These are from an orphanage trip/donation drive some of us in the ACICIS crew did, plus Tari Jawa! That’s right, 6 of us shuffled on stage clad head to toe in batik, make up and miscellaneous hair pieces to try and get our traditional Javanese dance groove on. Tari Jawa is a very slow groove set to gamelan music. We spent many Friday afternoons trying to get our heads around this very different and intricate kind of dance. Go us! 3 hours getting ready guys – 1 hr for make up, one for hair, one for clothes. There was a team of 6 or so people to help us get ready, hats off to them for somehow sticking a fake black hairpiece to the back of my head. We were even given corsets to wear underneath, aduh!
prior to costuming, many hours were spent in rehearsal jiggling our heads from side to side.
at the panti asuhan with the kids
Ok lah, kopi bangeeet! is just for fun. The rest of these pics are from a kos mate (flatmate’s) wedding in Solo yesterday. It was a Javanese Islamic wedding. Very different style to what we’re used to at home! The man comes to meet the woman, there are a few ceremonies (for eg the man steps on an egg and the woman washes it off to symbolise that she cares for him), and some vows which I don’t really understand as there’s a bit of arabic involved, and the family are involved too, then there’s lots of eating. The bride and groom stand and are greeted by/have photos with every guest… check out the outfits, they’re amazing.
me with kos mates
singer entertains the many guests still sitting while others greet the newly married couple.
in this part of the ceremony the bride and groom ate and drank tea together.
The set-up
The bride waits for her husband to come and meet her before they marry.
Well I was going to start with that fish but seen as this blog (ahem, more like an intermittent photo dump with commentary) has just been sent to a bunch of people who are coming here next semester and may not wish to be greeted with a scary-ass fish, why not start with something pleasant. What a nice photo above. Actually this really beautiful place is just up the road from Tom’s kos, in the middle of Yogya. Lucky find, hey!
On the topic of niceties, you may have noticed how I mainly write about the positive in here and play Switzerland on some of the more serious issues floating around. Yep, aware that sometimes there are down days, for eg some bloody maling (thief) stole my motorbike helmet today, aaaaaarghk! Also sexual harrassment (eg constant whistling and ‘hello missus, I love you!, even groping which thank goodness I haven’t experienced yet) can seem prevalent to the point of ubiquitous some days. The reason I tend to put positive pics and words up here is that I’m aware that a lot of people at home don’t know much about Indo and I want to provide some kind of a juxtaposition to some of the negatives and unfamiliararity around Indonesia at home. There really are a lot of positives about being here and I would definitely do ACICIS all over again.
Anyhoo here are some pics from Pangandaran starting with a really frightening stonefish that washed up….eek! Seriously frightening, just lolling around like that, *shudder*. A fisherman bystander said that when this happens the fish gets buried in the sand. I walked in thongs after that.
Look how angry it is!
Dune buggy! Pangandaran is the only place I’ve ever seen these being taken for a spin up the main street……..beware environmental impact but I’ll admit it was fun for an hour.
Kaki lima by the shore…
Sunset was amazing!
Classic roadside warung.
Not only does Yogya have a (mostly) friendly local volcano, but there are also many local 8th century temples available for the average wanderer to see. Borobodur is probably the most popular and well known, and according to me the most spectacular. Pity sunrise is restricted to those who pay $250 000IDR to an expensive hotel which has bought the right to let people in before the general opening time of 6am. Privatised sunrise, well I never.
Anyhoo, the temple is huge and shaped like a pyramid with 10 levels representing the journey from samsara to enlightenment (oya, it’s Buddhist). Here are a couple of pics, plus one more from Dieng.
Relief from around the third or 4th level of Borobudur.
One more from stepping back to the 8th century at Dieng, featuring Tom!
view from Borobudur. It’s surrounded by mountains.
8th century Hindu temple on Dieng Plateau. Note atmospheric mist. It was freezing.
Main street, Dieng Village.
Market, Warnosobo.
Classic market warung shot, Warnosobo.
There are lots of buskers in Yogya – they might pop on the public bus and do a number in the hope of a few rupiah or, like this guy, cruise the local warungs (places to eat!) and perform. This guy does the Karang Gayam circuit around where I live and only plays Beatles songs.
