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After our epic journey from Medan (which included being taken under the wing of a local at Surabaya train station, who sat with us for an hour and showed us where to get a cheap veggie lunch - just so he could improve his English (these Indonesians get friendlier and friendlier!)) we arrived in Yogyakarta (pronounced Jogjakarta) in the dark at 9pm. We didn't have anywhere booked but knew a place we wanted to stay, so we headed down an alleyway and found Setia Kawan guesthouse quite quickly. Luckily they had one room available so we snapped it up.
The guesthouse and its walls were covered in murals and paintings in a surrealism style, all done by the owners' son. They were spectacular and clearly done by someone supremely talented who just has a love for his art. We also found out he did some tattoos on the side which caused Andy's ears to perk up! Whilst relaxing during our first day Andy headed upstairs to relax in the open air terrace on the roof. He then came back down, grabbed a piece of paper and a biro and went back up again. You see he had spotted a painting on the wall which encompassed everything he had been looking for in a tattoo. He set to work drawing it himself and tweaking a couple of things. Less than 24hours later, the artwork was etched into his arm (sorry Grandma!). This may seem foolish and spur of the moment (in reality the thought behind a tattoo like this has been 2 years in the making) so let us take a moment to explain the rashness of the decision!
Firstly going to Indonesia at all was an off the cuff decision we made since we had been away. The fact out of the hundreds of guesthouse we ended up in the one run by an artist, where we then saw a painting that contained everything Andy had been trying to put to paper himself for the past few years just seemed very 'meant to be'. The contents of the tattoo will sound strange (it's in a surrealism style remember) but it's a sentimental piece. There is the bow of a boat sitting half on land (a reminder to stay grounded) with waves splashing away from the front of it (representing a love of water/the ocean). In the boat sits an apple (as Grandma tells us that 'apple' was Andy's first word). There is also an image of Earth as a representation of being a lover of nature and the environment. The planet shows the area of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji - the places we will have travelled over this year away. There is an eye looking down over the Earth which is a representation of Grandad keeping an eye on us all. The final piece of the puzzle is a tree, again with a nod towards a love of nature, but also bringing things full circle as one of the last things Grandad did was go down the end of the garden and pick apples from our tree (which the apple in the boat also represents) plus it is a reminder of the tree at 68 Straight Road. The tattoo as a whole is just a reflection of Andy and his life up until this point and we hope you understand the reasons behind the new acquisition no matter what your personal feelings are towards body art.
Anyhow now that the cat is out of the bag, back to informing you of what we got up to. Our first day was taken up by the tattoo being drawn on by hand and then actually applied, which was thrilling for Nikki (apologies, it's hard to convey sarcasm!) who used the time to put photos online. In the evening however we went to a place called 'Milas'. We will write what it says in their leaflet as they can explain their organisation much better than we can!
"Milas was founded in December 1997. The name represents a very long dream, 'Mimpi lama Sekali'. The whole idea of Milas is based on "The dream of a better world", with a focus on education, health and environmental issues.
Milas strives to raise awareness and offers healthy alternatives at a local level in a world of fast food and mass production. This is in response to the mainstream global economy and its questionable idea of progress and development."
So Milas runs a restaurant and sells arts & crafts, so what? Well it's much more than that. You see everyone who works in the restaurant was a young person taken from a life on the streets. The arts & crafts have been handmade by young people who are struggling through life with no aim or direction. By taking them in they are not only given a place to interact with others in the same shoes, they are educated and given a goal - be it learning to cook or making things. Milas pretty much felt like an oasis in the middle of the city and we couldn't believe the amount of positivity this small company provides. We were more than happy to spend an evening there, especially as the food was delicious, with an all vegetarian menu (bonus!). An unbelieveable place that is highly recommended.
For our other couple of days in the city it was time to get immersed into some culture which we did by booking ourselves on a couple of trips. The first was a tour of a few different sights which included being taken to a viewing point for Mount Merapi (Indonesia's most active volcano), a village that was destroyed by lava flow in the last eruption of Merapi in 2006, and lastly to a large Hindu site called Prambanan with various temples that had been built hundreds of years ago in the same style as Angor Wat in Cambodia.
