I Stopped At...

2014/05/01 Penglipuran is an area with villages which still have the old ancient ways of administration and lifestyles. It is said that these villages were chosen by the king to serve as food suppliers or farmers for the palace. Those villagers have their own way of customs and values which had come all the way from early days. This is the entrance of the Penglipuran village. The village is a very calm and serene place with not much activity. Only movement was the wind ,stray dogs and hens. We visited just days after a big ceremony so that the remaining are still left along side the road. The houses are standing along the both sides of the main road which runs straight through the village. It is not notable in the picture below but while the right side of the road was decorated in yellow colored flags and stands the left side was decorated in white. According to the guide, the colors symbolize pureness and holiness. This is the village meeting place. It had been

2014/05/01 Around Prambanan Temple site, there are several other temple sites. A trolly train runs between the sites so you can just hop in and out at the sites you prefer.  Sewu temple is also a very old Buddhist temple which used to have over 200 little temples within its premises, which were later destroyed by the same reasons as Prambanan. This existence is living proof that Buddhist and Hindu cultures existed in harmony in the early eras.  At the time we visited Sewu. visitors were not allowed to go in to the temple site as it was under construction.  You may notice the `Dwarapala (Javanese)` or the  `Doratupala` in Sinhalese , the guard at the lower right corner who guards the entrance to the temple. Same architectural concepts, no wonder! The rocks yet to be constructed in to the prior state are piled up in front of the temple blocking the view. I really hope that they have all the strength and courage to finish the reconstructing soon. Below is the m

2014/05/01 We made it to the famous tourist spot of the Holy Spring Temple in Bali. it is called Pura Titra Empul (Pura  = Temple, Titra = Water, Empul = Pure) in Balinese. According to the guide, this temple was built in year  962 AD. This temple had been dedicated for God Vishnu, with a statue of God Indra at the entrance. Balinese people believe that the water from the temple pond purifies their souls and wash away their all sins. The following were captured in the inner temple. Only the "clean" people can enter the inner temple, especially in women s case. They should neither be on their period nor should be breast feeding. Even the Sri Lankan culture considers menstruation as unclean but it was the first time I heard about breast feeders being considered unclean. It is obviously because the blood becomes milk and women with milk are naturally "leaking blood". Well,　this had been a custom for centuries and what puzzled me is that had Indonesia

2014/05/06  Candi Prambanan prononunced as (cha-n-di  Pra-m-ba-na-n) is a Hindu temple coumpound dedicated for the Gods Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva. Even though Indonesia is a Muslim country today Candi Prambanan itself is a huge proof of its proud history related to Indian influence of Hinduism and Buddhism. This site boasts of over 200 Hindu temples which now most of them are flattened due to a huge earthquake awakened by the volcano eruption of Mount Merapi. Hence it is a UNESCO world Heritage Site as one of the largest existing Hindu temple Sites in Southeast Asia . Below is one of the small temples at the lower ground surrounding the main temple yard It is said to have 200 such little temples yet to be reconstructed after the earthquake. We enterd from the Brahma Temple side gate and walked across to the Vishnu Temple visiting all the temples in between at the main temple site. This is Apit. Just at the entrance of the Main Temple Site where the three biggest Temples are