Jakarta in a Bubble

Jakarta, Indonesia

September 21 / 23 – 24, 2010

There are more Muslims in Indonesia than in the entire Arabian Peninsula, where Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are located. In fact, Indonesia is the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. At Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, I was initially confused to see men washing their feet in a public restroom. Then I realized right beside the washroom was a musholla, an Islamic prayer room; and the act was part of their ritual ablution. Indeed, I had landed in a Muslim country.

Plaza Indonesia

But other than the ubiquitous musholla, there were not as many mosques and Arabesque architecture as I had expected, especially in Central Java where massive Hindu and Buddhist monuments are the major attractions. Flying back to Jakarta, I expected to witness more of the austere and conservative society that I had vaguely associated with Muslim culture. Instead, I found Dubai.

Jogja Story

Jogjakarta, Indonesia

September 21 – 23, 2010

Jogjakarta (or simply Jogja, as it is fondly called by its residents) is a campus city. It is home to about 20 universities and several other educational institutions.

After over-napping from my red-eye, I peeked out of the balcony of Mawar Asri Hotel bleary-eyed; there was hardly anyone in sight.  It was mid-week mid-morning but passing cars and becak (cycle rickshaw) were few and far between. The quiet street reminded me of deserted campus corridors when classes had already begun. Not exactly lackadaisical, Jogja’s pace seems to be conducive for education. Its monuments and old buildings bring history to life.

View from Mawar Asri Hotel, Jogjakarta

Hard Candi

Prambanan, Central Java, Indonesia

September 22, 2010

Rubble or restoration? That is the question.

One of the Thousand Temples in Candi Sewu

Ancient stone monuments can be brittle like hard candy. They have not always stood the test of time and the temperament of Mother Nature. At the time of their rediscovery, most had crumbled to the ground. Some archaeology purists would rather that they stayed that way – pristinely in ruins, such as Ta Prohm in Cambodia (although archaeological excavation by nature is a destructive process). If we all went by that belief, we would never behold the magnificence of, say, Angkor Wat and Borobudur. It would be quite a stretch to conjure up their original architecture from a pile of masonry and free-standing pillars.

Spice World

Jogjakarta, Indonesia

September 21 – 23, 2010

If you traced the twists and turns of world history on a map, you might as well have traced the routes of the spice trade. For 5,000 years, spice has been imported the world over from an archipelago in the East. In its wake, countries and cities had developed and declined, Machiavellian economics and colonization had ebbed and flowed, new lands had been discovered and traded, indigenous peoples had either ended up as converts to foreign religions or casualties of wars and genocides. Truly, this earthy assortment of roots, leaves, rhizomes, seeds, and bark, collectively known as spices, has shaped the geopolitical world as we know it. To paraphrase a song, it was a spice world after all.

Wedang Uwuh (Garbage Hot Drink)

The Virgin Mother of Prambanan

Prambanan, Central Java, Indonesia

September 22, 2010

I’m a sucker for stories. I even lap up legends. One such legend led me to hop over the other hemisphere to visit Prambanan, a 9th century Hindu temple complex comprised of the largest and finest Hindu monuments in Java.

The Spires of Prambanan

Merapi Giveth; Merapi Taketh Away

Kaliurang, Central Java, Indonesia

September 22, 2010

No plane crashes. No terrorists. No lost passport or camera. No Delhi belly. That is a portion of my typical pre-travel litany, collectively called “travelling mercies.” For this trip to Java, I added something very specific to my supplications: God, no Merapi eruption. I don’t really keep tabs on volcanic activity; I don’t even remember how I knew about Mount Merapi or that it’s one of the most active volcanoes in the world. But I’ve always believed that if you don’t know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit will provide the words.

Kaliurang: On the Shadow of Mount Merapi

God heard the prayer I plagiarized from Him.

Prayer Pyramid

Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia

September 21, 2010

The Stupas of Borobudur Over the Kedu Plains of Java

What’s a prayer but a human attempt to tap into the spiritual realm. In Asian thought, this realm is both at the center of the universe and the innermost sanctum of the soul. Nature demonstrates this pattern in the heliocentric solar system, the inner core of the earth, and the cellular nucleus. Spirituality is not just an act of reaching up but of reaching in. Most Eastern religious monuments, from ziggurat to stupa, physically depict this centripetal connection. Borobudur, a grayish-brown bump of volcanic stone on the green plains of Central Java, perfectly embodies this philosophy. Indonesian archaeologist, Soekmono, regarded as the guardian of Borobudur, called this 9th century temple “a prayer in stone”.