Friday, August 2nd to Monday August 4th, 2024 - Fantastic Flight to Another World - Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Brisbane River 

Because I have long legs and don't like crawling over people to get to the bathroom, I normally choose aisle seating. I was thrilled to see that this early morning flight to Bali was not full, and quickly grabbed an empty row in the hope of getting photographs! Oh my - was that a thrill. The air was clear and I was astonished at the detail my little hand held Samsung S23 Ultra was able to get.

Glass House Mountains, Queensland

While not a brilliant photo, it was fun to see the ancient volcanic plugs of the Glass House Mountains showing up so clearly, with the faint glimmers of sunrise off to the east. They were volcanoes 25 million years ago.

Western Queensland

Our flight left at 7:15 am but took 'til about 9 am to truly arrive at the arid 'outback'.  When I flew out of Australia in 1977, it had been dark and I could not see what lay below. I was astounded at how clear the air was. We were probably flying at 35,000 ft, and my little phone was pointed through a window of questionable clarity, yet this is what I was able to see. I imagined this may have been the type of land where several of my relatives of previous generations had worked - one, at maintaining fences, the other as a drover. This image shows the power of fencing at changing the landscape - you can see distinct lines both horizontally and vertically that are probably due to fencing. They must have had hard lives!

Towards Northern Territory

The big surprise for me was to see that 'the outback' appeared to be one enormous river bed! Although regions like this get less than 10" of rain per year, most of it falls during 'the wet', which runs from November to April (summer months). Travel in these regions is not advised at this time of year and the river beds you see above make it clear why it you would be ill advised to try to get around when they are running!

Lake Argyle, Ord River Scheme, Western Australia

Believing that damming some of this runoff would be possible, planners in the 1970's conceived a plan to create a large lake to provide water for irrigation - thus the Ord River Scheme was developed to grow sugar and rice. This plan did not fulfill its promise - it was on a migration path for birds who thought it was great to have a new supply of rice. Insects were also a pest and the Chinese decided not to farm sugar, as they could bot come up with viable refinery plans! 

It is interesting to explore the current possibilities for this project that has returned about 17 cents for every dollar of taxpayer 'investment'. It currently has some success growing sandalwood and has some small market gardens, but distance from metropolitan areas makes it difficult to get perishable foods there. Another article I read said it could support a city like Singapore....... a visionary is needed.

Timor Sea

I saw so many more wonderful views, but we're supposed to be getting to Indonesia. After 3 hours of uninterrupted barren land - we finally flew off the Australian coast toward Bali, where I was to spend a brief night before flying off to Yogyakarta, Central Java, early the next morning.

Greenhost Boutique Hotel Yogyakarta

When making my plans, I was attracted to this eco-hotel that I found online. I never knew I would be staying in a haystack!

Lobby of Greenhost Boutique Hotel, Yogyakarta

When going to a completely new place, it is always a bit nerve-wracking. As you can imagine I was really comforted by this lovely lobby to greet me. I wanted to spend some time on my own in Yogyakarta, before joining the photography tour on Monday. This was a comforting and easy way to start. It seems the new owners have converted a somewhat drab old hotel into an upscale, artsy, eco environment. Every nook and cranny was filled with plants - even pothos in the the elevator. They told me they have to change out the ones in the elevator every two days due to lack of light. I loved it!,

Rooftop Organic Garden at Greenhost Boutique Hotel, Yogyakarta

They had a wonderful restaurant where every meal I ate was excellent, and cost little more than USD $5. Many of the vegetables had been grown on site in their organic roof top garden. This was too easy of an introduction to Indonesia - but I took advantage of it and ate nowhere else!

'Breathe' - Street Art Opposite Greenhost Boutique Hotel

 It felt as if Yogyakarta must be an 'artsy' place. There was much, quite wonderful street art to be seen. The name of the city is pronounced JogJakarta - usually shortened to just Jogja and has a population of about 400,000 people. It is the center of a special region that is governed still by a sultan. It is, in fact, a 'diarchy' - meaning it is a section of Indonesia governed by two sets of Royals - one a sultan, the other a duke who is vice-governor.  I have never heard of a diarchy before and the world of sultans sounds very exciting. For this reason I decided to head for the Royal Palace on the one full day I had available to me.

Some Sidewalks Were Quite Fancy

I decided to walk to the Palace - Karaton Ngayogakart - which Google said would take 30 minutes. The sidewalks were decent - mostly somewhat even and without motorcycles.

Sometimes it Got Messy!

Construction sometimes made things a bit challenging.....

Coffin Maker

........ and getting around the coffins was somewhat unnerving!

Street Art

I did like this messy corner with it's signs that said 'Love, Hate, Love'! Yogya is a center of universities - with four State universities, 16 private universities and many other institutes, including art institutes. Perhaps their students are practicing in the streets!

