These Fiery Giants Have Their Own Ideas About Uninvited Visitors This Season
Unfavourable Alignment of Timing and Volcanic Temperament, Followed by Plan B
The music is by:
Axel Thesleff, an electronic musician and producer based in Helsinki, Finland.
Biz, a.k.a Bismark Idiong, a Nigerian-born musician and producer.
Today’s post follows:
Unfavourable Alignment
It seems Indonesian volcanoes are waging an epic summer showdown against an amateur volcanophile from Poland! First up, Gunung Rinjani on Lombok threw down the gauntlet, stranding 500 climbers atop its tremulous peak and making me change the last leg of my itinerary. Not to be outdone, the lofty Gunung Agung on Bali chimed in, with tremours and no-entry warnings that seemed to shake their heads in a firm "not a chance." And just yesterday, I heard that Mount Merapi had joined this fiery chorus, sprouting a fresh lava dome just one day before my planned expedition! Talk about bad luck!
Clearly, these fiery giants have their own ideas about uninvited visitors this season. But I hadn’t dragged my hiking footwear across five countries just to be first chased away by bloodsucking punks from Khao Sok National Park, and then thwarted by a little volcanic unrest, had I? Ever since catching my first glimpse of Mount Merapi from the summit of Borobudur, my feet have been itching for adventure. Giving up easily was simply not an option!
Strongly advised against venturing into the two-mile radius around Merapi, I made an informed decision after lunch: I would conquer its neighbour instead. “If you don't have what you like you must like what you have,” I thought and started hatching a new plan of action. Mount Merbabu, an inactive volcano, was hardly going to intimidate me with any seismic theatrics—it promised a safe bet for an adventurous day ahead.
However, in the absence of any interference from Merbau, I expertly managed to sabotage myself just before dusk by booking a scooter instead of simply renting one. This little blunder came right before a lively series of games of pool on Jalan Prawirotaman, Yogyakarta’s vibrant expat entertainment street, where Michał and I decided to
❈
…sip the delicious day
until night takes the cup away***
❈
After too many rounds of pool and a few bottles of Bintang Pilsner, we found ourselves indulging in carnal pleasures of a local Indonesian massage parlour. By 11 p.m., the closed shutters of the motorcycle rental shop signalled that my 5.a.m. ride to the foothills of Merbabu was officially off the table! The long trek up and down Merbabu’s Western Trail—and my longstanding ambition to scale as many Indonesian volcanoes as possible—would simply have to wait for a more favourable alignment of timing and volcanic temperament in the future.
Plan B
After breakfast we joined a “Free Walking Tour“ with a lively local student, who took us to Pasar Legi, a traditional Javanese bazaar. For a small fee, we sampled jamu, a herbal remedy known for its health benefits, while immersing ourselves in one of the most vibrant cultural rituals around.****
Invigorated, we meandered through the narrow alleyways of Kotagede, the historic heart of Javanese silverwork and one of the oldest quarters in the city.
Some of its streets are exclusive to a single family, with their wooden houses exuding a hermetic yet airy charm. At one moment, as I sat sipping green tea, I was transported to Setagaya, a calm, almost secluded fictional neighbourhood in Tokyo that serves as the perfect backdrop for Toru Okada’s introspective and surreal journey in Murakami’s “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.”*****
Later, as I lounged by the pool at our hostel, I couldn’t help but notice my hiking footwear, forlorn and abandoned near the reception area. At least I was about to make a good use of the scooter I had booked. After a leisurely afternoon soaking up the sun, it would whisk me away from the bustling city to the magnificent Hindu temple of Prambanan.
It’s almost 6 p.m. now, and the fading light casts a warm glow over the ancient stone reliefs.
I’m sitting amidst one of the largest and most exquisite Hindu temple sites in Southeast Asia, eagerly awaiting the artists to take the stage for the “Ramyama Ballet”…
Hush! The night has fallen, but please, Mr Rumi, don’t take my cup away just yet. They’ve just begun the raucous strains of traditional Javanese gamelan music,***** and the first actor has stepped on the stage!
* An earthquake on August 5, 2018, struck the island of Lombok in Indonesia with a magnitude of 6.9, resulting in significant damage to infrastructure and the tragic loss of hundreds of lives. It was followed by a strong aftershock on August 9, which also caused fatalities and widespread structural damage.
** Mount Merapi was notably active in August 2018, particularly after an earthquake on August 11, a new lava dome began to grow within the fracture from the 2010 dome, reaching notable dimensions by mid-August. During this period, the alert level was maintained at Level 2, indicating moderate activity, and a 3-kilometre exclusion zone was enforced to protect residents from potential eruptions and pyroclastic flows.
*** ”Wean Yourself” cf. Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi, HarperOne, 2004.
**** The ritual of drinking jamu is a traditional Javanese practice, dating back centuries and is considered one of the most vibrant aspects of Javanese culture, blending ancient wisdom with natural remedies. Jamu sellers—often women dressed in traditional attire—serve colourful tonics, each crafted to address ailments like fatigue, digestive issues, or skin problems. Drinking jamu often goes beyond the medicinal and into the symbolic, as the preparation and consumption can be an intimate, personalised experience between the vendor and customer. This experience is also highly sensory, as many sellers prepare the drinks fresh in front of you, showcasing the colours, scents, and textures of each ingredient (Wikipedia).
***** Haruki Murakami, “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” (Trans. J. Rubin), 1997.
***** Rather than to music, the term "gamelan" refers to the instruments, each set being considered a unique entity, tuned only to work in harmony with its set that includes metallophones, gongs, xylophones, drums, and bowed or plucked strings like the rebab and siter, as well as bamboo flutes (Wikipedia).
Photos from Pasar Legi, Kotagede and Ramayana Ballet:
A short sample of Ramayana Ballet:
I don’t know what will be next week. Last week, I promised “My Fear Monster: A Report from Two Chambers of Cultural Disassociation” and posted something else today. I’m sorry, and remember my dear subscriber that whatever’s been published before, can be found in the archives. Also, if you can’t find my post on Monday next week, well… it will mean that I have gone to do the next thing that is making me tick at that moment I time….