Beringharjo, a Complete, Traditional Market in Yogyakarta


By Ping Hua's Blog

Beringharjo market becomes part of Malioboro that is worth visiting. This market has been center of economy activity since years ago and its existence has philosophical meaning. The market that had been renovated several times symbolizes stages of human life that is busily engaged in its economy fulfillment. Furthermore, Beringharjo is also one of the 'four in one' poles (consisting of South Square, Sultan Palace, North Square, and Beringharjo market) symbolizing economy functions.
The area where current Beringharjo market lies used to be forest of banyan trees. Soon after the foundation of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Kingdom, i.e. in 1758, the area was used as a place for economy transaction by the people of Yogayarkta and its vicinities. Only hundreds years later, namely in 1925, the transaction place had a permanent building. The name 'Beringharjo' was given by Hamengku Buwono IX, meaning that the place where banyan tree (bering) used to grow is expected to bring welfare (harjo). Now, tourists define this place as an enjoyable shopping place.
The front part and the western part of the market are the right places to find delicious traditional snacks. At the north side of the front part, you will find round brem (a kind of snack made from the extract of fermented tubers) that is softer than that of Madiun city and krasikan (sweet cake made from glutinous rice and palm sugar). In the south part, you will find bakpia cake filled with mung bean that is sold warm and wet snacks such as hung kwe and nagasari. Meanwhile, at the back part, usually they sell durable snacks such as ting-ting made of caramel mixed with peanut.
If you want to buy batik, Beringharjo is the best place because of its complete collections; ranging from batik cloth to batik clothes made of both cotton and silk materials, with the prices ranging from tens thousands to a million. Collection of batik cloth is available in west and north parts of the market, while batik clothes collection is available almost everywhere in the west part of this market. In addition to batik clothes, the west part of the market also offers traditional clothes: surjan, blangkon, and sarong both woven and batik printed ones. Sandals and bags sold at reasonable prices are available around the escalator of the west part of the market.
Stepping upstairs to the second floor, you will smell the aroma of Javanese herbs. Herbs such as turmeric that is usually blended with tamarind to produce special drink and temulawak to make bitter drink for medication purpose are sold here. Spices such as ginger (to make ronde drink or merely to be baked, boiled and mixed with crystal sugar) and cinnamon (to enrich the flavors of such drinks as ginger drink, coffee, tea and sometimes to substitute chocolate in cappuccino).
This is also the right market to hunt antiques. The center of antique goods is in east part of the third floor. There, you can get old typewriter, helmet made in 1960s with the front part of which is mica as high as one's nose and some other items. On the same floor, you can get used items of good quality if you want. Various kinds of good quality used imported goods such as shoes, bag, and even clothes are sold at much cheaper prices compared to the original prices. Of course, carefulness in choosing is needed.
After completing your going around in the market, it is time for you to explore the area around the market with not less interesting offers. The area at the north of the market that used to be popular as Chinese Kampong is the most popular place. You can find oldies cassettes of musicians in 1950s that are rarely found in other places at the most expensive price of 50,000 Rupiah. Besides, there are Buddha effigies in different poses costing 250,000 Rupiah. For collectors of old money, they can get the ones from various countries, even the ones utilized in 1930s.
To quench your thirst, special cold drink of Yogyakarta, namely cendol ice, is the right choice. This cold drink from Yogyakarta has richer flavor than the ones from Banjarnegara and Bandung. The contents are not only cendol (jelly-like substance made from glutinous rice but also cam cau (jelly-like substance made from cam cau leaves). Other drinks you can try are young coconut ice with palm sugar and the drink made from turmeric-tamarind and rice-great galingale mixtures. The price of the drink is cheap, namely 1,000 to 2,000 Rupiah.
Even though the market is closed at 05:00p.m, the dynamics of the merchants does not stop by that time. In front of the market, there are still many food sellers offering many kinds of special food. Martabak with various fillers, the sweet terang bulan mixed with chocolate and peanut, and the delicious klepon filled with palm sugar are sold every evening. At around 06:00p.m. until late at night, there is usually gudeg seller who also offers special cuisines of cow skin and variant of stir-fried vegetables with chili. While having your meals, you can listen to Javanese traditional music or have a talk with the seller who will address you friendly. It is just complete!
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GUDEG, TRADITIONAL FOOD OF YOGYAKARTA


