Monday 1st August
Well it seems it probably wasn't last night's chilli that made me sick. I think I caught my travel buddy's virus; Tamara was sick for three days, until we arrived here in Yogjakarta and now I have the same symptoms: a high temperature, no energy and frequent visits to the bathroom. At least I have someone to whinge to and to bring me water. This comfortable hotel room has ensuite and and nice owners. I have been taking the rehydration salts and a few paracetomal. I did make it out a couple of times to meet Tamara for dinner but just got fruit to takeaway.
Tuesday 2nd August
A bit better today; went for a walk to the tourist information office, and the market. Bought some fruit but my stomach didn't approve. Had rice for dinner and that was better. It is frustrating as I was really looking forward to Java and this puts things on hold, but I still have plenty of time.
Wednesday 3rd August.
Mostly better. I walked down to the kraton, which is a palace area with a wall around it. The palace is still inhabited and has a sultan. There is usually a cultural performance on, but not during ramadan. When I first walked into the courtyard it looked nice and there are some colourful pavilions. Then there are many one-room buildings containing historical artifacts and photos mainly about the sultan, but very little information is in English so it didn't mean much, and like other tourists I seemed to be just quickly passing through most of it. In hindsight maybe I should have a hired a guide but normally that is information overload for me.
I had lunch from a small food stand and got chatting to a security guard; he speaks French as well as English so we spoke French together most of the time which was fun. Only after I had started eating did he say 'I am fasting'. Oops, I had forgotten it is ramadan; it is more polite not to eat in front of fasting muslims during this time. But he was ok, and his friend was eating. I asked him when he had last eaten: '5:40 this morning', and when he would be having dinner with his family, '6:40 this evening'. Anyway I struggled to eat a small plate of rice.
I walked through a kampung (village) to the water palace. I wasn't the only tourist who struggled to find the proper entrance. I had a rest in the part that has been damaged by war and earthquake and where kids were playing. When I found the main entrance, I just skipped along with the small Italian tour group as if I was with them before anybody asked me for the entrance fee. I wouldn't normally do that, it just kind of happened. The architecture was nice with some scary faces carved into it and there were some pools which made me fancy a swim. In the courtyard at the back I kicked a football around with some kids for a while, until some little old lady came out and seemed to be telling us to stop?
I had agreed with myself not to over do it today so I was back at the hotel by 4pm and slept for a couple of hours; crazy dreams. Just before dinner I watched the local young kids throwing fire crackers around the courtyard next to the alley, while the adults (their parents?) sat chatting - that would be scandulous at home. Had dinner with Tamara, the clean Dutch girl Isabella, and a German girl. Said goodbye to Tamara who is moving on tomorrow.
I had a walk along Marlioboro street. I like the atmosphere there at night and there were a few people playing instruments and locals just sitting and chatting. And not many tourists about; maybe they are in the pub with other tourists? The market stall holders were just packing up clothes and jewellery for the day; they have probably been there for 12 hours or more?
Thursday 4th August
I took the clean, efficient, local bus 1 hour to Prambanan to see the Hindu temples. I wasn't sure what to expect but when I saw them from the street I was glad I came. They date from between the 8th and 10th centuries and the 3 main temples are next to eachother; 1 each for Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. As I got close, 2 little teenage girl trainee-guides asked if they could guide me for a while. The shiva temple is still damaged from the Java earthquake of 27 May 2006 so we couldn't go inside, but we did go inside the other two, where there is a statue of it's keeper. And around the outside of each temple the volcanic rock is minutely sculptured to display characters and stories from Hindu stories and epics such as the Ramayana. The detail and artwork is amazing. My guide knew all the characters and the stories carved into the rock. Those stones that have been replaced since the earthquake have a small mark to identify them.
Opposite each main temple is a smaller temple where each God's transport was stored, apparently. We saw Shiva's stone bull which weighs 3 tonnes, we couldn't enter Brahma's other temple and when we entered Vishnu's smaller temple Garuda was not there; 'it's missing' said my guide. 'It must have flown away'. After I had thanked the girls and we said goodbye I took some photos and then walked up to the Buddhist Sewu temple which was ok.
The museum had some old temple photos and some intact sculptures. Outside, I got some great pictures of ants on a hose pipe.
I got the bus back to Yogja and on another one to the bird market. Not sure why I went there really, except its where tourists go. There were lots of small colourful exotic birds in cages for sale, most originating from Africa. If they were supposed to live in cages, why do they have wings? Sometimes there were 20 or 30 birds in one cage. I kind of felt bad taking pictures as it might indicate that I think it's ok, but then the sellers surely don't care what I think anyway. I also saw small snakes, mice, and rabbits in plastic boxes. There was a cage holding about 60 lizards, like the type we saw in Pulau Weh, but you could see that these ones were nothing like as healthy. And there were a couple of animals that I didn't really recognise (maybe feline) stuck in a box panting, looking miserable. I know it's a cultural difference but I still wanted to say to the sellers 'look what you are doing to this animal'. But there is no point, so I left.
Stomach still a bit strange but ready to move on tomorrow.
