Page 5 - Fifty-fifty Aug 2021 (1)

The train trip to Yogyakarta via the Argo Willis train was very enjoyable, seeing the beautiful green and well-
maintained rice paddy fields glide past us, again giving us the impression that nothing much has changed under
the attention and care of Nji Sri, the goddess of the rice. The A/C in the train was not anywhere near as cold as
we had been led to believe. When we arrived in Yogyakarta we were treated to a humdinger of a tropical
downpour, but thanks to Untung and his helpers, and the umbrellas which magically appeared, we did not get
soaked trying to get into our bus which had followed us with our luggage. This was again a superb arrangement.

Our first day in Yogyakarta was spent visiting friends and the Pusat Rehabilitasi Yakkum which had just a new
director so that we had a lengthy discussion on the future of this rehabilitation centre which gives physically
handicapped young Indonesians medical treatment to reduce the impact of their handicaps, and to teach them a
trade so that they may become financially independent. The Centre was set up by a NZer, Colin McLennan MBE
in 1982. So we missed that day’s programme.

The second day, we joined in the visit to the Borobudur, one of the wonders of the world. Its reliefs are worthy of
many months of study with the saga that they represent. Our guide tried to explain the more prominent panels,
but with our old brains, we could not take it all in. We did get to the highest point, although the man-sized steps
in the stairs, deterred many participants in the tour. Since we were there in the school holidays, we got stopped
for pictures and for interviews, which were supposed to be conducted in English, but a bit of Bahasa Indonesia
knowledge helped to make sure that the students got the gist of the conversation and vice versa. The views from
the top were most impressive and gave you a good impression of how huge the Borobudur temple is. The
hawkers were something else…! It was hard to come away without things you don’t really need, but that’s all part
of one’s bartering skills. Afterwards we went to the village Candirejo where we had a splendid “village lunch”,
followed by a trip in horse carts to another village Candi Baru where we played the gamelan, not very well of
course, being rank amateurs. Our horse was very stroppy so we took another cart!

Borobudur Temple, Magelang

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