By Ping Hua's Blog


What are famous foods of Jogja? hmm .. there is a lot .. Gudeg, Bakpia, Yangko, Tiwul, Geplak, Klatak Satay, Sate Karang. But what is the most famous food? Of course Gudeg.
What you should know about Gudeg? Gudeg is a traditional food from Central Java and Yogyakarta, Indonesia which is made from young Nangka (jack fruit) boiled for several hours with palm sugar, and coconut milk. Additional spices include garlic, shallot, candlenut, coriander seed, galangal, bay leaves, and teak leaves, the latter giving a brown color to the dish. It is also called Green Jack Fruit Sweet Stew. Gudeg is served with white rice, chicken, hard-boiled egg, tofu and/or tempeh, and a stew made of crispy beef skins (sambal goreng krecek).
There are three types of gudeg; dry, wet and East-Javanese style. Dry gudeg has only a bit of coconut milk and thus has little sauce. Wet gudeg includes more coconut milk. The East-Javanese style gudeg employs a spicier and hotter taste, compared to the Yogyakarta-style gudeg, which is sweeter. 

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MERAPI MOUNTAIN IN YOGYAKARTA


By Ping Hua's Blog

This fire mountain remains one of the most active and dangerous volcano in the world. It can be seen from its name – Merapi from Javanese world Meru means mountain and Api means fire. The latest eruption
In the early morning of Saturday, July 11, 1998, at 4.59 a.m, the volcano erupted again after days of ominous rumblings and minor tremors. At once, following the explosion, a black smoke rose up to more than 3000 m above its peak, spewing heat clouds and volcanic ash and debris several kilometers away. The ash hit the area as far as 60 Km away on the West of the mountain. Many surrounding towns were blanketed with white ash. The most dangerous killers are the heat clouds. This 3000 0 Celsius heat substance should melt and burnt easily anything found on its way. "Luckily, this cloud blew to an uninhabited area west of the mountain. In 1994 sudden eruption, 66 people of the South-West slope have been killed by this heat cloud. 

The local people call this heat cloud in Javanese Wedus Gembel (Wedus – a sheep; gembel – thick curly hair), as it looked like. Usually the local inhabitants should flee from their villages only after seeing the emergence of the "curly sheep", as considered the real menace of the "Merapi Rulers". In 1997, thousand of Merapi villagers have been evacuated when it began spewing ash and lava. The worst eruption was in 1930 which killed about 1300 people. People did not know exactly how many thousand or even million times, Merapi has been erupted since its birth. In the 10th century, its ashes had buried totally a temple 15 km southward. Probably its unbearable activity had pushed eastward the Hindu Mataram kingdom from Prambanan, central Java to East Java in the 10th century.
But Merapi does not act always as "a bad guy", most of the time "it is a good guy", handsomely gives tremendous fertility to the land, stands strongly guarding the nature
Mountaineering Routes
There are 2 routes lead to Mt. Merapi. The first is thru Yogyakarta from the South, the second is thru the village of Selo, Boyolali from the north.
From Yogyakarta
From the city of Yogya, a climber shall travel to Kaliurang – a small nice 1300 m high mountain resort, 27 Km north of Yogya and then continue to Kimahrejo village, the last village to the top. A guide, sufficient supply (water etc), any information are available here. Normally, it shall take 6 hours of climbing to the peak. 
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PARANGTRITIS BEACH


By Ping Hua's Blog


One of the attractive beaches near Yogyakarta is Parangtritis. It is located about 27 km. from Yogyakarta, Parangtritis may be reached in two ways, through Kretek Village or the longer one but more well - established road through Imogiri and Siluk Village. Parangtritis Beach is a lovely beach with many impressing phenomena, naturally and supra naturally. The waves regularly bring in new wood and bamboo, washing ashore from another nearby beach probably. Some wood is picked and taken away by locals to be used for their own house. Parangtritis is an enchanting sloping beach combined with rocky hills, dunes, and a white sandy beach. Besides being famous as a recreational spot. Parangtritis is also a sacred place. Many people come to the beach to do meditation. Up to now, this area is remaining functioned as the place to perform the traditional ceremony called labuhan. Many hotels and restaurants are available for sunbathe lovers.
t is said that the name of Parangtritis is expresses a natural phenomenon. From the wall of one of the hills drops off water containing calcium continuously dripped down and finally formed a pool with very clear water in it. Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono Vll found and took care of it. The pool is now used as the bathing pool of Parangtritis swimming pool. Meanwhile, the sunset at any point of Parangtritis beach brings a touch of wonderful and amazing as well. The magical atmosphere of the rough waves appears to as all hearts into disposing of all bustles and lead into deep musing. 
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SULTAN PALACE YOAYAKARTA


