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Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels
Jogjakarta 2013 : Day 3 - A Day Of Palaces
13th May 2013
Today will be a day of palaces, but it will also be an artsy day. We will be visiting two palaces in the city and after that we will explore the Kasongan district - any area renown for multitudes of art shops offering all sorts of artwork.
Oh.... somewhere in between, we will also visit a batik shop, a sort of shadow puppet museum. Sounds like another busy but interesting day.
Let's go!
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Bewildered by Batik Beauties
After the hotel's buffet breakfast, which was much better than the previous morning's meal-in-a-box, we headed off to start our exciting day. Our minds were geared to being royally impressed by the palaces, but my brother Anslem had some other ideas - a detour to a batik centre and a shadow puppet theatre, let's get educated first. It's a fitting start to the day, seeing what the plebeians do before going to the regal places. Perhaps what they created will help decorate the palaces.
Hery's "Palace Batik Center" is an art gallery of beautiful batik paintings; do not be mistaken that this place produces fashionable clothing batik fabric. It is a gallery with a veritable assortment of collection of batik art.
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| "Birds of Paradise" |
We were bewildered by the way batik art has evolved. There were pieces painted the traditional classic style ...
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| Colored Waves In The Moonlight |
To ones along very modern lines.
A piece on Wayang Kulit Puppet Lady Dancers appropriately links us to our next destination...
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THE HOUSE OF WAYANG
Wayang Kulit is a puppet show but one of a different type. One don't see the puppets themselves but only their shadows.
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| Cut puppet figurines pending painting. |
At the House Of Wayang, we were shown how these shadow puppet figurines are made. The puppets are two dimensional but are finely crafted with traditional shapes and many holes in the puppet. Holes? Yes. Holes.
As one see only the shadows, the puppets have to be finely crafted with holes to let the light shine through. A Craftsman is seen here, slowly and intricately cutting out patterned holes in a leather to form the puppet.
After the cutting, the puppets are painted with nice & colorful patterns. Of course the audience can't see the colors and pattern, this painting is done more as a pride of the craftsmen to display their artistic skill.
AND IT'S SHOWTIME!
A light is shone onto a screen, and the puppets are played in front of the light. The puppets' shadows are thrown onto the screen and the audience watch from the other side. With the puppet master moving the puppets, often the shadows are but a blurry action movement (... see more at The House Of Wayang blog).
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THE SULTAN PALACE
Just round the corner from the House of Wayang is the Sultan Palace known locally as Kraton. This is a living palace-museum, the Sultan of Yogjakarta still resides here in a private inner section. The doors at the arched porch entry to this section is closed (see above photo), barring the public from going into this private sanctum.
The palace ground is large, and we together with other visitors are free to wander around and admire the many building, halls, etc. There is even a museum section that displays photos, regalia, family trees of the royal family.
At one of the halls, royal musician played their musical instruments. The rythmatic striking of the gong with the light taps of drums in the background lulled my senses, relaxing me.....
and I almost nodded off.
I wandered off to the museum buildings, these are the ones I like best as I am always drawn to antiquities and art. Here, there were paintings and photos of former royalty on display. The one shown above is that of Sri Sultan Hamengko Buwono VIII.
Displayed on the walls, too, are royal family trees that were drawn ages ago. Although some look tattered and discoloured, these are now preciously preserved. (... see more at Sultan Palace blog - coming soon)
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TAMAN SARI PALACE
After the educational visit to the Sultan Palace, we drove a short distance to the Taman Sari Palace. Although physically near to each other, in terms of design and ambience, the two are poles apart. While the Sultan Palace is grand and has that official look, Taman Sari Palace has a more laid-back back simplified design, looking more private with a tranquil atmosphere. Probably, it is here that the Sultan takes a break from his official duties, to rejuvenate himself in a serene, quiet surrounding.
When as we entered the palace, we could feel a marked difference. It was an entrance that introduced a softer, more relax atmosphere. A feeling of ease permeates the air.
The mainstay of the palace is water, water that gives meaning to life! Taman Sari means "Garden of Essence". Probably when built, it was with a thought of providing essence, restful essence to the Sultan (... see more at Taman Sari Palace blog, coming soon).
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Feeling tranquilly rested after that visit, we went for lunch at the Sekar Kedahon Restaurant. This is a touristy place facing a large car park compound. Around this compound are other shops (selling the famous Kopi Luak, artwork, souvenirs).
The food here was of a much better class than that of our previous day's rustic lunch, although I must add that both have their individual good peculiarities. The atmosphere inside the restaurant itself is more formal but not overly officious.
While going around Jogja, do not be surprised if you see statues garbed in traditional Dutch army costumes of old (like the ones guarding the doors above). Jogja still have lingering memories of its colonial past, one when the Dutch ruled over Batavia.
Stomachs sated with a good lunch, we were recharged and raring to go again.
