It has been a several weeks and Christmas has come and gone. We started our holidays in Yogyakarta (aka Jogja), a little town in Java. (Before we left Santa came early and left a note saying he didn't want to miss us. However, he did bring our stockings as a surprise on Christmas morning).
Jogja is a remarkable little town full of ancient wonders. I say little but Jogja really isn't that little. The population is about 400 thousand people. Upon arrival, the airport was no fluff and was a relief to tackle compared to Bali. We got our (soaked) luggage, easily got a taxi and set off to the hotel.
We arrived in Jojga on the 22nd of December. The hotel we stayed at is beautiful (Hyatt Regency Jogja). It's quietly nestled between random buildings and structures. Its exterior has a very Asian-like feel with koi ponds and bell-chiming music. Its interior has western architectural flare and deftly decorated with Christmas pieces. It has like six or seven pools that are connected by tunnels, waterfalls, bridges and a large temple that houses a slide. There is also a beautiful 9 hole golf course, tennis courts and a neat lounge. It’s a little pricy but beautiful.
On Tuesday we got a driver and headed to Prambanan. Prambanan is an area of many Hindu temples built in the 9th century. The (short) story goes like this- a man asked for the princess’ hand in marriage. She accepted only if he built a temple of stone in one night that was adorned with 1,000 statues. He gathered a large crew and started building. The princess didn’t want to marry him and brought her own crew to destroy his progress. Despite her efforts he completed the large temple but only accomplished 999 statues. He was furious and with her acts of defiance he turned her into the last statue. There she remains with the bull, the destroyer, the protector and Ganesh the elephant. Over time the temple was surrounded by hundreds of smaller temples. Only fallen remains of the temples lay due to earthquakes. It was an amazing, magical experience for us all.
Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas dinner were nicely planned at the Hyatt. Each table had candelabras with three tiered red candles, unique red-furred fruit and ribbons. Both nights they had a children’s choir that presented us with Indonesian and western Christmas classics. I only teared up a few times wondering how much Hannah and Mason will appreciate this Christmas and how much we are missing at home (the US). All in all it was very special- a true memory made.
After Christmas we met up with a gentleman that Mike works with who lives in Jogja. His family of four met us at our hotel and forward we went to one of the largest Buddhist temples- Borobudur. Borobudur is another 9th century temple that was buried under volcanic ash and luckily discovered. Its true story I have yet to research but it is very awe-inspiring.
The magnitude of these places is almost hard to take in. How they accomplished so much with so little leaves much to the imagination. However, at both places we were mobbed several times with people wanting to take our picture. Just too funny to me. Hannah did get too uncomfortable so we had to leave Borobudur. She said “if I hear someone say Bule’ one more time, I am going to freak.”. They don’t mean it to be rude but sometimes it’s hard to be labeled or singled out.
We enjoyed the hotel, the pool, the food but mostly we enjoyed the drives we took through Jogja. Their vein-like routes led us through dense brush areas laced with shacks, little restaurants and open spaces of rice fields. We raced alongside horse drawn carriages and mobile food stands. It is a GORGEOUS place!!
Our trip in Jogja was over and we, once again, boarded a plane to Denpasar (Bali).
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