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Apedemak
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| Joined: | Sunday October 17th, 2004 |
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| Posts: | 3135 |
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Posted: Thursday March 8th, 2007 17:10 |
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¤º°`º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°°º¤ø¤º°`¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤
8 March 2007
Greetings Family,
How are you? It is early afternoon here in Central
Java and brother Runoko is just fine. Today, thank
god, there are no earthquakes or rain storms or plane
crashes to report. But I confess that I am starting
to get a little bored. I have done pretty much what I
came here to do.
This morning I visited the Prambanan temple complex
just northeast of the city of Yogyakarta. It is
essentially Hindu in character and is the largest such
temple complex in all of Indonesia. And it is indeed
impressive.
All of the more than two hundred temples in the
Prambanan area were built between the eighth and tenth
centuries when the southern part of Java was ruled by
the Buddhist Sailendra dynasty and the northern part
ruled by the Hindu Sanjaya dynasty.
The biggest of the Prambanan temples is called Candi
Shiva. Candi is the Javanese word for temple and this
particularly grand temple is dedicated to the great
Hindu deity Shiva. Candi Shiva is most imposing and
stands close to fifty meters high. Like the Borobudur
temple, Candi Shiva is composed of dark volcanic stone
and covered with intricate reliefs telling the story
of the Hindu epic called the Ramayana.
The Prambanan temples are spread out over an area of
several kilometers. This morning I was only able to
see a few, including the larger ones. I would have
seen more but I accidentally ripped my pants climbing
inside the big temple. I wasn't supposed to be inside
at all, as there is a high wire fence surrounding the
place installed to keep people out. But I could not
resist the temptation to go inside and so I bribed a
couple of the local guards and there I went  . The
other impediment, in addition to the ripped pants
(just a nice old pair of blue jeans), was that the
heat and humidity were so high that I found myself
soaking wet after just a short time. I will never
come back to Indonesia this time of year!
I knew in advance that the climatic conditions were
going to be tough before I left the United States but
I had some extra time on my hands and some frequent
flier airline miles to expend, and so I came anyway.
And I've really got nothing to complain about anyhow.
After all, how many people do you know who've been to
Central Java in the first place? Here I am sitting in
the courtyard of an expensive and classy hotel sipping
exotic cocktails, typing on my lap top computer,
listening to a nice compact disc of some Aboriginal
Australian sisters that I bought in Alice Springs,
Australia a few years ago, and basically ignoring all
of these white folks and Japanese tourists, as well as
Indonesians, glancing at me and wondering what planet
I came from. I tell you that that life is not all
that bad!
To conclude today's little email, allow me to say that
I still have two more nights here in Yogyakarta, plus
another night in Bali, and yet another in Guam, before
I return to the USA and so I should have more than
enough time to send you at least a couple more emails.
(Aren't you the lucky ones!) And I will make it a
point to share with you some of the basic observations
that I've noted.
But let me tell you right now that my goal at this
moment is to visit a hundred countries. And I intend
to do it fairly soon; perhaps, god willing, within the
next three to four years. How about that? A short
lifetime of traversing the globe in search of the
ancient and modern African presence. It should make
for a nice little legacy. I've been thinking about it
for a while now and even mentioned it to a couple of
people close to me. And so now you know as well. You
must be in the inner circle! So that is what I intend
to do. And, barring serious illness, personal or
global financial collapse, a great war or something
like it, I think that it is within my grasp to
achieve.
So there you have it sisters and brothers. I firmly
believe that the Ancestors have my back and that I
have an extraordinary mission in my life.
Okay folks, enough for now. I think that I am going
to order another Mojito cocktail and thank the
Ancestors for the bounty that they have bestowed upon
me. For me, life right now is very good. And
tomorrow morning I intend to put on another pair of
old blue jeans and climb into some more temples! So
pray for the brother.
In love of Africa,
Brother Runoko, feeling a bit tipsy in Central Java
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_
Last edited on Thursday March 8th, 2007 19:01 by Apedemak
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