This time just round the corner from our lunch place was a place known as AS Java. When the girls saw the blue direction sign just as we entered the could not be happier... SHOPPING TIME!!
AS Java sells some batik, but what interested the ladies were the leather goods on offer. There were handbags, belts, and jackets, all of good quality and workmanship. Grinning with delight, the girls were suitably occupied.
Anslem knew that this would be a diplomatic place that would keep all of us occupied with our individual fancies. For while the girls were busy with THEIR thing, I was busy admiring the many art pieces here, like the statues of this old Javanese couple carved from volcanic rock. No impatient waiting there for me while the girls shop .... Yahoo!
OR these cute, brightly painted wooden Javanese dolls. Little did we know that this place is just a teaser, more was to come. Even though this is supposingly a tourist shopping place, the price were not touristy. No slaughtering of the over-keen tourist shopper here, prices were surprisingly reasonable (... see more at AS Java blog).
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KASONGAN - THE ART DISTRICT OF JOGJAKARTA
Having tickled our the girls taste for shopping and my penchant for art, Anslem took us over to Kasongan. This district is a haven for those seeking good bargains for artwork and furniture. The number of shops dealing in all sort of artwork that can be found here boggles the mind, I took more than my share of time visiting as many as possible. More importantly the pricing here are cheap when compared to getting the same items from elsewhere. Haggle more and the prices will drop even more.
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| An interesting handicraft - a large seashell table lamp made from clam shells. |
Of all the shops in Kasongan the one we found most interesting was one that dealt with sea-shell art called Multi-Dimensi. I have seen many sea-shell artwork at flea markets, night markets and the like; more often than not those found at these markets were of questionable quality and poor design.
The ones found at here were of good craftsmanship, quality handiwork, and of very interesting, unique designs.
Lamps with roses made from seashells, and formed into a sphere.
Furniture made from paua mother-of-pearl shells, the patterns made to look like a shimmering peacock's tail (... see more at Sea-shell Art blog).
Further down the road were several shops dealing in driftwood art, like this one of a horse and her foal made from pieces of driftwood.
Bust of a Red Indian Chief.
Profile of a horse head carved from the cross-section trunk of a rotted driftwood. The artist had to be very, very careful, lest the piece break while he was carving it out (... see more at Kasongan Driftwood Art blog).
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| Village Maidens Carrying Fruit Baskets On Their Heads |
As we went deeper into the Kasongan district, I was enthralled. There were simply too many shops to visit. While finishing admiring some paintings at one shop, another beautiful one caught my eye from across the road.
Needing to make up for time, I dashed across the road. This one is a painting of Buddha's head, but with an interesting difference - line drawings of hibiscus flowers were finely pencilled onto the face. The flowers were there but did not obtrusively mar the painting; they blended well with it. Superbly done!
Another one caught my eye again! This one from diagonally across an X-junction, and I dashed over again. I was zig-zagging here and there like a crazy roadrunner bird. Beep! Beep!
As I stood there admiring a mixed-media art of a bull elephant head crafted from coir of a coconut shell, I aesthetically felt that my mad dashing about was worthwhile. The artists here are truly amazing in their abilities to create such nice pieces from unexpected media (... see more at Kasongan Painting blog).
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| Porcelain statues of Javanese ladies wearing their traditional costumes. |
I am deliriously lost in this jungle of shops, but there seems to be some system here. The painting shops slowly filtered to shops selling carvings, statues, and pots. I am not so lost after all.
The shops here sells all sorts of craft, even volcanic stone statues (like this one of a baby hippopotamus) that can be used for outdoor hard landscaping as a fountain head.
And colourful vases to dazzle your friends who come visiting (... see more at Kasongan Crafts blog).
I was still full of enthusiasm to continue at Kasongan but my fellow traveller Cheong's was getting tired, or as he put it, his battery is running low. He has to go back to the hotel to rest & recharge.
Nevertheless, it had been a long but very fruitful day; we managed to visit two temples and much more. So I won't bore you with what we ate for dinner (actually, these photos were erased by my cuckoo phone). We did go for a nice evening ride around town on these cute rickshaws.
Till tomorrow, then. Good night.
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Today I will do just ..... NOTHING!
While Lynn and the others woke up earlier, I slept in late and then went for a nice extended hotel buffet breakfast. They really do serve good food here - a range of local, Western and fusion fare.
Oil painting of boats in the town canal.
Abstract art oil painting.
Sculpture of a bamboo shoot with Buddha's head inside.
A small bust of Buddha sitting on a wooden trestle.
Mixed media art, very bright & colourful.
A Night Cultural Presentation.
Stylized painting of animals in the forests.
Panel painting of insects and a pot.
Colourful panel stylised painting of fish and flowers.
Panel painting of colorful insects.
Surrealist fabric painting of two ladies.
The rest came back from their shopping, and my lazing time was over.
Village horse carriage.
Cowherd and his cows.
Street music performer.
Cock Fighting
Javanese Horse Wariors.
