[Hak] Central Java, May 2013

[hakhak]

Sadly, the huge clouds came and blocked the sun just as it started to set. There were a few other local photographers who were camping there for the sunset as well, only to be disappointed. I'm sure it would be quite a nice scene if the sky was clear, with the sun setting directly behind the gates.

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I forgot to mention, the entrance tickets into Ratu Boko included dinner at the cafe near the entrance. It was a good thing because I was already starving after it turned dark. The view from the cafe was pretty good too as it was on the top of a hill, and Prambanan temple could also be seen from here.

That building at the top, beside the light beam, should be a mosque if I'm not wrong.

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After dinner, we headed to Manohara Hotel for the night, which was located just beside Borobudur temple. A highly recommended accommodation if you intend to wake up early for the sunrise from Borobudur temple.

 

[hakhak]

Borobudur

Alarm clock was set at 4am the next morning, which happens to be the latest timing that I woke up at during this trip (because the rest of my sunrise locations were further from my hotel/hostels). We had to purchase a special sunrise ticket to enter the temple at 4.30am. It was only a 5 to 10 minutes walk from the hotel lobby to the top of the temple.

Since it was my first time here, I had very little idea on how the temple would look like in real life. It was pitch dark before sunrise and it was pretty challenging to find good angles to shoot from. Furthermore, more and more tourists kept coming in and entering my frame, so I had to keep changing positions. If it was this difficult to get a clean shot without people on a Wednesday morning, I wonder how it would have been like on Saturday morning.

As the surroundings got brighter and brighter, I finally got to see the beauty of Borobudur Temple.

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[CS7890]

Nice shot! More please.

 

[edutilos-]

Borobudur

Alarm clock was set at 4am the next morning, which happens to be the latest timing that I woke up at during this trip (because the rest of my sunrise locations were further from my hotel/hostels). We had to purchase a special sunrise ticket to enter the temple at 4.30am. It was only a 5 to 10 minutes walk from the hotel lobby to the top of the temple.

Since it was my first time here, I had very little idea on how the temple would look like in real life. It was pitch dark before sunrise and it was pretty challenging to find good angles to shoot from. Furthermore, more and more tourists kept coming in and entering my frame, so I had to keep changing positions. If it was this difficult to get a clean shot without people on a Wednesday morning, I wonder how it would have been like on Saturday morning.

As the surroundings got brighter and brighter, I finally got to see the beauty of Borobudur Temple.

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#17

These are amazing.

 

[blizzara]

eagerly waiting for more! hahahaha

 

[macaroni]

I'm a happy camper.

 

[hakhak]

Thanks guys! I'm really eager to process and upload all my photos, but unfortunately I'm pretty busy these days.
I usually like to take my time to process my favourite photos to bring the best out of them, so please continue your camping and I'll upload whenever I can

 

[hakhak]

As the sun slowly rose, the main crowd (those without sunrise tickets) slowly started coming in as well. This made it even more difficult to get clean shots without any tourists in it.

Here are a few more shots taken on Borobudur temple after the sun has risen.

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[hakhak]

I'm surprised to find this shot in my camera. A wide shot of Borobudur temple after sunrise without any tourists in my frame.

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[hakhak]

Selogriyo

Next up was a short hike up to Selogriyo temple, a small Hindu temple located between some mountains. It wasn't exactly an ideal timing for nice photos due to the harsh sunlight overhead at noon. Along the way were beautiful rice terraces and hills. Every now and then, we had to give way to the locals transporting wood on their backs or heads. Despite the heavy load, most of them were still able to greet us with a smile each time they passed us.

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[hakhak]

After all the nice sceneries, a climb up about 200 steps was needed before reaching the temple. There's a caretaker at the temple who got us to sign in the guestbook. I just read online that we should tip him, but somehow it totally didn't occur to me at that time, oops. :embrass:

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These 2 shots below were taken along the houses where our car was parked at.

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Accommodation for that night was at Tlogo Plantation, which was a short drive away from our sunrise location the next day.

 

[hakhak]

Rawa Pening Lake

When we arrived at the lake, it was pitch dark and full of mosquitoes. I had to climb all over the place in the dark to attempt to find a good composition for the sunrise, balancing on beams trying not to fall into the water. Only when the sun started to rise did I have a better view of the whole place, but by then I didn't have time to move to a better spot to shoot the beautiful sunrise.

#31


What I saw here was very different from the scene I imagined it to be after viewing photos online. I am not sure if it's the wrong season, or wrong location, or is it due to the severe infestation of the aquatic plants. I was expecting to shoot fishermen carrying out their daily morning routines on the lake in the early morning. However, the first fisherman only appeared quite late, and there were at most 3 of them only, without much action to shoot. In fact, they didn't have much space for their boats as most of the lake was covered with plants; only a small area near their homes was clear, but I guess there weren't any fishes there.

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[hakhak]

Gedong Songo

After having breakfast and a short rest after sunrise, we headed to Gedong Songo. This place consisted of a few small temples located around the hill, 9 of them if I'm not wrong. Most tourists chose the option of riding a horse or donkey up the hill, but we chose to go by foot. The view along the way was really good and it was pretty cooling as well.

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Somewhere along the way there was also a sulphurous hot spring.