By Ping Hua's Blog



Kraton or the Palace where Sultan and his family of Yogyakarta live is located in the center of the axis stretching from the north to the south, and in the secondary axis from the east to the west. It is encircled by row of the mountains called the Horizon as the border of the universe.

It lies between Tugu as the north border and Panggung Krapyak as the south border, between Code River in the east and Winongo River in the west; between the Merapi Mountain and the South Sea. In the mind of the Javanese community, kraton is defined as center of the world that is described as center of the universe.

History of the Sultan Palace

After the Giyanti Agreeement, Yogyakarta territory was given to Pangeran Mangkubumi. To run his governance, he built a palace in 1755 in Hutan Beringan area; such a good place flanked by two rivers that protect it from being flooded. The first king of Yogyakarta Palace was Pangeran Mangkubumi with the title Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono I (HB I).

Naming and Meaning of the Lay Out

Karaton, Keraton or Kraton, originates from the word ke-ratu-an that means the place where the queen/king lives. Simple explanation of its broader meaning is that all structures and buildings in the Kraton area have significant meaning related to essential Javanese philosophy of life, namely Sangkan Paraning Dumadi that means the origin and the destination of human being.
In general, the Kraton area stretches 5 kilometers southwards to Krapyak village and 2 kilometers northwards until the Tugu monument. In this imaginary line, there is a reversed dualism linear line that tells symbolical philosophy: the direction from south to north symbolizes the birth of human being from the high place to the perishable world, and the opposite direction symbolizes the return of human being to the Dumadi (God in Javanese philosophy). Kraton is physical symbol and the King is the symbol of the real soul that presents into the physical body.
The direction from the Palace to the Tugu monument represents the road of life that is full of temptations. Beringharjo market symbolizes women temptation and temptation of power is symbolized by Kepatihan building. The straight street connecting the Palace to Tugu monument symbolizes close relationship between human being and the Creator (Sangkan Paraning Dumadi).
In short, Tugu monument is a symbol of lingga (male sex organ) and Krapyak symbolizes yoni (female sex organ) and kraton is physical blend of the two.

The Meaning of Yogyakarta Space Arrangement

Hit by the earthquake in 1867, the Sultan Palace was severely damaged. During the reign of HB VII in 1889, the building was renovated. The lay out being retained, the shape of the building was changed to the current look.
Tugu monument and Manguntur Tangkil hall or Bangsal Kencana (where the king is seated), are straight in a line. This means that while sitting on his throne and looking toward the Tugu monument, he will always remember his people.
In general, the space arrangement of the current Sultan Palace is similar to the one of Mataram Dynasty. The center of the Palace is the so called Bangsal Kencana that is adjacent to Bangsal Prabayeksa as the place to keep sacred weapons (in this room, there is an oil lamp called Kyai Wiji that is kept lit by the Palace servants). This hall is surrounded by Kedhaton yard so that people must go through layers of the yard that seem like waves in order to reach the center.
This special arrangement of the Palace looks similar to constellation of mountain and Jambu Dwipa land that is considered to be central archipelago of the universe.
From north part to west part of the Palace area, there are North Square, North Siti Hinggil, North Kemandhungan, Srimanganti, Kedhaton, Kemagangan, South Kemandungan, South Siti Hinggil and South Square (the yard that is protected by high walls).
In order to reach all of the places, there are nine gates (called regol) that must be passed through, namely: gerbang, pangurukan, tarub agung, brajanala, srimanganti, kamagangan, gadhung mlati, kemandhungan and gading.
Brongtodiningrat sees the significance of this number, as the highest number to describe excellence. This is related to nine holes in human beings, commonly called babahan hawa sanga.
The sacredness of each Palace building is indicated by the frequency and intensity of Sultan activities in the location.
Sultan only visits the Square, Pagelaran, and Siti Hinggil three times a year, namely during the events of Pisowan Ageng Grebeg Maulud, Sawal and Besar and other very special, incidental events such as coronation of the Sultan and the crown prince or Pangeran Adipati Anom.
Yogyakarta Sultan Palace is an old building that was once damaged and restored. In general, it looks like other Kingdom buildings. When we understand the philosophy of them deeper, however, we will understand the symbolical meaning of life philosophy, human nature, how the nature works and human beings live their lives and various symbols of life existence in them.
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Prambanan, the Most Beautiful Hindu Temple in the World


