rizky's posts with tag: java
|  | sunan gunungjati was a javanese wali who founded the city of cirebon and the banten sultanate. born as syarif hidayatullah in ad 1448, he was the son of nyai rara santang, who was the daughter of prabu siliwangi (the ruler of sunda kingdom). his father was syarif abdullah maulana huda, a leader in egypt of hashimite descedent from palestine.
sunan gunungjati worked at demak and banten, and was the founder of banten sultanate. many stories say that he was originally from pasai in aceh, others say that he was from pajajaran (the capital of sunda kingdom) in west java. he married the sister of sultan trenggono of demak, and led military expeditions for demak against banten, a port of sunda kingdom (which was still hindu at that time). as "fatahillah" he defeated the portuguese when they tried to take sunda kelapa (now jakarta) in 1527.
for all some bad experiences in cirebon, the worst was yet to come until i visited this shrine. arrived on the first of 3 gates in order to enter the first pendopo pavilion i put some donation to the donation box looked over by a guy wearing a traditional cirebonese costume, which i thought was the official one, until i realized there were another 7-8 donations box lined on the way. but it would not be a problem if they did not ask the donation by force. two of them even hold my hand and chess to prevent me entering the pavilion, because i was rejecting to put donation on each box, madness!! |
| | my first impression of the palace was a deep sad feeling. most of the area were not seriously well taken care due to the lack of financial supports. compared to the other palaces in java, this palace built in 1529 eventually were more original with not much western influences on its architect. the use of red bricks reminded me of the balinese temples. explaining that this palace was built during the transition era from hinduism to islam.
so sad such treasure were not given enough attention by the government. if only they were paying enough attention, this place could give the local government a revenues from the tourism industry in return. |
| | we arrived at the cirebon station at 4, the station was nice and clean. having no ideas where to go from the station we decided to ask the railway officer about the affordable and the closest hotel to the station. walked out the station toward the main road then we saw a small hotel called the aurora. having checked the room then we decided to take the standard, double bed, air conditioned room at the second floor for 140k rups (15 us$) for a night only. the hotel was actually pretty neat and clean, except for the toilette flush that did not work properly and the disappearance of the air condition's remote control, yet!
the disaster continued after we had a long walk wandering around the city. we got back to the hotel at 10pm with our eyes couldn't hardly open.
i washed my face and feet then rushing up to the bed. but i couldn't really close my eyes due to the hot weather until we realized that the air condition was not working and the remote was also no where to find. i called the receptionist, and minutes later a guy knocked on our door then switched on the air conditioning with the remote control he had, and flown back down stair with the remote control still on him. leaving us wondered and later on frozen.
but that catastrophe wasn’t even over yet. at the middle of the dark cold night. i was awoken by the super noise sound of people laughing, shouting, doors slam, and an accelerated car. instantly and blindly i grabbed the phone and shared my concerns to the receptionist. however nothing really happened. and i couldn’t go back to my north pole dream ever since.
at 6am i madly woke up my friend telling her to pack the stuffs and rushed out from that cursed-damned hotel ; )
but don't worry in cirebon there are plenty of hotels from the backpackers class to the 5 stars, just don't go to the wrong one.
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| | situated at the political border of central java province and west java province, this second largest city in west java province after bandung is also adopting the cultures from both side. the cirebon people barely speaks three languages the javanese as the central javanese and sundanese as the western javanese. the third language is the indonesian language, as the national language.
as an old harbor city the people of this city are mixed of many ethnics group; javanese, sundanese, malay, chinese and arabic. but however most cirebonese are still considering them self as 'wong jawa', means the javanese.
my trip to cirebon was a favor to my dutch friend, marcel. his late father and grand father was born, brought up and worked in that once a netherland indie main port city. but however he has no clue about the city at all, so he asked me to take some images of it. and i was pleased to have another reason to visit the city. eventually i had been planing to visit city since i read the tara sosrowardoyo and peter schopert's architecture book called the java style. the unique architecture of the city and especially the palace was the legacy of a long international relation with the chinese, arabic, hindu and dutch.
the port of cirebon was established by the dutch east india company in 1865, principally as an export point for spices, sugar cane and raw materials from west java. warehouses and open storage areas were developed by 1890, and a british american tobacco cigarette factory was built in the early twentieth century.