Batik Monument, JI Panembahan Senopati

There was a rather lovely monument dedicated to the women who make the batik fabrics here. At first I was confused by the appearance of her looking as if she was smoking a pipe. On reflection, I realized it was the stylus that is used to apply wax to the cloth. This resists the dyes and with multiple applications can make elaborate patterns. Hand make batik takes a long time to create, as you might imagine - most of the fabric sold - especially by street vendors, is printed by machine in factories.

Neighborhood Alley

As is often the case, 'many roads lead to Rome' and it was about here that I turned the wrong way and ended up wandering through a neighborhood, which was not the original route suggested by Google. I just asked as I went - 'Sultan's Palace?' and people nodded to assure me that I was headed the right way.

Typical House

I thought it was a very pleasant area - lots of twists and turns and generally clean. There was no room in the alleys for cars - only motorbikes and pedestrians.

Yay! - Laundry

Seeing people's laundry out led me to feel right at home! I thought these towels had lovely hues to them.

Narrow Alleys

Fearlessly I ventured on through the narrow alleys trusting Google maps .....

Side Gate to The Royal Palace with Pedicabs

.. ..and my peripatetic amble came to an end when I turned this corner and found myself arriving at this side gate to the palace.

A Royal Pavilion at Karaton Ngayogakarta, Yogyakarta (Sultan's Palace)

I would generally describe the Sultan's Palace as 'underwhelming', from an architectural and photographic point of view, though it pleases me when those with privilege do not splash their money around in a grandiose manner. As far as I could see, it had very large grounds, with a number of spacious pavilions dotting the area.......

Side Doorway Leading to An Exhibit

....... along with some rather nice corners and small rooms that had been turned into cultural and historic exhibits.

Princess Mangkubumi (I think) Drinks Tea at Her Wedding

When you consider that the Sultan and his family still live in the palace, it is very generous of them to allow many visitors to wander through each day. This exhibit showed many aspects of their lives from birth to death, including the tea set that was used at the wedding of the Crown Princess, in 2002. Because I like tea, I was drawn to this part of the exhibit and thus stumbled over a lovely story. She is the first child and daughter of the Sultan with his consort Queen Hemas, born in 1972. In 2015, her father proclaimed her to be the Crown Princess and when she accedes the throne, she will become the first Sultanah of Yogyakarta! Yay!  Her undergraduate studies were in Singapore, California and Brisbane and she has an honorable doctoral degree in Human Letters from Northern Illinois University. Not only is she beautiful and rich, but is an accomplished woman!

Gamelan Player and Singers

One of the pavilions had a gamelan orchestra playing music and young male dancers performing traditional dance. 

Javanese Traditional Dance at The Sultan's Palace

Note the detail with he positions of the hands and feet - I understand it is all very intentional - Google search suggests it is Hindu-Buddhist in origin. Overall the dance was slow moving and very stylized.

Shadow Puppet Image at the Sultan's Palace

The movements and expressions were very much like the shadow puppets for which Java is known - even down to the type of batik depicted.

Human or Shadow Puppet?

Sometimes the movement seemed almost distorted, but had a beauty to it.

War!

At one point, there was a war, and in the end it seemed as if everything was resolved and people were happy! I really enjoyed seeing this brief exhibition.

Ancient Pedicab and Driver!

The day was getting hot, so my next destination was to be my last - the cool and beautiful Water Castle. Although it is relatively close to the Sultan's Palace, I was happy to accept a ride from this very old pedicab driver in his very old pedicab. You'll be pleased to know that it is a motor bike, so he was not pedaling my big self around in his protective clothing!

Water Castle, Yogyakarta (Tamansari)

This lovely place was built in the mid 700's by the sultan of the time. It was quite beautiful and definitely a relief from the heat of the day. Apparently, it was much larger in the past, but I appreciated that there was no enormity to it any more, as I was hot, tired and hungry and ready to head 'home'.

Street Art Says 'Quieting, selfless busying doing'

As I left the area, there was a variety of vendors. I was quite amused at this wall art behind a small food stall. The owner allowed me behind to take a photo. Notice that the man holding the umbrella has an electrical meter box as his face. When I translated his T-shirt, it said 'Quieting, selfless busying doing'. I presume the message is something like 'just go about your business quietly helping others'. I'll go for that! I'm not at all sure what the woman holding the flowers represents!

An Eggcellent Idea!

Another boutique-type place had a most interest garden, using egg shells to decorate the plants!

All That Traffic Coming At Me in a Pedicab!

Another pedicab ride saw me home. It was a little disconcerting being in front of the driver with all the traffic coming at one. However, it sure beat walking, even with the poor little lawnmower engine working so hard. At least they don't go very fast!

That's the Way to Go!

I just wanted to call it a day and put my feet up like this fellow!

See you next time when I head off to join the photography group in Borobudur.