Yogyakarta - Water Palace

We got off at the train station, and already the tourist information was easy to find, with free colourful maps and helpful guides with good directions!  We found the coolest hostel, we opted for AC as we felt like a bit of luxury (still no hot water though) we got some beers and relaxed on the rooftop garden!

Next morning we decided to go for a walk, we met a local, who was tall for Indonesia so was very excited to meet Andre, he took us to a Indonesian artist exhibition which was really interesting.  The owner showed us the process of Batik, and we got to see all the artists from Indonesia (and a cup of tea), after that we decided to walk and see the Sultan’s Palace, however, seeing as it is in use, it happened that the Sultan was meeting with the President, and would not be open until 2pm.  A friendly local suggested we go to Batik Art Group, another friendly local (60’s) said it was near his home and he would walk with us.  All was going well until a woman (20’s) pulled up on her motorbike, grabbed him by the shirt and started yelling at him.  Yet another friendly local said he would walk us there, as the older guy had apparently caused an accident earlier that day, and the woman was not finished with him yet!!!!

The Batik art group was awesome, once again we were shown how to do Batik (involves beeswax, paraffin and a hell of a lot of time, ba means lines and tik means dots) and were encouraged to buy something.  Batik is dying of cotton or silk and then using a tool with melted wax to make designs, dye, then more wax and another colour etc, can take weeks to do.  There was heaps of designs to choose from, and for once we both caved, it was handmade and beautifully done, and can be washed, ironed, and folded into a small square, easy for travellers!  Then we decided to keep walking and find the ‘water palace’ Taman Sari.  It is not signposted, and we were about to give up, when a guy leaped out and offered to show us around.

The palace was used by the Sultans in the past for his harem and was surrounded by a lake with access only by boat.  First of all we were shown the underground mosque.

                                       

At the top of the stairs the priest would do a 20 minute sermon, the acoustics were fantastic, underneath the stairs used to be a spring, which Muslims would use to wash before the sermon.

The next shot is where the priest would spend time in solitary prayer before calling out to all Muslims that it was time to pray, the room is made to face Mecca.

This is the entrance to the water castle, the second shot is from the 2006 earthquake, 2 men died there, and the 3rd shot is of part of the old palace, it used to be 2 stories.  The entire complex was made without concrete or steel.

                             

These are some random shots of the old palace, the 3rd one you can see the old towers, but houses have been built over the years where the lake would have been.

                            

Below are photos of the entrance to the harem pools and gardens,the 3rd picture is where the Sultan used to meditate before events like taking a new woman, circumcision, big ceremonies and other important things.

                            

This is where the old harbour was, and the next photo is one of the boundaries of the old palace.

                                              

There were 3 harem pools, the furthest away one was for harem and children, the closer one was filled with girls when he wanted a new woman for his harem, he would stand in a tower and throw flowers (and call out their number as the flowers were unreliable to land on the correct girl) and she would be escorted to the third pool, full of gratitude of course! The third pool was a lot smaller so his new woman was easier to catch ( Andre’s theory )
The first photo is the entrance to the pools, either side is a dragon, one for the sultan and one for his wife!

                             

the new selected girl pool, pool in distance is the older harem and children

tower the sultan picks the new harem from

new harem pool

little dragon with water coming out of his mouth

                              

The next photo is the harem gardens, all the pots have jasmine and other sweet smelling flowers.  The harem used to perform dances for the sultan and his guests here, however as it could only be performed at night, the sultan would have to wait until a full moon, as there was no way to see the dancers otherwise!  And a photo of the giant that guards the harem.

                                           

The following picture is the sultans bedroom in the harem (still original) and the motif of the sultan, the tree is a clove tree which means multipurpose.  The third photo is the harem’s changing room the vessel is of sacred water, and if any of the girls were angry or old, they had to go wash using the water for three days, if that didn’t work they were sent away.

                                   

The next picture is the old entrance to the harem, the square in front is where the sultan would allow his people to be taught batik, puppetry, dance and arts (batik used to be only for the sultans use) the entrance is no longer the official entrance as houses started being built over the ruins inside and there was no room for hawkers when it re-opened.  The next photos are of the restoration that is underway.  In 20 years all the people that live there (some are 8 generations) will have been moved out and the palace will once again have a lake, an exact replica of the old palace. Lets hope i get to visit it then!