By Ping Hua's Blog

Prambanan temple is extraordinarily beautiful building constructed in the tenth century during the reigns of two kings namely Rakai Pikatan and Rakai Balitung. Soaring up to 47 meters (5 meters higher than Borobudur temple), the foundation of this temple has fulfilled the desire of the founder to show Hindu triumph in Java Island. This temple is located 17 kilometers from the city center, among an area that now functions as beautiful park.
There is a legend that Javanese people always tell about this temple. As the story tells, there was a man named Bandung Bondowoso who loved Roro Jonggrang. To refuse his love, Jonggrang asked Bondowoso to make her a temple with 1,000 statues only in one-night time. The request was nearly fulfilled when Jonggrang asked the villagers to pound rice and to set a fire in order to look like morning had broken. Feeling to be cheated, Bondowoso who only completed 999 statues cursed Jonggrang to be the thousandth statue.
Prambanan temple has three main temples in the primary yard, namely Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva temples. Those three temples are symbols of Trimurti in Hindu belief. All of them face to the east. Each main temple has accompanying temple facing to the west, namely Nandini for Shiva, Angsa for Brahma, and Garuda for Vishnu. Besides, there are 2 flank temples, 4 kelir temples and 4 corner temples. In the second area, there are 224 temples.
Entering Shiva temple, the highest temple and is located in the middle, you will find four rooms. One main room contains Shiva statue, while the other three rooms contain the statues of Durga (Shiva's wife), Agastya (Shiva's teacher), and Ganesha (Shiva's son). Durga statue is said to be the statue of Roro Jonggrang in the above legend.
In Vishnu temple, to the north of Shiva temple, you will find only one room with Vishnu statue in it. In Brahma temple, to the south of Shiva temple, you find only room as well with Brahma statue in it.
Quite attractive accompanying temple is Garuda temple that is located close to Vishnu temple. This temple keeps a story of half-bird human being named Garuda. Garuda is a mystical bird in Hindu mythology. The figure is of golden body, white face, red wings, with the beak and wings similar to eagle's. It is assumed that the figure is Hindu adaptation of Bennu (means 'rises' or 'shines') that is associated with the god of the Sun or Re in Old Egypt mythology or Phoenix in Old Greek mythology. Garuda succeeded in saving his mother from the curse of Aruna (Garuda's handicapped brother) by stealing Tirta Amerta (the sacred water of the gods).
Its ability to save her mother made many people admire it to the present time and it is used for various purposes. Indonesia uses the bird as the symbol of the country. Other country using the same symbol is Thailand, with the same reason but different form adaptation and appearance. In Thailand, Garuda is known as Krut or Pha Krut.
Prambanan also has panels of relief describing the story of Ramayana. Experts say that the relief is similar to the story of Ramayana that is told orally from generation to generation. Another interesting relief is Kalpataru tree that - in Hindu - the tree is considered tree of life, eternity and environment harmony. In Prambanan, relief of Kalpataru tree is described as flanking a lion. The presence of this tree makes experts consider that Javanese society in the ninth century had wisdom to manage its environment.
Just like Garuda, Kalpataru tree is also used for various purposes. In Indonesia, Kalpataru is used as the logo of Indonesian Environment Institution. Some intellectuals in Bali even develop "Tri Hita Karana" concept for environment conservation by seeing Kalpataru relief in this temple. This tree of life is also seen in the gunungan (the puppet used as an opening of traditional puppet show or wayang kulit). This proves that relief panels in Prambanan have been widely known throughout the world.
If you see the relief in detail, you will see many birds on them; they are real birds as we can see on the earth right now. Relief panels of such birds are so natural that biologists can identify their genus. One of them is the relief of the Yellow-Crest Parrot (Cacatua sulphurea) that cites unanswered question. The reason is that the bird only exists in Masakambing Island, an island in the middle of Java Sea. Then, did the bird exist in Yogyakarta? No body has succeeded in revealing the mystery.