At our first stop it was quite frustrating as most of the volcano (well the bit we wanted to see, the top of it) was covered in cloud. Obviously nobody can predict the weather but it meant there was only so long we could sit and look at the clouds before asking our driver to take us to the second stop, a shame really. When we arrived at the destroyed village, Merapi was still covered in cloud but it gave us a little more appreciation that behind it wasn't just another hill or mountain but an unpredictable force! We were expecting to find solid black lava flows but probably due to the many visitors walking on it, the ground was just grey and covered in a fine gravel. We briefly went inside the village bunker where a couple of people had perished after deciding not to run. It was full of ash where we believe they hadn't been able to close the door in time. There was also a row of destroyed houses with the now stony ground up above the top of their doorframes which showed just how deep the lava was. We walked along the flow toward the volcano for a couple of minutes towards a large group of people. Someone ran over and ushered us towards the group asking us if we would like to each plant a tree. The lava had flowed through what was dense forest and as an environmental initiative, around 50 people had organised a trip where they were re-planting trees using fresh soil, into the dried up ground. They were eager to photograph and film some tourists also helping out, and we were just as eager to take part! Minutes later we were there with handfuls of soil getting involved! We planted a tree each, and had some photos taken next to our seedlings whilst surrounded by smiling faces! We had no idea the event was happening so it was really nice for us to take part in something local and beneficial to the environment, a subject close to our hearts! A really cool spur of the moment event.
We then continued to Prambanan. This large Hindu site consists of several temples/relics that were built hundreds of years ago. Volcanic activity and earthquakes have meant that many have been knocked down or damaged over the years so there is constant renovation work taking place. It was absolutely scorching on this day so it was difficult to stay motivated enough to look at every single one whilst wandering around in the heat, although we took in most of it including the air conditioned museum which displayed various artefacts found during archaeological digs. We were due to be here for sunset but had arrived a few hours early due to not staying at the cloud covered base of Mount Merapi for the recommended amount of time! So we slumped back into our also air conditioned car and were driven back into the city.
The trip we had booked for the next morning meant we were due to be picked up at 5am! We were off to Borobudur in an attempt to catch the sunrise (unfortunately this happened whilst in the car on the way there) and to take a look around this gargantuan Buddhist shrine. It's hard to describe how impressive the place is. It is absolutely huge but at the same time ridiculously detailed with carvings made into each and every stone. We walked around and up it (it is in a large pyramid shape) until we reached the top. At the top we were afforded some really pretty views of the scenery around us with a volcano in the distance (and this time we could see the top of it!) and with it still only being 7am, everything was covered by a fine mist. At the top there were between 20 and 30 bell shaped structures each housing Buddha in various different states, in front of one or two were Buddhist who were meditating/praying. The centre of the structure was completed with an even bigger 'bell' but we aren't sure whether or not anything was housed inside it.
After relaxing in the afternoon after our early start, that evening we walked to see a local tradition in the form of a shadow puppet show. Obviously it was all in Indonesian so we didn't have a clue what was going on with regards to the story, but it was really interesting seeing how it is all done. We will try and set the scene for you. Inside a large room there is a slightly raised square with seats arranged all the way around it. By sitting on one side of the square you would be watching the actual puppet show take place, with a large framed white sheet in front of you and the shadow puppets dancing and moving around behind it, accompanied by a soundtrack of music and noises. However by sitting on any one of the other three sides you were able to watch the man performing with these puppets along with around 15 other men and women sat at various musical instruments and singing - the soundtrack to the show. There are no tape players here, everything we heard was being performed there and then. We found it far more interesting to be 'behind the scenes' watching everyone play their part. It also meant we could see the puppets in all their glory rather than just a black shadow, as they are all exquisitely handmade and painstakingly painted bit by bit.
The following day before setting off for Bali in the afternoon, we used the morning to walk back to where the puppet show took place as there was a museum showcasing different forms of these puppets through the years, as well as various artefacts that had been discovered on Java. It was like being shown a brief history of Indonesia with small replicas of houses the Javanese would live in hundreds of years ago, how they would hunt, the tools they would use etc. We had to rush it to ensure we got to the airport on time but it was another nice cultural thing to have done.
After this, it was off to the airport for our evening flight to Bali where we would be meeting Andy's cousin Phil the next day. After 4 months travelling with one Gosling, let's see how Nikki copes spending a week with two of them, double trouble! Find out in the next blog!
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