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Published: October 6th 2008
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Kids waving from a becak
Everyone in Jogja rides in these bicycle rickshaws. They are great fun and non-carbon emitting... well as long as the guy on the bike isn't gassy. ;-) We spent several days in Yogyakarta, "Jogja" for short, which is the cultural heart of Java. We stayed in what must be one of the coolest hostels on the planet. It was created by an artist and everywhere you look you saw beautiful pebble mosaics and paintings. And we had yummy banana pancakes and fresh fruit juice, all inclusive for less than $12 a night for two. Amazing!
We went to a Ramayana performance held in front of the Hindu/Buddhist temple of Prambanan. This is a story about women getting kidnapped, aid from monkeys and birds and people who turn themselves into golden reindeer, and great wars. Yeah, they musta been on some hallucinogens when they wrote this stuff. There are elaborate costumes and accompaniment by a gamelan (orchestra) of gongs, xylophones, drums, some stringed instrument.
All night puppet shows (until 4 or 5 am!) are held a few times a month which is obviously not a touristy thing or for kids. It's amazing that they still keep these going in the TV age. There is a puppet master who narrates the story and works the puppets which are made of buffalo hide, pierced to allow interesting shadows on
Bird Market
They sell all different kinds and colors of birds including bats, owls, and a little hawk. And there were tiny squirrels, mongoose (or is that mongeese?), snakes, large spotted geckos, monkeys, and the more mundane cats and dogs. I wish I could have bought them all and released them. Some of the birds were crowded in cages and some critters I worried were endangered and would be much better off in the wild where they could breed. the white screen.
We also visited the Sultan's palace. He only has daughters so his son is going to become the next sultan. In 1970 Indonesia passed a law that men could only have one wife and two children to combat over population. But nobody enforces the law or really follows it as far as the two child rule goes. Don't know about the one wife issue though. Seems that one wife is too much for most men anyway.
We met a guy who said he could get us any alcohol we wanted. I asked him if he was Muslim and if he drank. He said, "Yes, it's no problem for Muslims to drink." Then why do they make it so hard for the rest of us?! We couldn't find any store selling wine but you could buy beer at the Circle K.
Next stop, Bali!
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Mark Doner
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Don't eat the bats
Those fried bats sure look tasty, though http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7068/edsumm/e051201-07.html