February 26, 2007
Yogyakarta (INDONESIA)
Bicycling to Prambanan and Touring Yogyakarta
I had intended to bicycle to Prambanan before sunrise this morning, but sleep got in the way. Instead, I started off just after 9am with the mountain bike I rented the night before. It was a scorching hot Indonesian day, and without any cloud cover I lathered myself in sun screen. I already have a dark tan on my neck and arms, but thankfully I haven't had to deal with any sunburns.
There were several main roads would lead to the temples, which were 20km outside Jogja, but I didn't want to do all my traveling along traffic infested streets. I did my best to plan a new route that took me through more of the countryside, but it was inevitably a longer way and it was inevitable I would get lost somewhere along the way.
After about an hour of cycling through the city, I broke free of the jammed bemos, cecaks, and public buses. The next segment on the journey was a 5km stretch of Java's East-West highway where I had to pedal like my life depended on it (an all too appropriate description). I used the highway because I was hoping to spend the afternoon backtracking through the countryside. Unfortunately, this is where my planned route broke down, and every 20 minutes I stopped to ask locals to point me in the right direction. They were all too happy to help, and I could tell they found my situation just as amusing as I did.
With
some guidance, I found a small road running parallel to
a canal that lead me toward the Prambanan temples. The
canal was used as a source of water for the rice
paddies, and the road itself was reserved primarily for
local farmers and children riding to/from school. Given
that I was in the middle of nowhere, the views of the
rice fields were phenomenal, and the children would
peddle alongside me laughing and crisscrossing my path.
By
noon I arrived at the entrance to Prambanan. I locked up
my bike and paid a local man to watch it for 1000Rp, or
10cents. Although it is believed the temples were built
within 100 years of Borobudor (roughly 8th century), the
Prambanan temples are of Hindu origin. My guide book
wrote that the temples are the finest example of Hindu
architecture in the world - a tough standard to live up
to - but they did not disappoint. The main temple
complex towered over the surrounding countryside and
gave the area an ancient feel.
An
earthquake struck Java about a year ago and destroyed
many of the temples so there was still construction
going on when I arrived. In my opinion, Indonesia has
had some of the worst luck when it comes to disasters.
Here is a quick rundown of the big hits the country has
endured over the past ten years: 97' Asian Financial
Crisis, 97' riots, guerilla warfare in Aceh, 05' volcano
eruption on Java, 05' tsunami killing 600 on Java, 04'
Boxing day tsunami wiping out all of north Sumatra,
guerilla warfare in Papua, frequent earthquakes, and so
on...
Since
it was Monday, there were virtually no tourists in the
park and I was free to wander in peace. The only people
I met were a group of local students who came to tour
the temples as an afternoon outing. One of the girls
(who also happened to be incredibly beautiful) was from
Bali, and she gave me a lot of insider information on
where to go and what to expect. I have been worrying
about whether Bali is worth visiting because it is such
a tourist destination - in 2006 it was rated the world's
best place to vacation - but she assured me that most of
the partying tourists stick to the southern beaches of
Kuta. Although this is something I should see, I did not
come around the world to see another version of Miami's
South Beach..
Despite
rain hampering my progress on the ride back to Jogja, it
was still much easier as I knew where I was going this
time around. Rather than turning the bike in, I rode
through the old walled portion of the city (kraton,
show to left) where I also came across a local market.
The
market featured a variety of things, but the ones that
caught my eye were the screened boxes of grasshoppers,
the bowls of squirming maggots, and the rice filled
plates that were infested with large ants (all being
bought by locals).
The last order of business for the night was booking a bus ticket for the following day. I found a deal where I could visit an active volcano en route to Bali, and I jumped at the prospect. The route includes two consecutive days of bus travel, but such things cannot be avoided.
