Yogyakarta Part 4 - Prambanan, Raminten, Parsley, The End

We did not have any set plans yet for the 4th day. Our options were visiting Borobudur Temple paired with brunch at Amanjiwo Resort, or visiting the Prambanan Temple. Miss Kiki did not want to see both, so I opted for the closer one which was Prambanan Temple.

Prambanan

On the way to the temple, I read her the legend of the temple from Wikipedia. This was very interesting even for me, as when I was growing up, I've only heard the much more simplified version. Here's the legend taken from Wikipedia.

The legend tells the story about two ancient and neighbouring kingdoms in Java, Pengging and Boko.

Pengging was prosperous, and wisely ruled by its king Prabu Damar Moyo who had a son named Bandung Bondowoso. By contrast, Boko was ruled by a cruel man-eating giant named Prabu Boko, supported by another giant Patih Gupolo. Despite his unpleasant nature, Prabu Boko had a beautiful daughter named Rara Jonggrang.

The story relates that Prabu Boko desired to expand his kingdom, and so began training an army and raising taxes for an invasion of Pengging. His forces launch a surprise attack on Pengging, and the ensuring war causes devastation and famine on both sides. In order to defeat the invader, Prabu Damar Moyo sends his son Bandung Bondowoso to fight Prabu Boko. After a furious battle, Prabu Boko is killed by the prince's supernatural powers. His assistant, the giant Patih Gupolo, leads his armies away from the battlefield in defeat.

Returning to Boko Palace, Patih Gupolo tells princess Rara Jonggrang of the death of her father. The princess is heartbroken, but before she can recover from her grief the Pengging army besieges and captures the palace. Prince Bandung Bondowoso is mesmerized by the beauty of the mourning princess and propose marriage, but his offer is swiftly rejected. Bandung Bondowoso insists on the union, and finally Rara Jonggrang agrees on two impossible conditions: first the prince must build a well named Jalatunda, and second, he must construct a thousand temples in only one night.

The lovestruck prince agrees, and immediately starts work on the well. Using his supernatural powers once again, the prince swiftly finishes construction and proudly displays his work for the princess. As a trick, she urges him to enter the well and when he does so, Patih Gupolo piles stones into it and buries him alive. With great effort Bandung Bondowoso escapes, but his love for the princess is so strong that he forgives her the attempt on his life.

To fulfill the second condition, the prince enters into meditation and conjures up a multitude of demon spirits from the earth. With their help he builds the first 999 temples and starts work on the final one. To thwart his efforts the princess and her maids light a fire in the east and begin pounding rice, a traditional dawn activity. Fooled into thinking the sun is about to rise, the spirits flee back into the earth leaving the last temple unfinished.

The prince is furious when he learns of this deception, and places a curse on Rara Jonggrang which turns her into a stone statue. In this way she herself becomes a feature of the final temple, completing its construction and fulfilling the conditions for their marriage.

It was a very hot sunny day, I had asked Pak Eko from the previous day to drive us around again. Just like in Borobudur, they have different fares for locals and foreigners. DH has a Permanent Resident status here so I was able to get a local rate for him.

Ceiling inside one of the smaller temple

Statue of Durga, thought to be Rara Jonggrang

Outside the museum

Gamelan set inside the museum

Resting in the shade

Statues in the museum

In the same complex, there was a fenced area with deers inside. There were originally 10 deers there, donated by Bogor Presidential Palace. The deers are actually native to India / Sri Lanka, and were brought to the Bogor Palace by Sir Thomas Raffles. If you asked Miss Kiki what her favourite part of the temple visit she would probably say it was feeding the deer. There were a couple of vendors selling vegetables at Rp. 2000,- a bunch as deer food.

House of Raminten

For lunch we went to Raminten in Kotabaru. They have a second location on Jalan Kaliurang. We got there at the perfect time, as there was only one table left. A few minutes later they had a lot of people on the waiting list. It was a quaint place with funny decorations, and service was super slow. The food, however, was pretty good! Miss Kiki had fried chicken with rice, I had rice cake with tofu (Kupat Tahu), and DH ordered Ayam Koteka: minced fried chicken and egg baked in a bamboo shell.

Ayam Koteka

Kupat Tahu

Beans Lab

After lunch, DH suggested checking out a cafe nearby. Considering I had gone 2 days without good coffee, I was all for it! The Beans Lab was a small casual cafe, and I do like their latte. Priced at Rp. 25.000,- it was probably not cheap for Yogyakarta. In Jakarta, however, there's no way you can find latte in a cafe for that price. They had props and monopods for customers to use to take selfies with. Cute idea. Oh, and sorry, no picture of the coffee.... it was gone in a second. Lol...

Parsley

For dinner that evening, we decided to try out Parsley Bakery and Restaurant near our hotel. It had very good reviews on Foursquare. We ordered Baby Squid, Parsley Chicken, and Broccoli with Scallop. The baby squid was not as expected, but tasted okay nonetheless. The other two dishes were also okay. Not bad, but nothing special.

I was hoping for good weather for flying back the day after, and I got it! It had been pouring non-stop all evening and as a result, a clear blue sky in the morning. We can even see the tip of Merapi from our room!