- BOROBUDUR, the Big Buddist Temple , Magelang, Indonesia

The south corner of BOROBUDUR Temple, in the center is a part of hidden foot which uncovered after the 2nd restoration (1975-1982), there are only 5 from 160 panels which still can be seen by the visitors.
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Borobudur is a ninth century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. A main dome is located at the center of the top platform, and is surrounded by seventy-two Buddha statues seated inside perforated stupa.

The monument is both a shrine to the Lord Buddha and a place for Buddhist pilgrimage. The journey for pilgrims begins at the base of the monument and follows a path circumambulating the monument while ascending to the top through the three levels of Buddhist cosmology, namely, Kamadhatu (the world of desire); Rupadhatu (the world of forms); and Arupadhatu (the world of formless). During the journey, the monument guides the pilgrims through a system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the wall and the balustrades.

Evidence suggests Borobudur was abandoned following the fourteenth century decline of Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms in Java, and the Javanese conversion to Islam. It was rediscovered in 1814 by Sir Thomas Raffles, the British ruler of Java. Borobudur has since been preserved through several restorations. The largest restoration project was undertaken between 1975 and 1982 by the Indonesian government and UNESCO, following which the monument was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site] Borobudur is still used for pilgrimage, where once a year Buddhists in Indonesia celebrate Vesak at the monument, and Borobudur is Indonesia's single most visited tourist attraction.

FOR MORE DETAILS INFORMATION PLEASE READ :
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borobudur

Source: gabisa_motonia

"Cerme" Cave (Goa Cerme), Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the Tourism Place to Visit

Goa Cerme
Originally uploaded by Chelle's shots

"Cerme" cave (Goa cerme= Indonesian, "Goa" = cave) is located in Selopamioro village, Imogiri, Bantul about 20 kms the southern part of Yogyakarta. You must know that Yogyakarta is the second most favorite tourism destination after Bali in Indonesia. There are many beautiful sites in this city. One of them is Cerme cave, or Indonesians calll "Goa Cerme". The photo on the right by Chelle'sshot shows the inside part of the cave. I and my friends have ever entered this cave twice. It's interesting journey inside the cave. It's dark inside of course but we had lamp. The scenery inside the Cerme cave is wonderful, the water is cold and fresh. We were in the journey for about one hour. The length of this cave is 1.5 km. We statrted to entere this cave in Bantul regency and finished in Gunungkidul Regency. It means that this cave is located in two regencies, Bantul and Gunung Kidul. Both belong to the province of Yogyakarta. It took about one hour to finish the journey in the cave. It's interesting experience. The photo below by toples.candy is another inside beautiful "interior" of of Cerme cave. There is also an underground rive which flows in the cave. This make the cave more special compared to other caves. Just visit this place if you don't believe my story.

- WAYANG KULIT (WAYANG PUPPET)

WAYANG PUPPET
Originally uploaded by 7E55E-BRN

Wayang kulit, shadow puppets prevalent in Java and Bali in Indonesia, and Kelantan and Terengganu in Malaysia are without a doubt the best known of the Indonesian wayang. Kulit means skin and refers to the leather construction of the puppets that are carefully chiseled with very fine tools and supported with carefully shaped buffalo horn handles and control rods.

The stories are usually drawn from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata or the Serat Menak. The island of Lombok has developed its own style of Serat Menak called Wayang Sasak.

There is a family of characters in Javanese wayang called Punakawan; sometimes referred to as "clown-servants" because they usually are associated with the story's hero and also provide humorous and philosophical interludes. Semar is the father of Gareng (oldest son), Petruk, and Bagong (youngest son). These characters did not originate in the Hindu epics, but were added later, possibly to introduce mystical aspects of Islam into the Hindu-Javanese stories. They provide something akin to a political cabaret, dealing with gossip and contemporary affairs.

The puppets figures themselves vary from place to place. In Central Java the city of Surakarta (Solo) is most famous and is the most commonly imitated style of puppets. Regional styles of shadow puppets can also be found in West Java, Banyumas, Cirebon, Semarang, and East Java. Bali produces more compact and naturalistic figures, and Lombok has figures representing real people. Often modern-world objects as bicycles, automobiles, airplanes and ships will be added for comic effect, but for the most part the traditional puppet designs have changed little in the last 300 years.

Historically, the performance consisted of shadows cast on a cotton screen and an oil lamp. Today, the source of light used in wayang performance in Java is most often a halogen electric light. Some modern forms of wayang such as Wayang Sandosa created in the Art Academy at Surakarta (STSI) has employed spotlights, colored lights and other innovations.

The handwork involved in making a wayang kulit figure that is suitable for a performance takes several weeks, with the artists working together in groups. They start from master models (typically on paper) which are traced out onto kulit (skin or parchment), providing the figures with an outline and with indications of any holes that will need to be cut (such as for the mouth or eyes). The figures are then smoothed, usually with a glass bottle, and primed. The structure is inspected and eventually the details are worked through. A further smoothing follows before individual painting, which is undertaken by yet another craftsman. Finally, the movable parts (upper arms, lower arms with hands and the associated sticks for manipulation) mounted on the body, which has a central staff by which it is held. A crew makes up to ten figures at a time, typically completing that number over the course of a week.

The painting of less expensive puppets is handled expediently with a spray technique, using templates, and with a different person handling each color. Less expensive puppets, often sold to children during performances, are sometimes made on cardboard instead of leather.

Text Source: Wikipedia

- The Legend of Lara Jonggrang

Ratu Boko
Originally uploaded by experiencetheworldwithus

The popular legend of Lara Jonggrang connect the site of Ratu Boko Palace, the origin of Durga statue in northern cella/chamber of the main shrine, and the origin of Sewu temple complex nearby. The legend tell the story about Prince Bandung Bondowoso that fell in love with Princess Lara Jonggrang, the daughter of King Boko. But the princess rejected his proposal of marriage because Bandung Bondowoso has killed King Boko and ruled her kingdom. Bandung Bondowoso insist the union. Finally Lara Jonggrang forced to agree for a union in marriage, but she posed one impossible condition: Bandung must build her a thousand temples in just one night.

The Prince entered into meditation and conjure up a multitude of spirits (demons) from the earth. Helped by supernatural beings, he succeed in building 999 temples. When the prince was about to succeed, the princess awake her palace maids and ordered the women of the village to begin pounding rice and set a fire in the east of the temple, attempting to make the prince and the spirits believe that the sun was about to rise. As the cocks began to crow, fooled by the light and the sounds of morning time, the supernatural helpers fled back into the ground. The prince was furious about the trick and in revenge he cursed Lara Jongrang to stone. She became the last and the most beautiful of the thousand statues. According to the traditions, the unfinished thousand temple created by the demons become the Sewu temple compounds nearby (Sewu means "thousands" in Javanese), and the Princess is the image of Durga in the north cella of the Shiva temple at Prambanan, which is still known as Lara Jongrang or Slender Virgin.

Source: Wikipedia

- Kukup Beach Yogya

Pantai Kukup Yogya
Originally uploaded by Panca Rahardiyanto

Kukup is the name of Beach in Gunungkidul Yogyakarta. It is located in Gunung Kidul Regency, Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia. It is one of beautifuk beaches in Yogyakarta.

- Drini Beach

Sebuah sisi Pantai Drini
Originally uploaded by whelleast

Drini beach is located in Gunung Kidul Regency, Yogyakarta province, Indonesia. It is one of beautiful cities in the series of beach in Gunungkidul Yogyakarta. It is near Kukub beach, Krakal Beach, and Baron beach which are all located in Gunung Kidul.

- Baron Beach

Baron Pantai
Originally uploaded by Theodore Springman

Baron Beach is located in eastern Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This belongs to Kabupaten Gunung Kidul (Gunung Kidul regency). It is about 65 kilometers from Yogyakarta city. This beach is often used for camping. This baron beach is a bay between two green hills with coconut trees. In this beach we can eat many kinds of sea foods such as shrimp, fish, and lobster.

