-- From Yogyakarta to Surabaya
The road tracklog
from Yogyakarta to Surakarta
from 11/07 to 15/07/2009
Prambanan
Prambanan is the vastest set of monuments of Indian culture in Java. Temples were built from the 8th to the 10th century when Central Java was under the rule of the Buddhist dynasty Syailendra and the Hinduist dynasty Mataram which were linked in the 9th century by marriages. Thus architecture and sculptures incorporate elements from both religions. I point out that Buddhism is for Hinduism what Protestantism is for Catholicism, a reform, a schism. The site is under restoration following the frequent earthquakes. The group of Shiva Mahadeva includes: the Shiva Temple has relieves of the scenes of Ramayana. On each side there are in the south the Brahma Temple and in the north the Vishnu Temple with scenes of Mahabharata. Opposite the Shiva Temple is the Nandi Temple, Shiva vehicle.
Map
Prambanan
11/07/2009
Shiva Temple
Prambanan
11/07/2009
Relieves, Shiva Temple
Prambanan
11/07/2009
On the northern axis the Lumbung temple and Bubrah Temple are still in the state of ruins.
Stone carver, Lumbung Temple
Prambanan
11/07/2009
At northern the Sewu Temple is of Buddhist architecture capped with a Stupa in shape of those of Sanci in India.
Sewu Temple
Prambanan
11/07/2009
Golden objets, Museum
Prambanan
11/07/2009
By bike I climbed the hill of the Kraton Ratu Boko which offers an exceptional view on the plain of Prambanan. This enormous palace was set up in the 9th century at the time of the union of the both dynasties Syailendra and Mataram, it is a synthesis of the Buddhist and Hindu art. An inscription in Sanskrit dates back to 856 AD. On the site one can see large walls, platforms and baths. The history of the site is not known.
Kraton Ratu Boko
Prambanan
11/07/2009
Kraton Ratu Boko
Prambanan
11/07/2009
I became acquainted with a group of exuberant girls!
Kraton Ratu Boko
Prambanan
11/07/2009
Kraton Ratu Boko
Prambanan
11/07/2009
In the afternoon I strolled into Plaosan Temples which combines both Buddhist and Hindu
religious symbols.
I bivouacked on a carpark at the external archaeological park in the north of Sewu Temple.
Plaosan Temples
Prambanan
11/07/2009
Plaosan Temples
Prambanan
11/07/2009
Garden site
In Borobudur in a building called International Visitors/VIP one is welcomed by a hostess who offers coffee in an earthenware cup by directing you towards the counter where you are punctured of $12. In Prambanan in the known building there is no hostess and the coffee is served a plastic goblet, the puncture is $11. In Kraton Ratu Boko the price to be paid is $10 at a kiosk on the carpark. I deduced from it that the price of the site is at $10, that for the VIP building is at $1 and that of the hostess with earthenware cup is at $1. The cost of the visit of the three sites is $33 for one person, but for a family of four people that becomes prohibitive. The consequence was visible on the sites, little foreigners in Prambanan, I were the only foreigner in Kraton Ratu Boko.
Tickets
Prambanan
11/07/2009
Sangiran
The Homeland
of
Java Man
Homo erectus
Sangiran Museum
12/07/2009
Sangiran is at approximately 18 kilometres away from Solo (Surakarta). The museum and the archaeological site are registered in the world inheritance of humanity. Fossils were found along the Sungai Gengawan. Java Man is an Homo erectus dating back to 1.7 million years. Homo erectus lived in Java at the same time as Homo sapiens in Africa. The debate about the theory of the appearance of human in Africa then its migration towards the other continents and the theory of the simultaneous appearance on several continents was started again.
