Of batik and Buddhas

I don’t often rise before the sun. But here I was, standing on a platform of the world-famous Borobudur Temple in Yogyakarta during those magical moments before dawn. Slowly the sun began its ascent between two lofty mountains. Some tourists knelt down in prayer as the sun came into view. Others were teary-eyed.

Borobudur is one of the wonders of Asia and the world. It’s an extraordinary structure that consists of several platforms, topped finally by a dome in the centre. The temple has 504 statues of the Buddha, though many are defaced and headless or with their limbs lopped off. As daylight broke I could see the magnificent temple all around and also, in the distance, the entire city of Yogyakarta.

We had decided to start our journey in Yogyakarta before heading off to the tourist-infested beaches of Bali. Yogyakarta, popularly referred to as Jogja by the locals, lies in the south-central region of Java Island. It’s famed as a centre for batik and the traditional performing art and has a very distinct charm of its own. From a visitor’s point of view, it’s completely laidback and therefore a perfect place for unwinding.

My first impression of Jogja was that it was one great big, emerald green paddy field. You can see green all around as you land and even the airport is surrounded on all sides by paddy fields. Later, during our stay there, we visited a popular, local restaurant named Jimbaran which too had paddy fields all around. As we sat at our smart tables, feasting on freshly caught, grilled red snapper and lobster, I could hear frogs croaking from the fields outside.

Thankfully the hotel we were staying in was in the heart of the city. It was a short walk from most of the sights of the city and I could see everything at a leisurely pace.

The only time we had to rush was to see the sunrise at Borobudur. I awoke, bleary-eyed at 3am and tumbled into a taxi for a 45-minute drive through narrow streets to the temple. It dropped us at the Manohara Hotel, near Borobudur, which arranges the special sunrise trips. The fee is $25 per person and that includes tea and snacks after the trip.

After getting an entrance ticket, the guide gave me a small torch to find my way up a flight of stairs to the temple. A crowd was already waiting with their cameras at the ready even though it was still dark.

The story of how Borobudur was rediscovered is quite extraordinary. The man behind it was the young Thomas Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore. When Raffles was the governor of Yogyakarta he heard tales of an ancient monument that had been lost beneath dense vegetation. He sent a team of 200 workers and surveyors who struggled for six weeks to clear up the area. Raffles, who hadn’t expected anything on the scale of Borobudur, was astonished when the temple was finally revealed. The temple was built in the 9th century which, incidentally, makes it 300 years older than Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

The temple is composed of 55,000sq m of lava rock up on a hill in the form of a stepped-pyramid of six rectangular storeys. There are three circular terraces and central sputa forming the summit. The whole structure is in the form of a lotus, considered the favoured flower of Buddha and a scared motif for Buddhists.

But Borobudur isn’t the only extraordinary religious site in Jogja. There’s also the Prambanan Temple complex which is a must-see. Built in the 10th-century, it is the largest Hindu temple in central Java. Originally, the complex consisted of about 237 temples but today you can only see a few that have survived major earthquakes.

Evenings are particularly pleasant in Yogyakarta if you are there in the right season — that’s any time from May to August when temperatures are just right and the tropical breeze is soothing. At this time of year, it’s a pleasure to take a joyride in one of the rickshaws or pedicabs and see different parts of the town.

I went in a pedicab to the crowded local market on Malioboro Street. This is a famous street which is dotted with shops and hawkers selling handicrafts. Mostly, they sell batik which is made in the region. There are batik shirts, shoes, bags, sarongs, tops and lots more.

I wandered along a narrow bylane and found myself in a little Balinese home where an entire family was sitting around and completing a batik painting. Here, my bargaining skills came in handy and I managed to get a good deal for a set of paintings. I followed the rule I had been told by a local — knock 40 per cent off the named price!

Malioboro Street leads to the Sultan’s Palace which was also not far from my hotel. The palace is where the present Sultan of Yogyakarta and his family live. Even locals from different parts of the province come to see the palace. After going through the palatial structure which is built in a traditional Indonesian style, I hurried back to my hotel. There I relaxed with a cup of traditional green tea. It’s a great way to unwind. Ahead on my agenda was Bali. But Jogja was a perfect place to catch my breath and have a restful holiday.

Ready reckoner

Getting there: Singapore Airlines and Jet Airways fly to Jakarta from Kolkata via Singapore or Bangkok. The national carrier of Indonesia, Garuda, offers flights between Jakarta and Yogyakarta. The round trip airfares cost upwards of Rs 52,000.

Exchange rate: 1.00 Indian Rupee = 192.9 Indonesia Rupiahs


The Personal Telegraph