The Wonders Of Yogyakarta All Earth Wind And Fire

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I was back visiting Yogyakarta recently. If you hate crowded cities full of asphalt and skyscrapers (Jakarta, I’m looking at you) you’ll find Yogya very accessible, comfortable and affordable, too. It’s my favourite Indonesian city.
Yogya is unique for being the intersection of two wonders, human and natural. They’re bound to each other, even if often sitting uncomfortably together.
A human wonder is Borobudur, the ancient Buddhist temple from one of Yogya’s earlier kingdoms. It’s perfect for a half a day’s tour, not being big and sprawling like the Angkor temple complex, which can take days and even weeks to be fully visited.
The temple, or candi in Indonesian (and Malay, too) has been much restored over the years, with a brand new tourism complex that handles its visitors more efficiently.
But the complex itself is just blocks of boring concrete buildings with some crude cement rendering to evoke a Borobudurian air. It works, but doesn’t complement Borobudur at all.
That’s the ticket
Our local friends tried to pass us off as Indonesians so we would pay local entrance fees. That didn’t work, and I was blamed for not looking local enough. But is it my fault I look like a distinguished gentleman of undetermined origin? We ended up paying the full foreigners’ fee.
(Sidenote: Dear Asean, can we have a special Asean fee in such instances? Higher than that for a local, but lower than a full international fee? We’re not all rich, you know; feel free to exclude Singapore!)
There’s also Prambanan, a complex of hundreds of Hindu temples, built roughly contemporaneously with Borobudur, in pre-Islamic days when the kingdom swung from Hinduism to Buddhism and back.
Different styles, different vibes, but magnificent nevertheless. They offer regular evening Ramayana ballet shows, something not to be missed. There’s another version in the city, with fireworks, flames and enough monkey characters swinging from the rafters to give your heart palpitations.
Health and safety (and child labour) issues aside, it’s not the same as the one actually at Prambanan itself, which is an outdoor show.
Exuberant lion dances
I was in Yogyakarta just after the recent Chinese New Year. One night, we joined a huge crowd watching a parade of lion dances on the main drag, the Malioboro street. It was noisy and festive and quite a sight.
Somebody commented that the lion dance standards, at most, matched those of Malaysian schoolchildren. But what the Indonesians lacked in skills and sophistication, they made up for in fun and sheer exuberance.
As great as Malaysia’s lion dances are, you’d never associate them with fun and exuberance.
Yogyakarta has many other historical places. Google them. But go outside the city and into the mountains to see a natural wonder.
The fiery mountain
Gunung Merapi, Indonesia’s most active volcano, is my favourite volcano among the many volcanoes which form my most favourite part of nature. It looms large, physically and spiritually over Yogyakarta, even more so in the past.
A major eruption in 2010 caused a lot of deaths and destruction. The volcano has been erupting regularly, such that by 2021 it was closed for climbing altogether.
This was my third visit to the mountain. It’s quite crowded with local tourists excitedly being whirled around in old 4x4s with bald tires and zero safety features.
I climbed Merapi in 2012, not long after its big November 2010 eruption. A peak with smoking fumaroles and the occasional earthquakes is like nothing else on earth. It felt more like a beast; living, breathing, sullen and angry and literally about to blow its top.
As I sat then at the crater’s edge, I knew that the ledge did not come into existence until the 2010 eruptions, and would disappear soon enough in future eruptions – which it did.
However, this time, a ban on climbing and the state of my old wobbly knees meant I would never find out what the new craters look like.
Death by volcano
Merapi, part of the Pacific “ring of fire”, figures very prominently in the cultural and spiritual life of the region. That’s not surprising given its ability to kill but also to give life to its surroundings at the same time.
There’s an emergency bunker on the mountain slope, used for the first and last time in the 2006 eruption, when two unlucky rangers sought refuge there amidst the flowing ash and rocks.
Both died, including the one who went into a tank of water to escape the heat.
Our guide to Merapi said laconically, and without any trace of irony, that one of the rangers was grilled, while the other was boiled!
But that’s how the locals see things there. There is the constant danger that at any minute you could be on the wrong side of the mountain and a pyroclastic flow coming down; you’re grilled, or boiled…and either way, toast.
There’s fatalism. The volcano giveth, the volcano taketh away. The land there is amazingly fertile, and many villagers would only evacuate reluctantly, and often return before it’s safe, sometimes to tragic consequences.
Dormant twin
But that is what it takes to live in such a place both of great beauty and of great peril. And that’s why the mountain figures immensely in the life of the people there, then and now and for a long time to come.
I’ve also climbed Merapi’s twin, Merbabu, a dormant volcano. It’s not as spectacular as Merapi, but it does provide one of the best views of Merapi from any vantage point.
There are a few other volcanoes nearby, such as Slamet and Sindoro, but sadly perhaps my climbing days exploring them are, well, toast too.
On the brighter side
What else? Food is good, and familiar. While Indonesians are friendly, Yogyakartans take it to another level altogether. Prices are reasonable and Malaysians should have no problem with language. The rupiah is quite low against the ringgit right now. Their batiks and silver jewellery are amazingly beautiful, and affordable.
The people there, even though overwhelmingly Muslims, carry their traditions well, being pious and religious but also proud of their varied histories and cultures.
We stayed for a few nights in the grand and quite historical but rather down-on-its luck house of a friend’s parents. There were krisses and paraphernalia for shadow plays everywhere, as the house used to be the kampung’s cultural centre.
Great hospitality
What it couldn’t make up with comfort and service, it made up with vibes and hospitality. You can literally feel the history of the house, rebuilt in 1951 after being destroyed by the Dutch military in 1949 for being a centre for the local Indonesian freedom fighters.
On the final day, the parents’ insistence on not accepting any payment from us was honest, heartfelt and bordering on violent. So, we deferred, but when they were not looking, we left the money on the table!
The story of Yogyakarta and Merapi is quite like that of Vesuvius and Pompeii (which I’ve also visited) except that it’s right in our own backyard. As the world turns crazy, I’m even more focused on visiting, or revisiting, places in our part of the world that somehow aren’t being appreciated and respected enough.
It’s part of our shared heritage. I unashamedly feel proud about what they have achieved there as if it’s my achievement too.
Time to Make Asia Great Again! - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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