The Heart of Java – Land of coffee tea

In America, Java is synonomous with a cup of coffee. To historians and most non-Javanese Indonesians, it's synonomous as the location of Indonesia's historical treasure at Borobudur - the world's largest Buddhist monument. After spending five days in Yogyakarta ("Jogja"), the cultural capital of Java, I now find these associations a bit odd for a tea-growing island whose 130 million residents are over 90% Muslim.

But Indonesia has the habit of contradicting conventional wisdom, such as we experienced in Flores, where animist beliefs and catholicism do not contraindicate of each other. Borobudur, which is near Jogja, was built in the 9th century, when Indonesia was still predominantly Buddhist (Hinduism would arrive soon thereafter, followed by Islam about 500 years later). It was likely a pilgramige site for Buddhists, with its stone reliefs and structure representing the path to enlightenment. 1200 years later, it's still serving this same purpose, though for a slightly different kind of pilgramige than its designer(s) planned - tourism.

Not only is it Indonesia's only appearance in books like "1001 things to see before you die", but Borobudur also holds a special place in most Indonesian families. One thing a visitor to and Indonesian house will observe is that any Indonesian family who has been to Borobudur will have a photo displayed of them posing alongside one of the stupas atop Borobudur - sometimes wearing their traditional Muslim clothing. And like kissing the Blarney Stone in Ireland, most domestic tourists to Borobudur will reach into the stupas and try to touch the Buddha statue inside - supposedly this brings good luck if trying to find a husband/wife.

It's hard not to be impressed by Borobudur. It's remarkably well preserved; 1200 years later most of the stone carvings are still clear and easy to decipher once you know the story being told. Although restorations in the 1970s added a bit of mortar to some stones in an effort to keep them in place (perhaps also securing them against theft, which is the cause of many headless buddhas), many of the walkways are still the mortarless construction that was used. And unlike the restored Thai temples around Sukothai that we visited in 2008, nothing about Borobudur was re-carved – buddha statues have been left headless, and missing stones replaced by rectangular blocks. It's a nice line between the extremes of re-creation and preservation.

Our other journey into Indonesia's distant past was a visit to two mountain temples, Candi Ceto and Candi Sukuh, built by the Hindus in the late 15^th century as Islam swept through the plains and those who stuck with Hinduism were pushed further and further up into the hills. Neither temple is well understood by archaeologists, as traditional Hindu forms and stories exist alongside odd carvings that look more like 15^th century porn than religious teachings or representations. I think the most accepted explanation is currently that they were a shrine for a fertility cult. Like Borobudur, these two temples are remarkably well preserved, but unlike Borobudur, we were the only visitors.

The two temples are 7km apart, so led by our guide, we walked through the farms and national forest that lie in between. The Javanese highlands are the vegetable and tea basket of the island. Rice is grown down on the plains. Farmers up here were planting carrots, corn, chilli, cloves, and potatoes, and in the middle was a giant tea plantation. Java now grows a big chunk of Indonesia's tea (though much is still imported from India/Sri Lanka) – coffee appears to be typically grown in Sumatra, Bali, and Sulawesi. The national forest was also interesting; apparently the government came to own some of the land that was unsuitable for farming and wanted to make it a green space quickly. Japan donated a bunch of fast-growing pine trees in the mid-1970s, so now the area is covered in pine forest with the jungle slowly beginning to regrow in the understory.

Central Java is not just about historical cultures – it's also the arts centre of modern Indonesia. Traditional dance, music, puppetry, batik, silver jewellery and many other crafts are all alive and well here in Jogja. The gamelan orchestra features in most of the live entertainment (music, dance and puppetry), with its very distinctive – some may say dischordant – sound eminating from the brass xylophone and drum-type instruments. The main type of puppetry in Jogja is “wayang kulit”, which features very intricate characters carved from rigid leather that have moving arms and legs. It's common to watch these puppets from behind a screen (as a shadow puppet). Some of the sampler shows put on for tourists are perhaps a bit too authentic (a traditional wayang kulit performance begins at 9:30pm and ends around 5 am) – with two hours of shadow puppets talking to each other in Javanese. However, the skill of the puppeteer was impressive – besides controlling a puppet, he's also chanting, speaking, and making the special effect noises.

So ends the first phase of our trip – Indonesia only grants 30-day non-extendable entry visas on arrival, so we have to make a “visa run” by leaving for Singapore and Malaysia. We'll be back five days later in Northern Sulawesi.

Photos (from top)

1 – The postcard view of Borobudur's stupas
2 – The east side of Borobudur
3 – A 1200 year old carving at Borobudur, showing the soon-to-be-Buddha cutting off his hair as he leaves behind his life as a prince in order to find enlightenment
4 – Indonesian families trying to touch the buddha statue inside Borobudur's stupas
5 – Candi Sukuh
6 – The traditional way of making batik: hot wax applied to the fabric by hand before the dye
7 – Gamelan orchestra
8 – Making the puppets for a wayang kulit performance