Solo, also named Surakarta, is the cradle of Javanese culture, with two royal houses in one single city : the Kraton of Solo and the Mangkunegaran, a principality. Our itinerary for today is most well-mixed throughout our whole journey in Java, consisting a good varieties of places of interest. We had a city tour in Solo, searched for our ' old friend' - The Jawa man at Sangiran, visited another Hindu temple, hiking up and down a mountain resort at Tawangmangu with a 100m high waterfall which is located 40km east of Solo and finally stayed at a hill and lake resort near Malang.
Firstly, we took a good look at this Heritage hotel we stayed last night and enjoyed local breakfast here.
Corridor outside our room. Enjoyed the relaxing ambiance in this lovely morning.
Displaying traditional musical instruments near the dining area.
Never seen a clock of this shape before.
Some more collections of the owners.
Pretty maiden in traditional Javanese costume. A painting on the wall.
Safe? I don't know but I didn't lock the door last night, anyway. (Honestly, I didn't know how to lock it.)
Dining area. This is where we had our breakfast.
Nasi Goreng (fried rice).
Mee goreng. ( fried noodle) Unlike in Malaysia, mee in Indonesia is mostly the flat type, look like this.
Batik slippers. I like the grey colour one.
Four-poster bed. Best for day-dreaming.
Well, we are almost ready to start the day again.
My favorite model is ever ready to give me this 'very relaxing' post. He is very relax indeed. Well, what do you expect from a kid who doesn't need to drive and pay for all the bills?
Wow, even the road surface at the entrance to this hotel is painted with batik motif !
This is Kraton of Solo, I think, one of the two royal houses. We just drove past it.
Design of this palace is quite similar to the one we visited yesterday which also has a big lounge but this one is not so lavish looking. Few palaces we visited have something in common: they are all very simple. Anyone seen Malaysia's new palace for the Agong?
Like the Forbidden City in Beijing of China, this palace is also surrounded by walls except it's painted white instead of red. This is a lane outside the white wall where we went round and round trying to make up our mind whether to stop or to proceed to our next destination.
Blue and white. Do you think of Greece?
Peeped into the lane.
Market along the main road.
Town Council of Surakarta.
Do you notice the bus stand is on an elevated platform? Yes, the buses here have doors which are of level height to the platform, about a meter from the ground level.
After a city tour, we headed for Sangiran. This is a view of Sangiran from far.
Sangiran is a village located 17km north of Solo. It's an important place for Pithecanthropus Erectus, the pre-historic Java man. The fossilized land is full of pre-historic living things. Skulls of erectus, fossils of plants and animals were found including those of mammoths. In mid 1980, the finding of a complete 4m tall elephant startled scientists. It is now preserved in the Bandung Geological Museum. The Sangiran fossils are very various, they were earth as well as sea fossils. There was a possibility that the island of Java was erected from the bottom of sea million years ago.
Here we are with our 'friend' - the Java man.
In 1891, Eugene Dubois, a french anthropologist discovered fossils of Pithecanthropus Erectus, the oldest Java man known. It revealed human history from many centuries ago. In 1936, Prof. Dr. Van Koenigswald found more evidence about human evolution. He discovered some fossils here that support the theory of human growth from an ape-man to be man as we are now. He said more than five different types of hominoid fossils have been found in Singiran, it was incredible. There is no other place in the world like Sangiran.
At the museum's entrance.
The discovery of Java-man filled in the famous ' missing link' in Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, on the Origin of Species.
After bidding farewell to our Java-man, we had lunch at KFC!
KFC here serves with more side dishes like rice, pasta, salad and soup.
This is the only temple we visited today. Candi Sukuh is located in Berjo Village, in the slope of Mount Lawu, 35km east of Solo, at a height of 910m above sea level. Sukuh temple is decorated with wayang stone carvings of Hindu origin, the only erotic temple in Java. The stepped pyramid is like the ones in South America of the Maya culture which is distinctive compared with other ancient temples in Central Java such as Borobudur and Prambanan, and its uniqueness lies in the landscaping, statuettes and relief.
The temple consists of three terraces, the first is the lowest level, followed by the second and third above it. The terraces are connected with stairs to each other, each of it has an entrance gate. The temple is believed to be constructed in the 15th century during the declining years of Majapahit Empire.
Passing through the courtyard to the second level.
View surrounding the temple is alluring.
An interesting and controversial factor of this site is the artistic relief on the floor of its level, which depict male and female's genitals as symbol of fertility ( the beginning of life ) .
Relief of the Sudhamala story place in the yard of the temple. The reliefs and statues of Sukuh Temple are made in a very realistic style. Compared to reliefs at the Borobudur and Prambanan, those of Sukuh seem crude.
The third level. Not an easy job to climb up the steps.
Mind your head.
Prayers were done here too.
A view from the highest level looking down to the courtyard.
Got to be careful.
Meditating on the turtle's back can prolong your life?
It's built like a Maya stepped pyramid.
Last place to visit for today - Tawangmangu., a mountain resorts at an elevation of almost 1 km above sea level, lies on the slope of Mount Lawu.
This is a 100 meter high waterfall. There are a total of 1250 steps down and up from the entrance to the waterfall.
Sunset, seen on the way to Sarangan, our last destination for today. Sarangan is a hill resort with a lake that offers lots of water sport activities.
Love the colours.
Street view from our hotel room.
This is our hotel, Nirwana. We stayed on the forth floor. Got to carry our luggage up.
A very simple hotel with a room and a living. Looks like any other ordinary apartment.
Really feel like ' at home'.
A big feast with local dishes at a restaurant.
We had our dinner late tonight. Most of the patrons had left.
The owner of the restaurant happens to be the head of this village. We had a good leisure chat with him in this cool night after dinner. He gave us good advices for our coming journey.
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