We actually arrived yesterday in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, which is a city that acts as a gateway to central Java’s incredible temples, tea / coffee / rice plantations, and historic “old town” with royal buildings, including a beautiful Javanese-style mosque and royal cemetery. It’s an easy flight from Jakarta, about an hour and fifteen minutes with gorgeous views of the beach and green space from above. The airport is also huge and modern, despite only being ~5 gates (according to our guide today!).

Yogyakarta itself is about an hour and a half from the airport (through some harrowing traffic!). We decided to do a custom tour of some of the nearby temples and the old town area today, which required a 3:30am wakeup (which, incidentally, corresponded with one of the prayer calls we heard this morning; apparently this area has a dense Muslim population, and the local mosques typically begin broadcasting prayer around 3am, with practitioners rising around 4:30-5am to participate in the prayer and begin their own mornings). It was about an hour drive to the site overlooking the Borobudur temple, which apparently used to be classified as a wonder of the world (frankly, it still should be) and is nestled in the hills of the province just west of Yogyakarta.

The sunrise views were almost otherworldly, with mist rising from the jungle and the sun breaking through the clouds.

As the sun was mostly up, we decided to partake of some coffee from the stand at the top of the hill (they cornered the business, unfortunately none of the stands on the walk down appeared to be getting much traction), and had an unfortunate run-in with the local wildlife.

Clenched and awake, we headed down the hill to our next stop: the Candi Mendut monastery and temple, located relatively near the Borobudur temple site. Because the Borobudur tours only begin at 8:30am (they keep the temple closed for monks and local practitioners before then), we had about two hours to kill. The monastery is beautiful and the temple was a great preview of what we’d see later in the day. Our guide, Gagat, showcased a number of features similar to most of the local temples, including the combination of Hindu and Buddhist motifs commonly seen in Javanese temples from the 7th-9th centuries.

In particular, the Javanese seem to have gravitated to the lore of the lotus, replacing it instead with the locally-growing water lily in many of their temples. Similarly, they have also adopted the Banyan tree, which is said to be the place where Buddha found enlightenment after sitting for 7 days and realizing that meditation and balance are key to a successful balance in life. Lastly, they have adopted “Gana” also known as Ganesh in Hindu mythology, who is commonly featured in Javanese temples as “holding up the world” Atlas-style.

After that, we migrated to the Borobudur complex where we had a quick breakfast of mie goreng (us) and a veggie omelette for our guide. We apparently had signed up for a VIP tour of the temple, so once it was open we were slipped into our souvenir flip flops (which also serve to protect the temple) and matched with our UNESCO-approved guide, Budi Lelono, who was… a character, to say the least. Picture Katut the medicine man from Eat, Pray, Love but about 25 years younger and with a much more chaotic and devious, but incredibly joy-filled and enthusiastic energy. As with everyone here, he has a hustle, but the kind that sparks joy instead of annoyance: he has a burgeoning social media presence and makes 2 minute videos of his guests, which means he also found ALL the things to show us in order to film said content. He also knows a thousand Hollywood movies (but all older references that we kind of understood, which made them all the more endearing!) and kept joking about how he isn’t Hollywood or Bollywood but, in fact, Borobudur-wood. You can see some of his energy in the below photos that my camera fortuitously took when we were attempting to sit for a photo and my touch-screen activated.

I don’t want to downplay how good of a guide he was – he was incredibly evocative and shared a lot of extremely good information – however, we just have to capture some of his jokes too. He started the tour with an overview of the local surroundings, which include Mahogany, Teak and Ebony trees. As we discovered, if you rub teak leaves between your hands, it creates a red stain, which can be used for lipstick (he referenced his ‘sexy’ wife several times as the protagonist of similar jokes about him goofing off at home, you could tell he loves her an insane amount; he also later showed us a video in which she has the classic “why is my husband filming me AGAIN” face that is universal but shows she enjoys his antics as well, which was sweet). The grounds are also home to a variety of fruit trees, including pomelos – which became the butt of a recurring joke about “Pomelo Anderson from Baywatch” aka the well-endowed figures in the reliefs (Budi later clarified that these were not meant to be pornographic, but rather to simply emphasize the female figure and its beauty). Fun fact – many tourists over the centuries have fondled these reliefs in the hope of capturing some of their fertility.

