MALIOBORO - YOGYAKARTA

Malioboro is a well-known shopping promenade and very popular among Indonesian as well as international tourists. Spans from the Tugu Station to the Sultan's square, Malioboro is 2 kilometers in length and home to hundreds of shops and street-stalls which offers various kind of handicrafts. Several notable places in Malioboro are:

• Pasar Beringharjo (Beringharjo Marketplace), Jalan Pabringan 1, Yogyakarta 55122 (north of Vredeburg Fort), +62 274 515871, 561510. Literally means slanted land, Beringaharjo is the largest traditional marketplace in Yogyakarta. The vendors sell many kind of goods, ranging from basic household items (vegetables, fruits, meats) to many kind of handicrafts. Haggle furiously.
• Mirota Batik (opp Pasar Beringharjo), Jalan Ahmad Yani 9, Yogyakarta 55122, +62 274 588524, 518127, 547016 . The large family-owned store offers plenty of handicrafts, not only from Yogyakarta but also from all part of Indonesia.
• Dagadu (lower ground floor Malioboro Mall). Offers funny contemporary t-shirts and souvenirs that revolves around Yogyakarta people's culture.

If travelling on foot is not your thing, you can ride the pedal-powered trishaw called becak, or the andong horsecart.

Warning: While Yogyakarta is safer than Jakarta, it's not free from pickpockets. Most of the time, Malioboro sidewalk is overcrowded, take standard precautions to protect your belongings.

Shopping Malls

While not as populated as Jakarta, Yogyakarta has several trendy malls which shows a glimpse of the alternate side of Yogyakarta culture.

• Malioboro Mall, Jalan Malioboro 52-58 Yogyakarta 55001, +62 274 551888 (fax: +62 274 588242). Yogyakarta's premier shopping mall for shopping in hassle-free, air-con comfort. Features a large Matahari department store, a Hero supermarket (B1F), a Periplus book store with a good English selection (B1F), and all the usual suspects of Western and Indonesian fast food (McDonald's, Pizza Hut, KFC, EsTeler 77, etc). Home to the largest Dagadu outlet.
• Galleria Mall, Jalan Jendral Sudirman 99-101, Yogyakarta 55223, +62 274 583661 (fax: +62 274 583711). A compact mall anchored by Matahari department store. The food court at the basement is popular among the youths. Features many interesting restaurant including KFC, McDonald's Express, Thai Express, Bakso Gress (Chinese meatballs served with noodles), Mie Nusantara, Bee's (Japanese Bento), Es Teler 77, Cheers Cup (assortments of fresh drinks).
• Plaza Ambarrukmo (Amplaz), Jalan Laksda Adisucipto Yogyakarta 55281, +62 274 4331000, (fax: +62 274 4331001). Located next to the historical Ambarrukmo Hotel, the huge 5 floors shopping complex features a Centro Department Store, Carrefour Hypermarket, Gramedia Bookstore, Timezone, 21 Cineplex, Bread Talk, Starbucks Coffee, Dagadu, etc. The food court is located on the 3rd floor. ATM center is located on the lower ground floor.
• Saphir Square, Jalan Laksda Adisucipto 32-34 Yogyakarta 55001, +62 274-558777, (fax +62 274 558666). A large trade center located next to the Saphir Hotel consists of small shops. The shops int first floor sells many counterfeit goods like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Guess bags.

Handicrafts

• Saptohoedojo Art Gallery, Jalan Solo km 9 (500m from airport). This fascinatingly weird sprawling complex houses an utterly eclectic collection of Indonesian art, ranging from abstract modern paintings and batik shirts through gamelan instruments and stuffed tigers to Papuan tribal totems complete with the skulls of vanquished enemies. Everything is for sale and previous customers, pictures of whom are proudly pasted on the walls, include Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama. While the adjoining restaurant looks quite attractive, the food served is rather disappointing.

• Tjokrosuharto, Jalan Panembahan Angkurat 58, Yogyakarta 55131, +62 274 375208. This handicraft shop opens its door for business in 1954 and still operating today. It offers a large selection of javanese handicrafts such as wayang kulit (leather puppet), wayang golek (wooden puppet), batik, keris, silverware, sculptures, traditional outfits, etc.

