Jogjakarta November 28, 2008

I am in a place I have never heard of with a new friend, Issac Zikri. Issac was the coordinator for parts of my Yoga trip in Bali. He is a fantastic handler. He speaks 7 languages and knows his way around the block. He offered to show me Jogjakarta, a city about one hour flight away. We went to a typical local place for breakfast that had a great local band, at 9:00AM. Then we drove to Borobudur, a 6th century Buddhist Temple that was covered for hundreds of years by volcanic ash. Excavation began about one hundred years ago. It is built so that you can climb it. Steep steps up to a circular walk way, once or twice around you see wonderful Buddhas. The walls tell stories of family life, religious ceremonies, deities, nature, animals all in stone work. Amazing. I meditated and did some yoga and tried to see what it must have been like 1500 years ago.

That night we went to an AIDS/HIV fund raiser at the University. The hottest Indonesian female singer performed for hours. Her name is Syaharani and you can see her at Queenfireworks.com. Lot's of energy and very spirited.

The next day we toured the palace. We were treated to a wonderful puppet show with very ornate Indonesian puppets and classic music accompaniment. So the history of the kings in painting and photographs-then a bicycle rickshaw ride.

Our next stop is Prambanan, a world famous Hindu Temple built around the 8th century. It is beautiful and crowded with hochers try to sell you anything. It's really hot we see what we want to and decided to talk a walk away from the crowds. Issac found a nice quiet shady spot for a rest and I decided to wonder on. I discovered another quiet Hindu Temple with no other tourist. I found a stone room up about 15 steep steps the perfect size for meditation. Because it was stone, it was cool inside. I felt myself able to float into a deep and profound meditation and tuned into the ancient energy of this sacred place. I then continued through the garden and discovered another ancient Buddhist temple. No tourist. It has only recently been re discovered and proclaimed a World Heritage site. Excavation began in 1999 and they are still working on it. I felt that I was living a Indian Jones movie! A very exciting and culturally rich experience! Next we visited a Muslim Mosque and a Catholic Church. Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian , in each place I prayed for World peace and was touched by the spiritually committed people I met. We had a great 2 days and we are back to Bali.