Merapi Mountain

Merapi Mountain
Originally uploaded by ferry1

Merapai is the name of the most active mountain in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is located in the boarder between Yogyakarta and Central Java.

"Sultan" Palace of Yogyakarta

Source :http://kraton.yogya.indo.net.id/

The picture of sultan palace, taken from
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkas:Jogja.kraton.jpg

"Sultan" Palace of Yogyakarta, or Indonesian people especially Javanese people call Keraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat is located in the center of Yogyakarta City. "Sultan" is the name of the King in Yogyakarta. The King of Yogyakarat is called Sultan Hamengkubuwono. Now the Sultan of Yogyakarta is Sultan hamengkubuwono XI. Sultan Palace was built by the King of Yogyakarta, Sultan Hamengkubuwono I in 1755. This palace is very popular for foreign tourists.

It is easy to get to this place. Tourists will not get difficulties to visit this place because everybody knows this historical site. Several kinds of transportation such as taxi, city bus, becak (traditional vehicle like pedicab), and Andong (hackney carriage) are available. Near this Sultan palace, Tourists can find Jalan malioboro (Malioboro street). This street is also very popular. Tourist can buy merchandise such as batik clothes, belt, shoes, handicrafts, and so on in this street. From Sultan palace,tourists can walk to the north to go to malioboro street.

Prambanan Temple

One of the favorite place to visit for the tourists who visit Yogyakarta is Prambanan Temple. This is a very beautiful Hindu temple. This is also the bigest Hindu tempple in south east Asia.

Yogyakarta, The Culture City

Yogyakarta has several titles such as education city, gudeg city, culture city and tourist city. It is called culture city because this city is the center of culture. This place is the special teritory province located in Java island, Indonesia. It is about 500 kilometers from Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Yogyakarta used to be a kingdom called Yogyakarta Hadiningrat. The leader is called Sultan. Now Yogyakarta is one of provinces of Indonesia. Although its part of Indonesia, we still can find keraton (sultan palace. This Keraton is popular not only for Indonesian people but also foreigners from other countries. The kinds of high culture from Yogyakarta are Gamelan, the javanese music instrument, Wayang Kulit The puppit show performnce, Ketoprak, the stage show (popular opera), and so on.

The picture of wayang kulit

Borobudur Temple

Borobudur temple is located in central java Indonesia. It is near Yogyakarta, the second most popular tourism city in Indonesia. This is the biggest Budist temple in the world. This temple was built in the 8th century by the king, Samaratungga.

Kotagede, The Silver Handicraft Center in Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta is the city which becomes the second tourism destination after Bali. One of the factors which makes Yogyakarta interesting to visit for foreign tourists is that Yogyayakarta (Yogya for short) has an area called Kotagede where many kinds of the silver hadndicraft are produced and sold. Kotagede is the old town located in southeastern area of Yogyakarta. It is about ten kilometers to go to Kotagede from Malioboro Strreet (The popular street in Yogyakarta). Several kinds of transportation are available to reach this interesting place such as bus, andong (a kind of carriage), and becak (a kind of pedicab). Tourists can find the Shops and galleries of silver handicraft on both sides of Jalan Kemasan (Kemasan Street). Many kinds of silver handicraft such as ring, bracelet, pendant, and necklace are sold in the shops and galleries.

Yogyakarta, The Culture City

Yogyakarta has several titles such as education city, gudeg city, culture city and tourist city. It is called culture city because this city is the center of culture. This place is the special teritory province located in Java island, Indonesia. It is about 500 kilometers from Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Yogyakarta used to be a kingdom called Yogyakarta Hadiningrat. The leader is called Sultan. Now Yogyakarta is one of provinces of Indonesia. Although its part of Indonesia, we still can find keraton (sultan palace. This Keraton is popular not only for Indonesian people but also foreigners from other countries. The kinds of high culture from Yogyakarta are Gamelan, the javanese music instrument, Wayang Kulit The puppit show performnce, Ketoprak, the stage show (popular opera), and so on.