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| | situated just 50 minutes away from the hustle buzzer jakarta at the city of bogor or it was called buitenzorg (meaning beyond worry) during the colonial time. these botanical gardens are situated in the city center of bogor and adjoin the istana bogor (presidential palace). the gardens cover more than 80 hectares and are said to be the inspiration of sir stamford raffles who was governor of java from 1811-1816.
initially i planned to go to these beautiful botanical gardens really early in the morning to catch the foggy gardens, but i couldn’t open my eyes since i watched too much dvd and went to bed too late at the night before. so i packed my camera and headed to the train station at 07.50. fortunately the nearest train station just 70 meters away from my place, and successfully caught up the 08.00 comfy air conditioned train.
it took 50 minutes to reach the bogor station by train, and walked the pedestrian for another 15 minutes until i got to the botanical gardens gate. and it cost me rp 9.500 (1 dollar) to enter these tropical forest paradise. actually for those who doesn’t really want to drops sweats while enjoying these huge gardens, some eco friendly electric powered vehicle are available for us dollars 1-2. in my case i'd rather walk and discovered a lot of interesting stuffs along the gardens path.
today the gardens contains more than 15,000 species of trees and plants located among streams and lotus ponds. there are 400 types of exceptional palms to be found along the extensive lawns and avenues, helping the gardens create a refuge for more than 50 different varieties of birds and for groups of bats roosting high in the trees.
the bats can be easily detected by the noise they make while competing for space under the canopies. the orchid houses contain some 3000 varieties, and parted in two; the natural species and hybrids.
just near the entrance gate i saw the beautiful monument of lady olivia mariamne raffles, the first wife of raffles who died in istana bogor from malaria and buried in tanah abang cemetery. there written a beautiful-touchy poem:
oh thou whom neer my constant heart
one moment hath forgot
tho’ fate severe hath bid us part
yet still forgot me not
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| | the cemetery also known as kebon jahe kober (the ginger garden cemetery) the name 'ginger garden' might refers to the name of the area where the cemetery situated. this cemetery was also one of the first cemetery applying the concept of modern cemetery park/garden with arboretum concept in the world.
however i've been visiting this place for three times, the first time i made my visit here was back in 2003, not much i could recall except for some mixed romatic gloomy feeling about the tombs. the second one was for sure couldn't be deleted from my memory slot, since i had to spend 7 days in hospital bed, and the whole week after, for total bed rest at home for dengue fever, which i'm very much sure i got the bites from the mosquitoes at that place. the 'funny' thing was, actually i went to the place with a friend of mind, and we both suffered from the same fever. the last time i went to the place, things were pretty much messed-up, i got bites, again, thanks god nothing happened up to now, but some sour notes got to be made:
1. some tombs were broken, miss-placed and some even mutilated. i got a very strong impression that this place hasn't been properly well taken care.
2. some huge trees fallen over the tombs, leaving the huge root, and made some old metal tomb fences broken. however nothing has been fixed.
3. admission fees seems to be not well managed, some people who wanders around the museum even collects some money for camera and unofficial entrance fee from visitors. and it certainly caused such inconvenience. |
| | the museum situated near the national monument, monas, formerly was a noble western and dutch high official cemetery built by the netherland indie government in 1759 and was known as the kebon jahe cemetery (ginger garden for direct translation).
there are many noted dutch people buried there including two military men maj. gen. a.v. michiel and maj. gen. j.h. r. kohler, who respectively led wars in bali and aceh, as well as the founder of stovia school of medicine (now the university of indonesia ) h. v. roll. and the jakarta arc bishop 1874 - 1893: a.c claessens.
other important people buried there are olivie mariamne raffles -- wife of british governor general thomas stamford raffles (also the ruller of colonial era singapore).
bearing a skull and crossbones, one headstone at the museum that draws comment is that of pieter erberveld, who died in 1722.
erberveld, who had a wealthy german father and a burmese mother, was sentenced to death for plotting to murder several dutchmen.
