Jogja City

Bali is no doubt the most well-known resort island of Indonesia to Koreans. But if travellers to Bali fail to visit Yogyakarta (Jogyakarta), which is located only one hour from the island by plane, they will make a regretabble mistake.

Jogyakarta, simply dubbed Jogja today, boasts of various kinds of fascinating tourist attractions such as the center of Javanese art and culture.

Borobudur Temple

Among other things, there is the biggest stupa ever created on earth, “Borobudur Temple.” It is a magnificent Buddhist monument constructed between 750 and 850 AD when Central Java was still a Buddhist kingdom.

On seeing the huge temple, people begin unconsciously saying, “wow, it’s incredible to just see this big monument.” The volume of this massive temple is 56,000 cubic meters, consisting of at least 2 million stone blocks.

Also, from an architectural perspective, Borobudur is a perfect Buddhist temple.

Borobudur, viewed from above, takes the form of a giant mandala, symbolically describing the path of the Buddha to nirvana, through the story that the good ultimately defeats the evil.

The three intermingled separate levels of Borobudur represents the Buddhist cosmology, which is divided by the world of desire, from bottom to top, forms and formelessness.

Plus, each wall of the galleires is adorned with impressive reliefs illustrating the life of Buddha and some principles of his teaching.

An Indonesian guide nicknamed Putu said, “This huge temple is itself a great textbook of Buddhism to show how visiting people can achieve enlightenment, and reading this Buddhist textbook in stone requires a walk of more than two miles.”

Whether Buddhist or not, visitors standing on the top level of Borobudur after reading all the meanigful reliefs will think without fail that life can be endurably managed through good deeds.

From the top of the temple, Buddhist pilgrims will find not only the nirvana-like atmosphere surrounded by 72 stupas but also notice vast farmland that look like a carpet decorated in green.

On the western side just above the flowing clouds the Sumbing volcano soars vigorously.

Borobudur, designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, has a total of 10 steps and 1,460 carved stone reliefs in three levels.

Sultanate Palace

Feel like moveing on to other places from Borobudur? Then, visit Sultanate Palace not far from the gigantic temple.

The sultan’s palace or the kraton, with its grand, elegant Javanese architecture, lies in the center of Jogja.

Surrounding the kraton is a densely-populated residential neighborhood that occupies land that was formerly the sultan’s sole domain. Evidence of its former use remains in the form of old walls and the ruined Water Castle, built in 1758 as a pleasure garden.

The garden had been almost abandoned, and was used for housing by palace employees and descendants. But reconstruction efforts began in 2004, and an effort to renew the neighborhood around the kraton has begun, attracing tourists from home and abroad.

Others

Other recommendable toursit attractions in Jogja are Taman Sari Water Castle, Ngasem Bird Market, and various museums of Sonobudoyo, Ullen Sentaluand Affandi.

Of course, Jogja offers great shopping opportunities, particularly, cheap quality international brand clothes.

If visitors doubt the quality, they will be reassured when they return home to see the very same clothes _ “made in Indonesia” _ being sold for much higher prices in many department stores in Seoul.

Glasses at shops often seen on the street near hotels are also very attractive to foreign travellers thanks to the quality and low prices.

Food? Epicures, particuarly of sea food, will be happy with a variety of Indonesian cuisine with fish, lobster, shrimp and so on.

Try to have dinner at a restaurant, which offers shadow plays by leather puppets as it is one of Jogja’s traditional performances.

Usually, the theme of the shadow puppet show is about the conflict between good and evil, and the fomer’s win over the latter.

Because Jogja is well known for its silver work and a unique style of making batik dyed fabric, folk markets are also one of the most favored places for visitors.

Tips for Jojga Trip

A perfect travel course is a Seoul-Bali-Jogja-Bali-Seoul route since there is no direct flight between Seoul and Jogja.

But what airline? Garuda Indonesia is most recomendable in terms of airfare, flight freqency and rich connection in Indonesian domestic flights.

Since early April, Garuda has resumed the direct Seoul-Bali route three times weekly, which will provide the most convenient journey for travellers who want to visit Jogja together with its domestic flights. Call Garuda by toll free number in Seoul at 080-773-2092 for flight reservation.

And when to visit Jogja? The best time starts from next month.

The rainy season, which lasts November to April, is likley to prevent visitors from enjoying walking around the beautiful tourist sites. During the dry season from May to October, the picturesque sunny sky is almost always out there.

The Korea Times