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Jakarta
The capital Jakarta retains much from the colonial Dutch and British
periods with several fine colonial-style buildings and the newly
restored ‘old quarter’. The National Monument
towers 140 metres or 450 feet above the Merdeka Square and is topped with a ‘flame’
plated in pure gold. The Central Museum has a
good ethnological collection with statues dating from the pre-Hindu
era. The Portuguese Church is also worth a visit,
completed by the Dutch in 1695, which houses a fantastic, immense
Dutch pump organ. The modern Istiqlal Mosque
in the city centre is 1 of the largest mosques in the world. The
antiques market on Jalan Surabaya
and batik factories in the Karet
are also worth visiting. Puppet shows are staged, where traditional
wayang golak and wayang kulit marionettes act out stories based
on well-known legends. Some performances can last all night.
Elsewhere on Java
About 13 kilometres or 8 miles from Yogyakarta is the Prambanan
temple complex, built in honour of the Hindu gods Shiva, Brahma
and Vishnu. It includes the 10th century Temple of Loro
Jonggrang and said to be the most flawlessly proportioned
Hindu temple in Indonesia. There are also open-air performances
of Ramayana ballet which involve 100's of dancers, singers and
gamelan musicians. Sitting on a hill to the west
of Yogyakarta lies Borobudur, probably the largest
Buddhist sanctuary in the world, which contains more than 5 kilometres
(3 miles) of relief carvings.
The Royal Mangkunegaran Palace in Surakarta is
currently a museum, displaying dance ornaments, 19th-century carriages
used for royal occasions, jewellery and much more. Mount
Bromo in the east is still very active, and horseback
treks to the crater’s edge can be begun from nearby Surabaya.
August and September brings a series of bullock races to Madura,
which culminate in a 48-hour non-stop carnival celebration in
the town of Pamekasan.
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