October 2nd, Batik Day

"The techniques, symbolism and culture surrounding hand-dyed cotton and silk garments known as Indonesian Batik permeate the lives of Indonesians from beginning to end: infants are carried in batik slings decorated with symbols designed to bring the child luck, and the dead are shrouded in funerary batik."

Indonesian Batik described by UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization)

It has been a year since UNESCO listed Batik as one of the items on its "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" list and the batik trend which my friend once said would not last long, seems to still be going on strong in Indonesia.

Just logged on to facebook and saw many of my friends updating their status with invitations of wearing batik today. In the newspaper, store ads announce special discounts for those wearing batik on this day.

And just saw a new product by Attack called Attack Batik Cleaner, a detergent specially made for washing Batik. Batik needs to be washed carefully to maintain the dye used in batik so that the color doesn't fade quickly. Usually people use lerak (soapberry) to wash their batik (especially the expensive ones), which is quite a hassle. Now that this product is in the market, it will definitely make washing batik much easier. (But why did it have to be a Japanese company who came up with the idea?)

Btw, not only Indonesians are crazy about Batik...check out a few of these celebrities: world-artists-with-their-batik

Happy Batik Day!

Famous Temples near Yogyakarta

Pic by: Marcello and Anita Tranchini

Last July, I went to Yogya with a few friends of mine and finally got the chance to see the Borobudur temple. Declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, going to this 9th century Buddhist temple has always been on my Must-Do list.

My friends had already gone to Borobudur when they were little, so when we saw a bike rental not far after entering the main gate, we thought it would be a different experience than just walking to the temple. Not too mention the day was quite hot so we didn't feel like walking.

There was also the option of taking the park train (those small trains on wheels which you often find in amusement parks). However, the train didn't have a fix schedule. When we asked one of the men near the train when it would depart, he answered "Just in a minute, when there are more people". Being Indonesians, we know better that "Just in a minute" might mean half an hour :)

Even though the bike ride was an enjoyable experience, I don't think I would recommend it to foreign tourists, since the guys renting the bike couldn't speak any english and even we were confused with the rules for renting them, such as where to leave the bike once we got to the temple etc. But eventually, we made it and it was lots of fun.

Btw, my Borobudur experience was made more memorable because I got a heavy sunburn afterwards.

Another famous temple near Yogya which I got to see on this trip, is the Hindu temple: Prambanan which lies in the Prambanan temple compound. We passed by this temple on our way to Solo.

A shame that our schedule was so tight, because at night, the Prambanan temple becomes the back-drop of the Ramayana performance where the epic story of Ramayana is told through Javanese dances.

Saman "Thousand hands" dance

When I was little, being a diplomat's daughter, it was common for me to learn various traditional Indonesian dances at the embassy. One popular dance is the Saman dance which originates from the Aceh province.

Not only at the embassies, Indonesian student bodies/organizations also often perform this dance when promoting Indonesia because the basic movements in Saman are simple so those who have no dancing background at all can easily join as long as they are not "rhythmically impaired". The dance movements contain movements of clapping and slapping your hands to your body with the pace starting out slowly and then progressively becoming faster before coming to a stop. The dance emphasizes on the dancers ability to move as one. So the more dancers, the more visually appealing the dance becomes. Maybe that is why the english name for the dance is known as "thousand hands" dance.

If you google "Saman dance" on youtube, you will see many variations of the dance movements. I guess because so many organizations have performed the dance, over the years, many new movements were thought up to make it more interesting. I've also noticed that they've now added drums in the background and it does give the dance a more dramatic feel.

I tried to find one videoclip that most resembles the movements I myself have learnt from my embassy days. But in this clip, they varied the movements so that you see them splitting up and forming a line again. Usually after the dancers form a line, they stay that way.

A more original form of the dance can be seen in this video:

Pantai Merah (Pink Beach)

Hopefully at the end of July, I'll be able to (finally) scratch off Borobudur from my Must-Do list. But this won't make the list shorter because I've just found out about "Pantai Merah" which means 'Red beach' but somehow in English it's called Pink Beach instead.

Photo courtesy of Terong

I'm actually not too keen on beaches, but the picture of this beach has really caught my eye. This beach is part of Komodo National Park, home to the Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard and deemed as a vulnerable species (likely to become endangered).

Stunning as the beach is though, it is on the bottom of my list since going there is a bit of a hassle. You need to go from Bali to Labuan Bajo or Bima (both are not the typical tourist cities). And from there, take a boat to the park. Being the city girl that I am, I can imagine myself getting sea sick :)

But who knows, maybe someday there will be direct flights from Jakarta??

Kawah Putih

Last Sunday, I went to Bandung with my friends. Bandung is a great city, not too small but not too big with lots of things to do. Nowadays, it is mostly famous for its factory outlets (FO). But really, there's much more to Bandung than just FOs.

I've already wrote about Tangkuban Parahu, a mountain in North Bandung famous for its craters (Kawah Ratu & Kawah Domas). This time, I went to South Bandung to check out the crater of Mount Patuha. The crater is called "Kawah Putih", which means "White Crater" because of the white grounds surrounding the crater.

As with Kawah Ratu and Kawah Domas at Tangkuban Parahu, the crater is still a few miles away from the main gate. Special mini vans (angkot) can take you up to the crater or you can also bring your own car (it's cheaper though if you leave your car at the parking area & take the angkot). But, unlike Kawah Ratu, you can actually walk into the crater.

Before going, I'd already heard from friends that Kawah Putih is very beautiful. And they were totally right! The scenery of Kawah Putih was very serene... The crater is filled with bluish green water which glistened beautifully against the white grounds. I absolutely loved it, although if you like a more rugged scenery, Kawah Domas still holds the top spot in my book.

Stepping carefully on a few of the larger stones can get you a bit further to the middle of the "lake" to get awesome pictures. As for the sulfur smell, it was very tolerable. Definitely a must see when in Bandung!