You can discover many more things in Prambanan. You can see relief of Wiracarita Ramayana based on oral tradition. If you feel tired of enjoying the relief, you can take a rest in the beautiful garden in the complex. Since 18 September 2006, you can enter zone 1 area of Prambanan temple. The damage caused by the earthquake on 27 May 2006 is being reconstructed. Please come and enjoy Prambanan temple.
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Borobudur, the Biggest Buddhist Temple in the Ninth Century


By Ping Hua's Blog
Who does not know Borobudur? This Buddhist temple has 1460 relief panels and 504 Buddha effigies in its complex. Millions of people are eager to visit this building as one of the World Wonder Heritages. It is not surprising since architecturally and functionally, as the place for Buddhists to say their prayer, Borobudur is attractive.
Borobudur was built by King Samaratungga, one of the kings of Old Mataram Kingdom, the descendant of Sailendra dynasty. Based on Kayumwungan inscription, an Indonesian named Hudaya Kandahjaya revealed that Borobudur was a place for praying that was completed to be built on 26 May 824, almost one hundred years from the time the construction was begun. The name of Borobudur, as some people say, means a mountain having terraces (budhara), while other says that Borobudur means monastery on the high place.
Borobudur is constructed as a ten-terraces building. The height before being renovated was 42 meters and 34.5 meters after the renovation because the lowest level was used as supporting base. The first six terraces are in square form, two upper terraces are in circular form, and on top of them is the terrace where Buddha statue is located facing westward. Each terrace symbolizes the stage of human life. In line with of Buddha Mahayana, anyone who intends to reach the level of Buddha's must go through each of those life stages.
The base of Borobudur, called Kamadhatu, symbolizes human being that are still bound by lust. The upper four stories are called Rupadhatu symbolizing human beings that have set themselves free from lust but are still bound to appearance and shape. On this terrace, Buddha effigies are placed in open space; while the other upper three terraces where Buddha effigies are confined in domes with wholes are called Arupadhatu, symbolizing human beings that have been free from lust, appearance and shape. The top part that is called Arupa symbolizes nirvana, where Buddha is residing.
Each terrace has beautiful relief panels showing how skillful the sculptors were. In order to understand the sequence of the stories on the relief panels, you have to walk clockwise from the entrance of the temple. The relief panels tell the legendary story of Ramayana. Besides, there are relief panels describing the condition of the society by that time; for example, relief of farmers' activity reflecting the advance of agriculture system and relief of sailing boat representing the advance of navigation in Bergotta (Semarang).
All relief panels in Borobudur temple reflect Buddha's teachings. For the reason, this temple functions as educating medium for those who want to learn Buddhism. YogYES suggests that you walk through each narrow passage in Borobudur in order for you to know the philosophy of Buddhism. Atisha, a Buddhist from India in the tenth century once visited this temple that was built 3 centuries before Angkor Wat in Cambodia and 4 centuries before the Grand Cathedrals in Europe.
Thanks to visiting Borobudur and having supply of Buddha teaching script from Serlingpa (King of Sriwijaya), Atisha was able to improve Buddha's teachings after his return to India and he built a religion institution, Vikramasila Buddhism. Later he became the leader of Vikramasila monastery and taught Tibetans of practicing Dharma. Six scripts from Serlingpa were then summarized as the core of the teaching called "The Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment" or well known as Bodhipathapradipa.
A question about Borobudur that is still unanswered by far is how the condition around the temple was at the beginning of its foundation and why at the time of it's finding the temple was buried. Some hypotheses claim that Borobudur in its initial foundation was surrounded by swamps and it was buried because of Merapi explosion. It was based on Kalkutta inscription with the writing 'Amawa' that means sea of milk. The Sanskrit word was used to describe the occurrence of disaster. The sea of milk was then translated into Merapi lava. Some others say that Borobudur was buried by cold lava of Merapi Mountain.

With the existing greatness and mystery, it makes sense if many people put Borobudur in their agenda as a place worth visiting in their lives. Besides enjoying the temple, you may take a walk around the surrounding villages such as Karanganyar and Wanurejo. You can also get to the top of Kendil stone where you can enjoy Borobudur and the surrounding scenery. Please visit Borobudur temple right away...
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