Migratory flux
Sangiran Museum
12/07/2009
Homo erectus
Sangiran Museum
12/07/2009
Fossils
Sangiran Museum
12/07/2009
Clochemerle
Thus I bivouacked beside a ground of volley ball bordered by two houses. In the afternoon a family of one of the houses pay me a visit; a girl, approximately 15 years old, spoke English and was mischievous. We spent a pleasant moment supplied with frank laughter. At the night fallen a husband with his wife from the other house came to ask me to leave. I refused categorically; they did not have any valid reason. Approximately half an hour later they returned with another man speaking a little better English who told me the woman asked me to leave. I told him that I knew it but I would not leave. The man obviously was constrained to make this step. A few times later the woman and her husband, without consistency, came again accompanied by two policemen. I addressed to these civil servant who besides did not ask me anything and I requested them to take note the number of my passport what they made without enthusiasm. They told me I could remain and they dealt with this woman. Shortly after this "Grand-Guignolesque" episode the girl struck at my door and gave me her telephone number to the case of the woman would come again to importune me. A roof I was helped by a young girl! The night was peaceful.
Young girl
Sangiran
12/07/2009
Solo (Surakarta)
Solo it does not have many sights there: a Kraton, residence of the family reigning, a Puri, inhabited by a royal family and a museum closed on Mondays. Kraton Surabaya, built in 1745, includes several bodies of buildings. The part worth visiting is composed by a Pendopo, large reception room, in a raised park surrounded by low buildings occupied by a museum exposing the princely collections.
Kraton Surakarta
Surakarta
13/07/2009
Kraton, entrance
Surakarta
13/07/2009
Kraton, Pendopo
Surakarta
13/07/2009
Kraton, museum
Surakarta
13/07/2009
Kraton, museum
Surakarta
13/07/2009
Puri Mangkunegaran, built in 1757, is less imposing, a Pendopo also surrounded by low buildings occupied by administrative offices.
Puri Mangkunegaran, Pendopo
Surakarta
13/07/2009
Puri, plafond
Surakarta
13/07/2009
Candi Sukuh
I left Solo in the early afternoon by heading towards Candi Sukuh forty kilometres away at approximately 900 meters of altitude on the side of Gunung Lawu, 3265 meters. The main temple dates back to the 15th century in full period of Islam expansion. The intentions of the temple builders are unknown moreover its architecture is intrigante, it points out the INCA temples and the bas-reliefs those of the Maya sculptures. After Solo it was a real moment of quietude and of daydream, I was alone in the end of day with low angle light on the site. I bivouacked on a small adjacent carpark.
Presentation
Candi Sukuh
13/07/2009
Lingam & Yoni
Candi Sukuh
13/07/2009
Main temple
Candi Sukuh
13/07/2009
Bas-releif
Candi Sukuh
13/07/2009
Candi Cetho
The 14/07 heading towards Candi Cetho I was stopped by two policemen on motorbike who made me understand that I could not drive up with my truck to Candi Cetho the road was too much narrow. I tried to explain to them that I came from Candi Sukuh without difficulty. Que nenni I was to make half-turn. I decided to park my truck and to continue with a motodriver. Admittedly the road is very narrow but as to Candi Sukuh. However the carpark in front of the Temple is very exiguous and the manoeuvre with a truck would have been very delicate.
Stop, police & motodriver
Candi Cetho
14/07/2009
Candi Cetho is at more than 1200 meters of altitude on the slope of Gunung Lawu. Ten terraces lead to the main Temple. There are no bas-reliefs some statues are scattered. The Shiva fertility symbol is visible in two places in particular in front of a tortoise. As in Sukuh tortoise is present as a sacrificial platform. The processional alley leading to the temple is sumptuous and the panoramic view on tea plantations justifies the detour.
Allée processionnelle
Candi Cetho
14/07/2009
Linga & Yoni
Candi Cetho
14/07/2009
Linga
Candi Cetho
14/07/2009
Main temple
Candi Cetho
14/07/2009
On the way I saw many tea gathering women with bundles of harvest.
Tea gathering women
Candi Cetho
14/07/2009
Time consuming negligence
In the descent towards Tawang Mangu the almost empty diesel tank didn’t give diesel and the engine stopped. I started the pump to get diesel from the second tank towards the main tank and I had patience great half an hour. The engine did not start. Roland had before informed me to never empty the diesel tank, because it was necessary to use the small pump of the engine to prime injectors. I should to lift the cabin with the need for dismounting the accordion connecting it with the cell as well as the pipes of the heat exchangers. After two working hours the engine started. An experiment moreover to put at the credit of negligence! I drove again on the road which climbed at more than 1900 meters of altitude along the southern face of Gunung Lawu in a stunning landscape. I stopped on a small carpark in Plaosan.