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[hakhak]

After the long walk up and down the hill, we were too hungry to drive elsewhere for lunch. So we decided to settle our lunch at the shops near the entrance. I thought that the food would be overpriced since they are located beside an attraction, but I was wrong. Just like most of our meals here in Java, we had Nasi Padang again. In Singapore, you select the meat/vegetables that you want and the stall owner takes for you; however in Indonesia, you are expected to serve yourself, so you can take any quantity of each dish that you want, and then pay later based on the number and type of dishes only.

#39


In the background is Mount Merbabu, and Mount Merapi just behind it.

#40

 

[macaroni]

This thread is really lovely.

 

[jtsky]

For the first time, I planned an overseas trip purely meant for photography, and I would say it was an extremely good experience and would definitely go for another one in future. I went on this trip with a photography buddy, and I was able to spend more time taking photos.

Before posting photos, I'm going to share a little bit of information about the trip first, which I'm sure would be helpful for those who wish to travel to this area in future. The dates were planned to coincide with Waisak (Vesak), and I spent a total of S$750 for this trip (inclusive of air fares). Waking up before 4am daily was kinda crazy, but I really pity the driver whom we hired for the entire trip, as he had to wake up at the same time as us.

My itinerary (and the prices) are as follows:

Tuesday
Morning: Arrive at Yogyakarta Airport (AirAsia S$271 return, 15kg baggage)
Our driver for the entire trip picked us up from the airport (Rp. 3,250,000 for driver and car, including fuel)
Afternoon: Prambanan (Entrance: Rp. 85,000. Parking: Rp. 10,000)
Sunset: Ratu Boko Temple (Entrance inc. dinner: Rp. 90,000)
Accommodation: Manohara Hotel (Rp. 850,000 /room, includes entrance ticket to Borobudur)

Wednesday
Sunrise: Borobudur Temple (Sunrise ticket: Rp. 230,000)
Afternoon: Selogriyo Temple (Entrance: Rp. 10,000. Parking: Rp. 10,000)
Accommodation: Tlogo Plantation (Rp. 275,000 /room)

Thursday
Sunrise: Rawa Pening Lake (Free of charge)
Afternoon: Gedong Songo Temple (Entrance: Rp. 10,000. Parking: Rp. 3,000)
Accommodation: Vogel Hostel (Rp. 150,000 /room)

Friday
Sunrise: Mount Merapi hike with guide (Rp. 140,000)
Afternoon: Jalan Malioboro (Free of charge)
Sunset: Parangtritis Beach (Entrance: Rp. 3,500. Parking: Rp. 10,000)
Accommodation: Grand Quality Hotel Yogyakarta (Rp. 550,000 /room)

Saturday
Sunrise: Punthuk Setumbu (Entrance: Rp. 20,000. Parking: Rp. 10,000)
Afternoon till midnight: Waisak procession from Mendut Temple to Borobudur Temple (Free of charge)
Accommodation: N.A. (Free of charge. We rested at the hotel lobby from 1-5am, before leaving for the airport to catch the 7am flight home)

---

Gears used during this trip:
Canon EOS 6D
Canon 17-40mm f4L
Canon 50mm f1.8
Canon 85mm f1.8
Canon 70-200mm f4L

More than 2,300 photos were taken during this trip at the different locations shown in the map below (first time making use of my in camera GPS).



I might take some time to process and upload the photos, so please be patient! I'm also not very good at writing stuff, but I hope the brief description that I will give for each photo will be useful enough!

Enjoy!

Thanks very much for the useful info, and nice series u got there.

 

[souloner]

Beautiful shots u got there... Will be heading to a similar trip soon in Aug, may i know where did u hire ur driver/vehicle?

 

[hakhak]

This thread is really lovely.

Thanks very much for the useful info, and nice series u got there.

Thanks for the compliments!

Beautiful shots u got there... Will be heading to a similar trip soon in Aug, may i know where did u hire ur driver/vehicle?

Thanks! PM-ed you

 

[hakhak]

Mount Merapi

We gathered at 4am with a few other tourists, and breakfast was served while our guide briefed us about the hike. Setting off at 4.30am, the whole hike lasted for about 6 to 7 hours. When I first booked this package through the tour agency, I was asked if I wanted the hiking route up the volcano, or the walking route, and I chose the latter. I thought it was going to be easy, so I didn't bother to wear trekking shoes or long pants. I was so wrong as my legs were filled with tiny cuts from the thick plantation that we had to bash through.

Initially, I also thought that this trek was all the way to the summit, but during the trek, the guide told us that the nearest we could get was just 3 or 4km away from the summit due to the previous eruption in 2010, which destroyed the path up, and nobody has created a new one since. If I'm not wrong, it is actually still possible to get to the top, but you have to get up from Selo, which is north of the volcano. The package that I booked was from Kaliurang on the Southern side of the volcano.

We trekked for about an hour or so before stopping to watch sunrise. Mount Merapi was covered with clouds, which gradually cleared up as the sun started to.

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A spanish couple who was in our trekking group, admiring the beauty of the sunrise.

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[hakhak]

Praying mantis on the finger of our guide.

#45


Many of the trees were destroyed during the major eruption back in 2010, and have yet to grow back completely.

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Here's a more close up shot of the mouth of Merapi.

#47


At our halfway point, we were told to lie on our backs on the volcanic rocks and just rest, to 'absorb' the energy from the volcano. With the sun shining brightly above, it wasn't very comfortable for the eyes, but I managed to spot a very faint rainbow around the sun.

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