Source: www.wikitravel.org

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BOROBUDUR TEMPLE - YOGYAKARTA

Built over a period of some 75 years in the 8th and 9th centuries by the kingdom of Sailendra, constructed out of an estimated 1,600,000 blocks of volcanic stone, dredged from the river and assembled solely by human labor, the nine-terraced temple is a representation of the transition towards nirvana and is famed for its 1,500 intricately carved reliefs, covering a total length of five kilometers end-to-end. The volcanic Mount Merapi, one of the most active volcanoes on Java, can be seen steaming on the horizon directly north of the site.

The first archaeological study of the site was initiated in 1814 by Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore. First restored in 1907, the monument suffered from neglect and war and was once more in effect rebuilt in the 1970s under the guidance of UNESCO, who designated Borobudur as a World Heritage Site. The massive restoration process involved the removal and refurbishing of over one million blocks, rebuilding the foundation and adding drainage systems.

HOW TO REACH BOROBUDUR TEMPLE

1. By plane

The nearest larger airports are inYogyakarta and Solo. Both are well connected and it's possible, if a bit rushed, to visit Borobudur on a day trip from Bali.

2. By public transport

Usage of public transport from Yogyakarta or Semarang is usually discouraged by the more cautious guide books and other authorities due to the increase in pickpockets and others on the usually crowded buses. Muntilan is the nearest town on the Yogyakarta to Semarang road. If you are not easily harassed by such issues, it is well worth the experience.

3. By car

Yogyakarta is about 40 minutes south of Borobudur by car. Most of the route is on a well-maintained (for Indonesia) four-lane (in many places) highway and there are frequent bus services (see above). Taxi from Yogyakartato Borobudur costs 175 000 IDR (around 20 US $) as on October 2008. Public bus ("indian style") from Giwangan bus terminal of Yogyakarta to Borobudur bus station now (Nov, 2008) is 20 000 IDR (~1.30h) for one way (plus 2 500 IDR for city bus #4 from Jl.Malioboro to Giwangan terminal). So, price in travel agencies around every tourist places of Jogya, for, still, 50-60K IDR for minibus travel door-to-door is very reasonable now.From Jombor bus station is 10,000 IDR

WHAT TO SEE AT BOROBUDUR TEMPLE

ntry into the Borobudur site costs US$11 - Rp93,000 (US$7 student, or Rp9,000 if you are Indonesian) and the site is open to the public from 6 AM to 5 PM. However, the Manohara Hotel runs a daily Borobudur Sunrise Tour for an additional US$10 (115 000 IDR) per person, which gets you a flashlight and a lift up to the temple gate at 4:30 AM, in time to see the sunrise and explore for an hour and a half before the hordes arrive, and is well worth the money. Hiring a guide who can explain the reliefs well costs Rp 50,000. You should ask for a guide in the evening before going to tour in the morning.

Borobudur consists of a single stupendously large structure, which can be divided into layers as follows:

• The platform at the base of the structure, which was clearly added on later and hides some reliefs, is of uncertain provenance and function. The main theories are that the platform was added to censor reliefs depicting earthly desires or — rather more likely — to buttress the subsiding structure and prevent it from collapsing. A section of the platform has been excavated at the southeast corner, showcasing some of the hidden reliefs underneath.

• The bulk of the structure consists of four square terraces connected by steep staircases. Each terrace has reliefs in two layers on both sides, recounting the story of the Buddha's past lives and his enlightenment. The "correct" way to view the reliefs is to start from the east gate (the main entrance) and circulate clockwise.

• After the square terraces the structure suddenly opens up to reveal the final four circular terraces. Comparatively plain and unadorned, there are no more reliefs here, just several hundred domes housing half-hidden Buddha statues (many headless, some lost entirely).

• The peak of the structure is a central stupa. The two chambers inside the stupa are empty, and it is unclear whether they were empty from the beginning as a representation of nirvana, or whether they originally contained now lost statues.

• You can discover 6 different postures of buddha's statue for bottom level to the top. They are "contact with earth", "giving and helping", "mediatation", "no fear", "teach and learn", "turn of wills".

A few sights of interest are located outside the main temple itself.

• The rather lacklustre museum, a few hundred meters to the north of the temple, does a haphazard job of presenting the restoration process. Perhaps the most interesting bits are the exhibition of the Karmawiharga reliefs, with explanatory comments, and the photo gallery of old 19th-century shots of the complex before it was restored.

• Candi Mendut, 3 km from Borobudur (along the road to Yogyakarta). A comparatively small temple that may have acted as a waypoint on the road to Borobudur. Now notable primarily as the start of the Waisak procession

Source: www.wikitravel.org

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