A thousand years ago, Yogyakarta was the center of ancient Mataram Kingdom which was prosperous and high civilized. This kingdom built Borobudur Temple which was the biggest Buddhist temple in the world, 300 years before Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Some other relics are Prambanan Temple, Ratu Boko Palace, and dozens of other temples scattered throughout Yogyakarta.
However, by some mysterious reason, Ancient Mataram Kingdom moved its central government to East Java in the 10th century. The magnificent temples were abandoned and partially buried by the eruption material of Merapi Volcano. Slowly, Yogyakarta region went back into the dense forest.
Six hundred years later, Panembahan Senopati established the Islamic Mataram Kingdom in the region. Once again, Yogyakarta became the witness of human history of a great Kingdom that ruled Java Island and its surrounding area. Islamic Mataram Kingdom was leaving a trail of ruins of fortress and royal tombs in Kotagede which recently is known as silver handicraft center in Yogyakarta. (See Historic & Heritage Sights)
Giyanti agreement in 1755 divided the Islamic Mataram Kingdom into Kasunanan Surakarta be based in the city of Solo and Yogyakarta Sultanate which founded in Yogyakarta. Kraton (palace) still exists until today and is functioned as the residence of sultan and his family as well as hundreds of abdi dalem (the servant of the palace) who faithfully serve the palace voluntarily and run the tradition in the midst of changing times. At the palace, there are many cultural performances such as wayang kulit (puppet shadow play), gamelan (Javanese orchestra), and Javanese dance etc. (See Calendar of Events)
Lihat Peta Lebih Besar Yogyakarta at present is a place where tradition and modern dynamics are going on together continuously. In this city, there is a palace which has hundreds of loyal servants to run the tradition, but there is also University of Gadjah Mada that is one of the leading universities in South East Asia. Some of its residents live in a strong agrarian culture. In the other side, there are also students who live with pop life-style. Traditional markets and handicraft centers are numerous in the city where some of them located by the malls which are no less hectic.
At the north end of Yogyakarta, you will see Mount Merapi stands proudly almost as high as 10,000 feet. This mountain is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia. The trace of its malignant of the 2006 eruption can be witnessed in the Village of Kaliadem, 30 km from the city of Yogyakarta. Mooi Indie style scenery of green rice field with Mount Merapi in the background can still be seen in the suburb area of Yogyakarta.
In the southern part of Yogyakarta, you will find many beaches. The most famous beach is Parangtritis with its legendary figure of Nyi Roro Kidul (Queen of the South), but Yogyakarta has also many natural beautiful beaches in Gunung Kidul. You can see the Sadeng Beach which is an ancient estuary of Bengawan Solo River before the powerful forces lifted the surface of the southern part of Java Island so that the flow of the river turned to the north like today. You can also visit Siung Beach which has 250 channels of rock climbing, Sundak Beach and many more.
If Malaysia has the world's highest twin towers, Yogyakarta has Prambanan Temple with 47 meters tall and was made by hand about 1100 the previous years. If Singapore has modern life, Yogyakarta has traditional agrarian society. If Thailand and Bali have beautiful beaches, Yogyakarta owns natural beaches and Mount Merapi, which has a story of how powerful the force of nature is.
Yogyakarta is the best place to visit. When there is a visitors come to Jogja, I want to guide them to visit the best three famous tourism place in Yogyakarta. There are three famous exiciting place to visit which is Sundak beach, Merapi mountain and Pelemadu village. First, I want to show them about Sundak beach because it’s a beautiful beach with white sand elaborated with coral reef so we can run around the beach, and after that enter the cave because there is a spring inside the cave. The history of the name of Sundak itself is very unique because it is come from the words “asu” (dog) and “landak” (sea urchin). The facilities in Sundak beach is so complete because there are serve mini-resort and off-road circuits. Existing facilities at both the beach is quite complete as ample parking, viewing post, restaurants, entertainment stage, and mosques. If the visitors are hobby to camping, they also can be camping on the Sundak beach and enjoy the night there. The visitors can put up the tent or just lying on the bench of food sellers that are not used at night. We can enjoy the breeze of the night wind while ordering fresh fish to be grilled together with the visitors. If we feel that the weather too cold, we can buy the firewood just with pay some thousands Rupiah. If the visitors want to reluctant to do so, just order ready-to-eat grilled fish. Darkness can sometimes be more enjoyable than brightness.
Second, Mount merapi because merapi have important meaning for Yogyakarta history, its very closed related to the myths, belief and philosophy of Jogjakarta people especially people who live around the merapi mountain. It’s illustrated by an imaginary line connecting Mount merapi and south sea with Jogjakarta downtown as the central point. There is also a myth about merapi being a kingdom of spirit. People who live around merapi believe that this mountain kept by Kiai Sapujagad, prime minister of Islamic mataram Sultante during the reign of Panembahan Senopati, the first sultan. They also believe that mount merapi will not harm anyone as long as they always keep, respect and value Merapi as a living entity that is also created by God so as the consequence, local peole have to do ceremonies, such as Sedekah gunung (giving somenthing to the mountain), Selamatan (ceremonies contain of hoping all the people will be save), Labuhan which is held anually by Kingdom of Yogyakarta so the people use javanese dress like blangkon and beskap (for man) also kebaya and gelung (for woman), it’s a very unique ceremonies that the visitors can’t found in their own country so i will show them this ceremonies. Moreover, the visitors can meet and greet to Mbah Marijan, the custodian of Merapi. If the visitors like to climb the mountain, it’s okay if they want to do it, because it’s clearly challenge for them because it’s not like other climbing track. It’s a rocky, steep and prone to landslide tranck along the way. Especially if closing to Garuda peak, climbers must be extra careful as they are stepping on the rocks because they often slide, likely to result in a fatal accident. Not just ceremony and sensation of climbing but also when we go to the south valley, there is Kinaharjo village which is also the starting point of the south climbing route. In this village, visitorss can enjoy the beauty natural scenery and visit the seven springs , they also can go to natural conservation wth cool air and breathtaking scenery such as Kaliurang, kalikuning, kaliadem, and merapi volcano national park. How beautiful jogjakarta. I am so proud live there.
Third, is Pelemadu village. Pelemadu village sits in Bantul regency, D.I Yogyakarta Province near Sungapan and Gondosuli village. The special things of Pelemadu village is the biggest rempeyek production in Yogyakarta. Rempeyek is the original food from Indonesia but why the function of this village very important beside rempeyek can support their economy life but also they can promote rempeyek food as Indonesia food because rempeyek also claimed by Malaysia country as they original food. if the visitors come here, i want to show them and they also can practice how the way to produce rempeyek from explanation about the material to make a rempeyek, how to fried rempeyek, packing rempeyek, distribute rempeyek around yogyakarta, of course also taste the rempeyek and bring the rempeyek go home to their own country. The scenery in this village also very beautiful, they can take a picture with mbok-mbok rempeyek but also can take a picture with farmer because in this village, they can see a lot of rice field, the special things they can take a picture with banana tree because in their own country they cannot find a banana tree as the symbol of tropical country. If the visitors want it, interact with local people can be valuable enlightenment. The visitors can understand how people live their lives, their culture, and they might change their life point of view about Indonesia because Indonesia not just famous as terrorism country but also the true of Indonesia is warm and friendly country with people who love to smile
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar