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Jogjakarta trip
Day 2 - 29th April - Borobodur (Part 1)
A disproportionate number of the ang mohs I saw were Dutch. Perhaps they were assuaging colonial guilt by pumping money into the local economy.
The decimal point and thousand separator follow Dutch (Continental European) style. You also see a lot of Dutch books on book exchange shelves.
One similarity to the land of Pot, Hookers and Euthanasia I didn't expect to see was all the "100% Halal" signs. Given that a huge majority of Indonesians are Muslim and that's it's so hard to find pork, you wouldn't think this would be necessary (it also raises the questions of whether 99% Halal, 50% Halal, 1% Halal and 0% Halal food is possible).
Even after having been to Penang and Cambodia within recent memory, I found that there were a ridiculous amount of touts in Jogjakarta, peddling everything from taxi trips to becak rides to
We struck out for Borobodur quite early, at around 6, but since we had to change buses once we only reached there at almost 8.
"Rossa. Selebriti". As I observed, if you have to say you're a celebrity, you're not one.
"Borobodur the World Cultural Heritage"
Empty carpark. Most tourists (except those who went to catch the sunrise) got there later. Though I must note that since it's East of Singapore and yet an hour behind, like Cambodia, going on the 5am tours didn't help (by 6am it was bright already).
Being forewarned, we tried to sneak in through the second-class visitors' gate, but were hurriedly ushered to the "International/VIP" entrance, and faced with:
The people who ran Borobodur were fervent exploiters of tourists (Prambanan was marginally less bad), charging foreigners 10 times what locals paid (having a foyer with limp air-conditioning and free coffee and tea, and offering a free bottle of mineral water later as a pitiful salve). Amazingly, some people defend this practice.
Insect on floor of entrance hall
Amazing consideration by the people running the place: "Hawkers... and all kinds of sellers are prohibited to operate within Zone 1 of the Temple" (of course, this didn't stop some merchants offering to take photographs of visitors inside the structure itself)
Also: they ask for "direct or indirect critics and suggestions for the improvements in management and preservation of the cultural heritage". Maybe I should send them this blog post.
In the foyer, an ang moh couple who had taken the same buses up with us told us that on the longer bus they had been quoted 50,000 Rp for 2 people at the start, but bargained it down to 20,000 (in contrast, the both of us had been charged 15,000 Rp per person on the longer of the morning bus journeys). The guy (who spoke what he claimed were the few phrases of Bahasa he knew very fluently) also told us that he had asked 3 people what the bus fare was, but all 3 cagily refused to tell him. It is clear that Korupsi is so entrenched in Indonesia, the cesspool of corruption, that it pervades and infects every layer of society.
On reflection, since they cheat you on the public bus anyway and you waste time waiting for buses, transferring buses and making stops along the way, it isn't that bad to go on the overpriced tours (at about 100,000 Rp - which don't include admission), unless you want to take your time (like me). In contrast, if you visit Versailles on the RER it's a quick, cheap and easy trip - and you don't get cheated.
Before we entered the compound-proper, we were asked to sign the guestbook. Foreseeing the wrath of foreign tourists, they had not left space for a "Remarks" column, so under "Hotel" I wrote "the street" in a pointless act of passive-aggressive protest. I also pointedly did not give them my e-mail address, since I didn't want to be spammed with ads for Jamu sticks (I should've written "damn you", but they might've hired thugs to beat me up in an alley, so).
Temple approach
Schematic
World Heritage plaque
Looking up from the bottom, and a CMI World Heritage sign
Borobodur is actually smaller than I expected (and had been given to believe).
Expanse. The trees make it hard to get a good overall shot, unless it's from a helicopter.
Steps up
First layer of sculpted walls
According to the information we had, the bottom third of the temple represented the base desires (you discard your desires as you move up), but CWN later read that the parts depicting the base desires were concealed except for a small part the Japanese had excavated. This didn't seem totally plausible to me, since it contradicted what all other sources said (then again, many of those sources were Indonesian in origin, rendering them suspect), and I had some reasonable guesses as to what some sculptures represented, but what do I know (Wikipedia says what we saw was the Buddha's life)?
Buddha Net:
"The lowest level has 160 reliefs depicting cause and effect; the middle level contains various stories of the Buddha's life from the Jataka Tales; the highest level has no reliefs or decorations whatsoever but has a balcony, square in shape with round walls: a circle without beginning or end"
(Okay, the hair should've tipped me off)
Lotus. On the right you can see what looks like a tempted guy - his lingam (phallus) seems to have been lopped off. Well, that's one way to avoid desire.
Thinking the murals depicted sins, the primary one I could identify was lust (then again, the Buddha did live a worldly life before hitting the road, so I was probably partially right).
Topless women offering their watermelons to the Buddha
Me: I still can't identify anything other than lust
CWN: Which says something of you. And me...
Me: For all you know they could be 'here, have a watermelon' and you think she's offering her breasts
CWN: Can you please quote yourself?
If you're bad, you'll be turned into a monkey with human proportions and have to play with mangoes
The top one resembles an orgy. Notice a man smelling a woman's armpit?
Perhaps this was pride, and being worshipped.
These people were smaller than the ones in the other sculptures, so either they're burning in hell or they're depicted as morally inferior (this is the cue for dwarves to take offence and start a Dwarf Rights Movement)
Inter-species bestiality. Cool!
Stair up to the next level
Sylar-ed Buddha
Me: The woman is kneeling in front of the man, and a man is stuffing his hand up her skirt
CWN: Right. I don't know why you're not doing archaeology and deciphering otherwise indecipherable panels
I have to admit it was fun playing Arthur Evans.
Buddha in niche
There was a bloody beehive in the stone.
Row of Buddhas. Most Buddhas lack their heads for obvious reasons. A few were recovered but IIRC the rest were reconstructed.
War and Buddhism. Or they might be dancing.
Quotes:
Aww. You bring your bear everywhere. [Me: That's not my bear. That's one of my bears. My bear is at home] Oh yeah, that's not the ratty one.
[Me: I still can't identify anything other than lust] Which says something of you. And me... [Me: For all you know they could be 'here, have a watermelon' and you think she's offering her breasts] Can you please quote yourself?
It's not the power of Woman. It's the cockness of Man.
[Me: The woman is kneeling in front of the man, and a man is stuffing his hand up her skirt] Right. I don't know why you're not doing archaeology and deciphering otherwise indecipherable panels