It is said the sentence was carried out by the tying of a horse to all four of erberveld's limbs, which, when the animals bolted, tore him apart. this is the reason why the area on jl. jayakarta in central jakarta is called pecah kulit (broken skin).
this obscure landlord was remembered because the dutch made too much of him -- his house in batavia was whacked to the ground, and his head was put on an iron stake to crown a monument neatly scribbled with dutch and javanese scripts saying he was the filthy bastard who wanted to initiate a pogrom of europeans and lead natives to a revolution.
“as a detestable memory of the punished traitor pieter erberveld nobody shall now or ever be allowed to build, to carpenter, to lay bricks, or to plant in this place.
in memory of the 'traitor' pieter erberveld
batavia, 14th of april 1772.”
he was, many believed, only framed, though no one can tell why.
the ghastly monument with his skull disgraced jakarta for around 219 years despite the disgusted indos' appeals to have it removed -- no other testimony about the paranoia of the dutch colonists was that clear.
erberveld had to wait until the japanese soldiers landed in java and the dutch fled to australia before his posthumous torture was ended in 1941. the japanese demolished the monument to dust. |
| | monas has been the landmark of jakarta for years. monas is an acronym of monumen nasional, the national monument. this monument began its construction in 1959 and fully erected in 1961. however monas was not open for public until 1975. the monumen nasional is a 450 ft (137 m) tall tower in central jakarta, symbolizing the fight for indonesia's independence.
the design of the monument is meant to combine elements of masculine and feminine. the design based on lingga-yoni, the symbol of fertility in ancient hindu-javanese belief. the phallic shaft comes toward the ground and is engulfed by square base meant to symbolize fertility. the monument body was made of steel and concrete covered with italian white marble.on the top of the tower there's a square terrace that can be reach by visitor with elevator. from here visitor can see aerial view of jakarta. the monument is crowned by gold-coated flame, right on the top of the peak terrace. this golden flame symbolize the spirit of freedom and the struggle for independence of indonesian people
tree men responsible for planning and designing this monument were; soedarsono, frederich silaban, and ir. rooseno as the consultant. however the idea to built such tall monument came from the first president of ri (republic of indonesia) as well as the nation’s founding father ir. Soekarno.
now days people coming to monas area to do morning or afternoon exercises. some sport facilities available in this so called the city’s lung. from futsal and basket ball filed to acupuncture and jogging track. some efforts to bring back the ‘natural life’ in to the area has started to gain results. doves, parrots, finches, and some other species of birds has made this area as their urban nest. |
| | it's true 'nothing feels like home' no matter how far it is... |
| | this station located just a few meters from the busy semarang-solo highway near the city of salatiga. from this train station you can walk a few meters to reach the rawa pening or the tuntang power station with water dam at the other way around. as far as i know this train station hasn't back to serve passenger, but some institution is working on it. so at near future we can expect the classy train from ambarawa station to stop at this station.
further info:
http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/ambarawa/stationn.htm |
| | ---under construction--- |
| | dieng plateau, is a marshy plateau that forms the floor of a caldera complex on the dieng active volcano complex, and the closest city to reach this gorgeous place is from wonosobo, Central Java. it's suggested to leave wonosobo and heading to dieng really early in the morning so you can catch the sunrise from one of the peak. or if you miss the time a bit you still can enjoy the funtastic morning scenery along the way to get there.
there are a lot of things to be seen in dieng, the first spot best seen in the morning is the stunningly beautiful 'danau warna' the colored lake. from the higher level you can see the lake is divided in two, one bigger to the other with two different colors; greenish and bluish.
clear sky, almost...