Towards Surabaya
The 15/07 was a driving day towards Surabaya. I took six hours to drive the 200 kilometres on a two-lane road in bad condition and sometimes with four lanes, always with a hard traffic of carries containers trucks. By driving I read inscriptions of trucks like this one transporting of LPG.
Rice paddies
en route towards Surabaya
15/07/2009
LPG
en route
15/07/2009
As of the entry Surabaya in the early afternoon I looked for the location of the Surabaya Tourist Office behind the Zoo according to Lp. Gradually from checkpoints to checkpoints of the police I succeeded in finding it. I presented myself to it with two requests, where to establish my bivouac in this three million inhabitant city and where the offices of ADSP, a company of ferry boats to go from island to island, are. I wished to make a road plan to be before August 24 in Kupang in West-Timor, expired date of my visa, and a budget to take cash at the last HSBC bank in Indonesia. I was welcomed very cordially by Irna who presented me with the Secretary of the Office who very pleasantly granted me the parking in the enclosure of the Office. After having parked the truck, it had the traditional visit of the Castle, reminiscence of a sketch by Jacques Duffilo, and a not less usual meeting of photographs. In the Office there was a journalist of a local newspaper who interviewed me. Then I presented my website while an employee sought the address of ASDP Company. It was 4:00 pm when all was finished. I learned tha Surabaya and Marseille were twinned.
Irna & Guy
Surabaya Tourist Office
15/07/2009
Surakarta
The next morning Irna brought me Metropolis newspaper. I was at the “front page”.
Metropolis
Surabaya
17/07/2009
By cycling to the port at ASDP then by visiting the city I was several times recognized, stopped, hailed and photographed. I was become if not a celebrity at least a curiosity by bike in this much polluted city. Employees met at Indonesia Ferry, ASDP provided me with much kindness requested information; moreover they authorized me to use a computer to consult my mailbox and to answer my correspondents on standby since more than one week. Internet connection had an acceptable speed except for provider Orange which remains very slow into international.
Celebrity!
Surabaya
17/07/2009
Then I visited the city which does not have many sights to retain tourists. Employees of the visited monuments drowsed at the foot of the air-conditioners. Monumen Tugu Pahlawan was inaugurated in 2000 to commemorate the battle for the independence of Indonesia in November 10, 1945.
Tugu Pahlawan
Surabaya
17/07/2009
Masjid Ampel in Arab quarter, that feels and sees, is the most venerated mosque in Surabaya. The prayer room has a remarkable mimbar.
Masjid Ampel
Surabaya
17/07/2009
Masjid Ampel
Surabaya
17/07/2009
Chinatown does not have anything of exciting except the Temple Kong Co Kong Tik Cun Ong of Buddhist obedience, old-fashioned and dusty.
Kong Co Kong Tik Cun Ong
Surabaya
17/07/2009
Some buildings of the colonial era remain as public buildings.
Gedung PTP XXII
Surabaya
17/07/2009
At the end of the day I paid a visit at the French Cultural Centre in a pretty house dating back to 1914 of style “Art Deco”.
French Cultural Centre
Surabaya
17/07/2009
After a breakfast offered by Irna with two of her colleagues I met Mrs. Wiwiek Widayati, Head of Surabaya Culture and Tourism Office, who required visiting the "Castle". Then I published an update of my website into a cigarette sticking hot spot at the ground floor of Tunjungan Plaza which I had found afterwards many mistakes in Shopping Centres. After having lunch I visited the House of Sampoerna, built in 1862 during the Dutch colonial era and bought in 1932 by Liem Seeng Tee founder of the cigarette manufacture of Sampoerna. Charlie Chaplin visited it in 1932. To see workers rolling cigarettes, 325 sticks per hour, from the top of the visitor gallery I thought that "Modern Times" had not disappeared.
House of Sampoerna
Surabaya
17/07/2009
Cigarettes factory
Surabaya
17/07/2009
On the back road towards my bivouac I took a picture of Russian Submarine, Pasopati.
Russian submarine
Surabaya
17/07/2009
In French Cultural Centre I read French newspapers to inform on the attack in Jakarta perpetuated the 05/07/2009.