Well it seems it probably wasn't last night's chilli that made me sick. I think I caught my travel buddy's virus; Tamara was sick for three days, until we arrived here in Yogjakarta and now I have the same symptoms: a high temperature, no energy and frequent visits to the bathroom. At least I have someone to whinge to and to bring me water. This comfortable hotel room has ensuite and and nice owners. I have been taking the rehydration salts and a few paracetomal. I did make it out a couple of times to meet Tamara for dinner but just got fruit to takeaway.
Tuesday 2nd August
A bit better today; went for a walk to the tourist information office, and the market. Bought some fruit but my stomach didn't approve. Had rice for dinner and that was better. It is frustrating as I was really looking forward to Java and this puts things on hold, but I still have plenty of time.
Wednesday 3rd August.
Mostly better. I walked down to the kraton, which is a palace area with a wall around it. The palace is still inhabited and has a sultan. There is usually a cultural performance on, but not during ramadan. When I first walked into the courtyard it looked nice and there are some colourful pavilions. Then there are many one-room buildings containing historical artifacts and photos mainly about the sultan, but very little information is in English so it didn't mean much, and like other tourists I seemed to be just quickly passing through most of it. In hindsight maybe I should have a hired a guide but normally that is information overload for me.
I had lunch from a small food stand and got chatting to a security guard; he speaks French as well as English so we spoke French together most of the time which was fun. Only after I had started eating did he say 'I am fasting'. Oops, I had forgotten it is ramadan; it is more polite not to eat in front of fasting muslims during this time. But he was ok, and his friend was eating. I asked him when he had last eaten: '5:40 this morning', and when he would be having dinner with his family, '6:40 this evening'. Anyway I struggled to eat a small plate of rice.
I walked through a kampung (village) to the water palace. I wasn't the only tourist who struggled to find the proper entrance. I had a rest in the part that has been damaged by war and earthquake and where kids were playing. When I found the main entrance, I just skipped along with the small Italian tour group as if I was with them before anybody asked me for the entrance fee. I wouldn't normally do that, it just kind of happened. The architecture was nice with some scary faces carved into it and there were some pools which made me fancy a swim. In the courtyard at the back I kicked a football around with some kids for a while, until some little old lady came out and seemed to be telling us to stop?
I had agreed with myself not to over do it today so I was back at the hotel by 4pm and slept for a couple of hours; crazy dreams. Just before dinner I watched the local young kids throwing fire crackers around the courtyard next to the alley, while the adults (their parents?) sat chatting - that would be scandulous at home. Had dinner with Tamara, the clean Dutch girl Isabella, and a German girl. Said goodbye to Tamara who is moving on tomorrow.
I had a walk along Marlioboro street. I like the atmosphere there at night and there were a few people playing instruments and locals just sitting and chatting. And not many tourists about; maybe they are in the pub with other tourists? The market stall holders were just packing up clothes and jewellery for the day; they have probably been there for 12 hours or more?
Thursday 4th August
I took the clean, efficient, local bus 1 hour to Prambanan to see the Hindu temples. I wasn't sure what to expect but when I saw them from the street I was glad I came. They date from between the 8th and 10th centuries and the 3 main temples are next to eachother; 1 each for Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. As I got close, 2 little teenage girl trainee-guides asked if they could guide me for a while. The shiva temple is still damaged from the Java earthquake of 27 May 2006 so we couldn't go inside, but we did go inside the other two, where there is a statue of it's keeper. And around the outside of each temple the volcanic rock is minutely sculptured to display characters and stories from Hindu stories and epics such as the Ramayana. The detail and artwork is amazing. My guide knew all the characters and the stories carved into the rock. Those stones that have been replaced since the earthquake have a small mark to identify them.
Opposite each main temple is a smaller temple where each God's transport was stored, apparently. We saw Shiva's stone bull which weighs 3 tonnes, we couldn't enter Brahma's other temple and when we entered Vishnu's smaller temple Garuda was not there; 'it's missing' said my guide. 'It must have flown away'. After I had thanked the girls and we said goodbye I took some photos and then walked up to the Buddhist Sewu temple which was ok.
The museum had some old temple photos and some intact sculptures. Outside, I got some great pictures of ants on a hose pipe.
I got the bus back to Yogja and on another one to the bird market. Not sure why I went there really, except its where tourists go. There were lots of small colourful exotic birds in cages for sale, most originating from Africa. If they were supposed to live in cages, why do they have wings? Sometimes there were 20 or 30 birds in one cage. I kind of felt bad taking pictures as it might indicate that I think it's ok, but then the sellers surely don't care what I think anyway. I also saw small snakes, mice, and rabbits in plastic boxes. There was a cage holding about 60 lizards, like the type we saw in Pulau Weh, but you could see that these ones were nothing like as healthy. And there were a couple of animals that I didn't really recognise (maybe feline) stuck in a box panting, looking miserable. I know it's a cultural difference but I still wanted to say to the sellers 'look what you are doing to this animal'. But there is no point, so I left.
Stomach still a bit strange but ready to move on tomorrow.
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