Indonesia – Yogyakarta
In Yogyakarta (known locally as Jogja) we decided to see the Taman Sari (the Water Castle) first. We entered the Castle through the local bird market. It used to sell exotic and illegal birds. There we climbed an old and decrepit wall. When we climbed up the wall we had an aerial view of the city, all of Jogja before our eyes. The aged, archaic feeling was right there through the crumbled stones.
As we were walking toward the Water Castle a local followed us and told us stories of the palace and how the king would watch as his concubines bathed. He would then pick one woman to spend the night with. There was a pool for the sultan and another one for his concubines. We had a debate about whether the women were bathing nude in the pool, and decided that they must have been. Between the pools of the sultan and the concubines was the king’s bedroom. The bed was set on a stove and could be kept warm. We wondered if there was ever a need to keep a bed warm in Indonesia.
We were shown the back court, the kitchen and a sacred quarter where the swords were shined and kept. There were few people at the back quarters and indeed we appreciated this local guide’s unsolicited service. What was the most amazing was the underground mosque with a very special set of stairs in the middle. We walked through the tunneling space and reached every corner (or rather curves, since it was a round structure). The light at that time of the day was perfect. There was just a little bit of rain to keep the place cool and the weather was agreeable.
The sun was about to set but it was too early to have dinner. We toured the University, and saw the arts and social sciences building, the faculty of law, philosophy, medicine and the most beautiful of all, the faculty of agriculture. Illan went to the prayer room at his own office building to pray.
He told us a little about the universities in Indonesia. Back in his time he paid 100 USD a year for university and it was very expensive. Most Indonesians would consider university to be barely affordable and it is very competitive to get in. As a lecturer, he shared an office with another lecturer.
Illan suggested grilled fish for dinner and we ordered six fish, grilled and fried. They were delicious with a truly spicy chilli sauce. Illan ate with his hand and this custom of eating with the hand is so marvelous. I did not think I could ever do that. With grilled eggplants and fried watercress we were full.
After dinner we decided to have grilled bananas for dessert (sort of like the South American plantain). We all huddled cozily on the sitting mats around a large and short-legged coffee table, at a street stall under a canvas, and waited eagerly for the longest time for the bananas to come. “We were just picking the bananas now,” the owner told us. I would have believed him.