then you can move on to see the 'sikidang crater', deer crater is the translation. the crater is rather unique because within the major crater u'll find some minors crater that constantly moving or 'hoping' around just like a deer, i think that's how the local got the name from.
dieng is also known for it's historic sites, some 400, 7 to 8th century temples were built all around this site, but however only 8 temples has been suceeded to be restored. if you are adventurous enough you can get to dieng from wonosobo by public transport, a van cluttered with local carrying baskets of crops and farming tools. arrived in dieng you can take 'ojek' a motor ride for rp. 50.000 (us$6) for short trip or rp. 100.000 (us$11) for further trip. but the rate might slightly be different for foreigners. if you wish to stay, motels or home-stays available from rp. 50k to rp. 200k /nite. |
| | my steps stopped suddenly. an old colonial building that still maintain it's original shape caught my eyes. as my sight search to every corner of the building i was surprisingly found a hotel signage on its front wall, yes it was the spookiest hotel (read: beautiful on it's own way) i've ever seen. that afternoon i stepped inside and met the receptionist, unintentionally asking the per-nite rate of the hotel. it was rp. 35 - 55 thousand/nite. extremely cheap!! so anyone???, ps: inside the hotel situated near this pasar besar of wonosobo was even freakier. |
| | during my short visit to wonosobo, we went to this old movie theater, luckily the guard allowed us to enter the projector room. the movie theater named after the dieng mountain. |
| | ----under construction--- |
| | this fine museum situated at the hilly town of ambarawa, central java. here you can experience to ride on classic train like 2 B25 0-4-2T that is still working well. servicing tourist for short trip from ambarawa station to bedono station and to tuntang station at near future for 330 US$/trip with maximum 350 passengers.
for further info:
http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/ambarawa/museum.htm |
| | this temple was built to respect and commemorate the chinese admiral zeng he/ cheng ho/ sam po thay for his visit in this site at 1405. interestingly this place believed once to be a mosque, since zeng he was a moslem. and until now visitors can see a tomb in islamic style believed to be the tomb of the zeng he's ship captain, including a small prayers chamber or surau (a tiny scale of mosque) surrounding the tomb.
however the original building has been going through several renovations. the biggest one was partially completed in 2005 and still undergoing for minors up to now. visitor can reach this temple by taxi or angkot 'public transport van'. for taxi from simpang lima area for example, will cost you not more then 20.000 rups. |
| | sekaten is an annual event held by the kraton (palace) of surakarta. this event is being held to (initially) commemorate the birth of prophet muhammad. but the ritual its self is rather a sincritism to hinduism and some local beliefs. during the procession some tumpeng (rice, fruits and vegetable offering) is being made, paraded and shares to people hoping for blessing. |
| | this temple known as gang lombok temple is originally named tay kak sie. believes to be built by chinese muslim admiral cheng ho (zheng he) in 1405 although this more likely myth instead of history is still debatable, but one thing for sure this temple is one of the oldest chinese temple in indonesia. located down town just few steps from the oudstad and the night food court of semawis.
zheng he / cheng ho / ma san bao / sam po thay / hajji mahmud shams, was a chinese mariner of hui ethnic descent, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who made the voyages collectively referred to as the travels of “eunuch sanbao to the western ocean” from 1405 to 1433.
zheng he was born in 1371 of the hui ethnic group and the muslim faith in modern-day yunnan province,[1][2] one of the last possessions of the mongols of the yuan dynasty before being conquered by the ming dynasty.
he served as a close confidant of the yongle emperor of china (reigned 1403�"1424), the third emperor of the ming dynasty. zheng he's ancestors include a general for genghis khan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He
this place has been my favorite place to visit in semarang. not just for its historic value, but most of all because just beside the temple you can tastes the most spectacular food in semarang 'lumpia'. lumpia is originally chinese food but later on has become the city's trademark. with some 8000 rups per portion (somehow the price increases annualy) you can enjoy the best lumpia in town, and i love the 'basah' un fried one even better. |
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