The Borobudur temple itself is absolutely immense and beautiful; there are 9 “layers” which represent six levels of “heaven” and then three of “nirvana” which Buddhist pilgrims walk clockwise on their pilgrimages to the site. The first six layers are squared off, with hard corners to force reflection; the top three layers are circular with stupas, which represent enlightenment. At the entrance to each of the nine layers is a symbolic creature that is supposed to remove bad karma from anyone who passes beneath it. On the top level are a variety of stupas, each of which have a Buddha statue within. These are in incredible concentric circles, which are absolutely beautiful to walk between and offer a view of the 7 mountains / volcanoes (apparently Mt. Merapi erupts every 7-10 years?!) surrounding the site.

Interestingly, the temple combines both Hindu and Buddhist characteristics as it was commissioned by a Hindu king whose son-in-law was a Buddhist; when the king died and the SIL took over construction, Buddhist motifs were incorporated into the structure. Over the years, the Dutch also attempted to restore it (stories say they either rubbed it with golden clay or tried to paint it yellow), which was an interesting choice. Regardless, it was stunning and we’re so happy we were able to visit.

From Borobudur, we headed back into Yogyakarta, driving south past the central monument (Yogyakarta apparently had to request special permission from the Dutch colonial authorities to erect a new one, which resulted in it being in a more Dutch style than the original; our guide Gagat clarified that since Yogyakarta has always been a sultanate, or kingdom, it was a bit of a “pain in the ass” for the Dutch).

Our next stop was, frankly, my favorite of the day simply because it was so unusual. The Yogyakarta sultan still lives in the royal palace complex, which takes up a huge portion of valuable real estate in the center of the city, past the old town’s famous Malioboro street, which still retains a variety of Dutch-influenced buildings. Yogyakarta is attempting to classify into a UNESCO World Heritage City, which has resulted in some fascinating restoration efforts. These include relocating homes to ensure the city looks as it did during the “heritage period” and activities such as painting all of the storefronts on Malioboro to be white, since that’s how they would have looked during the Dutch colonial period.

The Royal Palace includes a variety of sites including a lawn (now a sand pit, which somewhat prevents it from being a social place for the sultan and his subjects to interact); a central market (looked amazing!), a royal mosque (we visited later in the day), and the palace itself. There are also 5 gates, each of which represents a “hole” in the body; sadly we drove through the hole representing “#2” (our guide’s phrasing, haha!) which is usually used only for deceased sultans.

Anyhow, one of the areas of the royal palace that is no longer used by the Yogyakarta sultan but remains of interest is Taman Suri, otherwise known as the “water palace”. This is effectively a garden space and series of pools that functioned as the sultan’s sexual playground with his “wives” and the “princesses” (aka his concubines). The structure includes a balcony, from which the sultan would watch the women dance; three pools – one for wives, one for princesses, a “private” pool for the sultan and whichever woman he would throw a flower to from a special tower; and, of course, a good old-fashioned bedroom in the walls of the structure, with a sprawling bed and under-bed incense burner to set the mood. This was such a fascinating series of spaces (and just a beautiful place to be!). Interestingly, faces are not supposed to be carved accordingly to Muslim tradition, so they carved this Hindu deity’s face with foliage coming out of it instead.

After the water palace, we went to lunch at a local restaurant called Sekar Kedhaton, which specializes in “royal style” food. We ordered a couple things to share, including Gecok Kambing (lamb with 25 spices), Krengseng Daging (beef with ginger, shallot, garlic, red chili, pepper, and salt), and Gecok Gesang Lele (smoked catfish served with tumeric, shallot, red chili, galangal and coriander). The beef was absolutely the standout among these dishes and was incredibly flavorful; it almost seemed like a variation on beef rendang, but without the coconut milk. Each of these dishes also came with a signature drink, which included two hot teas (both of which were spiced with aromatics such as lemongrass, ginger, etc.) and an iced tea (spiced with tamarind and palm sugar). Since most of the community is Muslim, it’s apparently difficult for restaurants to get a liquor license and many patrons don’t drink anyhow, so tea is the way to go.

From there, we revisited a couple of the sites in central Yogyakarta, including the traditional Javanese mosque and royal cemetery. The mosque and cemetery share the same grounds, which is a beautiful space. Both the mosque and the cemetery have Hindu-inspired gates, with incredibly old wooden doors (and some beautiful carvings, including one of a serpent shaped as a dagger).

