A weekend reunion in Jogya

On Friday 17th September I flew to Jogjakarta (Jogya), a large city in central Java. At the departure gate in Denpasar I noticed a man looking at me. I checked over my shoulder to see if he was looking past me, but no, he was looking at me. After he caught my eye several times he came over. “Do you remember me?” he asked. I’ve met many people here and they all say “Do you remember me?” I replied honestly that his face was very familiar, but I couldn’t place him. I recognised his voice as soon as he said “Oh, you’ve forgotten your teacher”. It was Pak Budi, my Indonesian teacher in Adelaide. I would recognise him on the street in Adelaide, but did not expect to see him there. On the flight he sat in the seat behind me.

At Jogya I was met by my friend Edih Suwadji and his son Denny who came across from Jakarta. I last saw Edih in Adelaide in February 1974. We worked together at CSIRO for about 16 months. We used to say that one day we would meet and visit Borobudur. Now, 36 years later, we had finally caught up and the visit was about to take place.


Borobudur is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is the world's largest Buddhist monument.  The massive structure was completed in about 800 AD but it fell into disuse when the centre of power in Java moved west in about 1000 AD. Ash from nearby volcanoes covered it and then the jungle claimed it. “Recovery work” began under Sir Stamford Raffles in 1814 and continued for many years. A major stabilisation and restoration program was carried out between 1975 and 1982 by the Indonesian Government and UNESCO. Check online (Wiki or other) for details.


Edih stands at the base of a fog covered Borobudur

The gates to the park were shut when arrived at 6 on Saturday morning, and fog covered the site. With my temporary resident’s permit I got “domestic” rather than “international” visitor entry (quicker and cheaper). The lower levels of the massive stupa rose up ahead of us into the cloud. The morning sun soon burnt away the fog so that as we moved higher up we saw blue sky overhead, but this was only temporary as haze soon covered the sky. It’s an amazing structure. It sits on a square foundation about 120 metres across, and was probably surrounded by an artificial lake. Above the foundation are 9 “platforms” of decreasing size. The lower 6 are square, and the top 3 are circular. The walls of each layer are decorated with reliefs (2672) depicting real or mythological events, and with niches containing 504 statues of the seated Buddha. The topmost platform supports a massive bell-shaped “stupa” surrounded by 72 smaller stupas, each containing a Buddha.




Morning fog lingers in the valley

As Indonesia’s most visited destination it is usually crowded. People were everywhere on the structure, posing for photos beside everything. I was asked to join many groups for photos, and even hold small children, so I guess that despite increasing international visitation, many locals still regard westerners with some curiosity.

The large central stupa is surrounded by many small
bell-like stupas, each containing a Buddha
(this one has been opened up to show the Buddha)

Our next destination, the 8th century Prambanan Temple, also a World Heritage site, was quite different. Some say it was the Hindu response to the nearby Buddhist structure at Borobudur. There are several temple clusters, but the main site contains 9 tall pagodas surrounded by the ruins of many small structures. The site was badly damaged by a severe earthquake in 2006. At the centre of a rectangle of the formed by the 4 smaller structures is the largest pagoda (46m high). Each massive structure, decorated with carvings of Hindu deities, has a central chamber reached by steps at the front face. Around these large structures were smaller structures, and beyond the wall surrounding the main structures are the remains of many small structures. Restoration and reassembly will be a massive jigsaw puzzle.

One of the Prambanan structures

That evening in Jogya we ate local delicacies at a street stall where we sat cross legged on tarpaulins at long low tables, and later at another stall we sat on the footpath and drank “burnt coffees” – tall glasses of filter coffee with a small floating piece of charcoaled timber. It was a strange but not unpleasant flavour sensation. Edih heard music indicating traditional dancing so we got to see a Wayang dance performance. Several short pieces gave me a taste of the Javanese way of using dance and music to tell traditional stories.

The highlight of the morning was our second stop - Karaton Ngayogyakarta Palace – home of the Sultan of Jogya (the city is “his”). At the main pavilion we found seats for the exhibition of Wayang dancing. Again there was a “camera tax”. I asked a Nikon user what he paid – Rp1000. I said I was charged 2000. He asked why, so I said that they knew Canon was twice the camera. He laughed. Canon - Nikon rivalry is international. The “Wayang” mythological and cautionary stories comprise many small “scenes” involving almost 300 named characters which depict various aspects of the perpetual struggle between good and evil.




Javanese dancer as the Monkey



Hand-made puppets used
to tell traditional stories

 At the rear of the sultan’s palace were workshops and studios where we watched artisans making leather shadow puppets and more conventional puppets. Nearby we saw the various stages in Batik cloth production. The beautiful cloths are the result of lengthy and laborious efforts – tracing out the cartoons, waxing (in stages), “painting” on the dyes, setting, boiling to remove the wax and more.



These were the highlights. The main purpose of the trip was to fulfil the wish to see Edih and visit Borobudur together (as dreamed of in 1973), and both goals were achieved. It’s unlikely we will meet again but it was a brief and satisfying reunion. I returned to Bali and the College on Monday morning.