple and the second intended attraction.  We stopped on the side of the road, got out and took pictures through the fence.  Then drove around the back side to turn around and get pictures from behind trees.  And headed back to the ship.  A LOT of unhappy people here.  We finally got back to the ship almost 8:30.

There was just enough time to run up and grab a quick dinner at the buffet.  It was “Turkish Night” evidently, since most of the food was related to Turkey.  One dish had a few random peppers with meat, and I saw them and thought, “Those red(?) ones look dangerous.  And the yellow (?) ones look the same, so I am not sure I trust them either!”  But, Theresa got one.  As she dubiously sliced it in half, then trimmed a tiny sliver off, I watched.  Oh boy!!  It was HOT!!  She was not happy.  I took a big piece (1.5 inches long), sniffed it, and thought it smelled hot.  I just touched it to my tongue, and it almost seared!  I was surprised then when I popped it into my mouth and it wasn’t nearly as bad as the first taste.  We had to get some gelato to cool the burn and then Ouzo and Sambuca to numb it.  J