The mosque is quite different than the traditional style you see around the rest of Indonesia (and much of the world), in that it does not have a dome or a minaret. Apparently those features came to Indonesia as part of the ’70s influence from the Middle East, quickly replacing these traditional Javanese-style mosques. This mosque also includes a ritual bathing area (separate for men and women) and a moat just in front of the worship area, which allows patrons to bathe before entering.

The cemetery space has a couple interesting features: first, the traditional use of a wall to prevent evil spirits (believed to only be able to move straight forward or backward) from entering; second, apparently one sultan betrayed his father-in-law, and as a final retribution in death, was buried halfway outside the royal cemetery.

A couple interesting facts we learned about Islam in Indonesia from the visit (all according to our guide, so please apologies any inaccuracies):

• Back in the ’70s, President Suharto required every Indonesian to adopt a “modern” religion; in many cases, those who practices indigenous religion chose to join Islam, as they would be able to create a hybrid religion that incorporated both some Muslim practice but also many of their indigenous beliefs (e.g., praying to ancestors, etc.)
• As a result of this requirement, Indonesia began to collect a census on religious affiliation; since ~80% of the population claimed to be Muslim (including many folks who registered as being part of indigenous religions and were automatically enrolled as Muslim), Indonesia was able to forge relationships with many strong Islamic nations
• These international relationships have provided Indonesia with trade and access to “oil money” as well as the ability to ensure a higher proportion of Indonesian Muslims are eligible for the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj quota is allocated based on percentage of population being Muslim; since Indonesia has such a high percentage and a fair amount of that percentage has no interest in Hajj given their hybrid belief-system, more Indonesians who do want to participate are eligible to attend)
• Unfortunately, there are mixed feelings on the influx of Middle Eastern Muslim influences on the local community; these range from worries that certain leaders are using the conflict between Israel and Palestine to promote propaganda / collect “donations” that are ultimately used to pad those leaders’ pockets to an awareness that being openly Christian may limit someone from achieving a “high office” in Indonesia’s currently government (although it seems this is much better today than the situation I experienced living here 20+ years ago when fundamentalists were restricting anyone from even mentioning their Christian beliefs)
• Many mosques are green, as the color directly references the Saudi Arabian flag and the fact that the palace colors would be green and yellow

After the old town Yogyakarta sites, we headed to our final site of the day: Plaosan Temple, located relatively near Prambanan (the other “famous” temple in this area; we opted to skip it in order to see something different). During the 30 minute drive, we encountered a number of amusing sites, from another medieval Buddhist temple casually set amongst rice fields alongside a strip mall to a goat enclosure right on the side of the road to some interesting local sights (e.g., the neighborhood greeting signs, traditional Javanese architecture, and beautiful views all around, including a variety of mosques). The flags we’ve been seeing on the side of the road everywhere correspond to provincial and national political parties for the upcoming national election.

Interestingly, the rice fields are communal property for a given neighborhood; typically the neighbors who do not want to work the field will “rent” the labor out, to be paid in the form of a cut of the harvest.

The final temple, Plaosan, was an interesting and pared down version of the type of architecture featured at Borobudur. It featured similar motifs including Gana holding up the world and the various Buddha statues. Interestingly, the temples were divided by gender, with one for male and one for female students / practitioners. The site also included a variety of smaller structures, which would have been used for ancestor worship as a type of smaller shrine.

Amusingly, the parking attendant was annoyed that a cart had stopped right out front to sell durian – what a send-off! Overall, it was along but beautiful and informative day in Yogyakarta! Would highly recommend to anyone visiting central Java.

A couple pieces of logistical information I wanted to capture: our guide was Gagat Handoyo, who we booked through Tours By Locals (+62 857-7969-7303). He was incredibly responsive and thoughtful – would highly recommend! We also stayed at the Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta; the property (especially the terraces and pool area) is beautiful, although the rooms are slightly dated. The location is perfect for our needs and the staff have been incredibly friendly and welcoming (and the Indonesian cuisine at the hotel is great!). Budi Lelono is available via SnackVideo at Budi Lelono and can be reached via Whatsapp at +62 815-6809-113.