Solo by bicycle
I didn’t have much planned and was going to go visit the palaces here in Solo. The sultan here still exists but unlike in Jogja, he is only a figurehead. The guidebooks suggest that the palaces here aren’t as good; one had been rebuilt due to a fire.
Over breakfast, I chatted to three Swiss and eventually joined them on their cycling tour of Solo.
First stop was a gamelan factory, where the instruments are made. It was a large room with a sandy floor. The artisans pour molten copper in to moulds. They heat and beat the cast instrument to refine it, then do their final tuning in a clean room next door.
Where does the copper come from? I saw a bunch of copper cables lying on the ground. Someone somewhere had probably had their power, phone or internet rudely interrupted when their cables were ripped out! Don’t you think gamelan is more beautiful than facebook is necessary?
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- At the Gamelan factory.
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- At the Gamelan factory.
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- Firing a gamelan gong.
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- Working on a gamelan gong.
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- The gamelan factory is not a smoke-free (or dust-free) work place.
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- Copper cables from “somewhere” that will be turned into a nice musical instrument.
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- At the Gamelan factory.
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- At the Gamelan factory.
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- Technical specs of the gamelan.
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- Tuning the gamelan instruments.
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- Smoko or tea break at the gamelan factory.
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- The finished product.
I hadn’t been that keen on visiting a batik factory as I had “been there, done that” before. But that was our next stop. It proved more interesting than expected. We paid to go into an exquisite Batik musuem owned by the Danar Hadi batik factory. That was even more interesting learning about the different styles of batik and the nuances:
- Jogja stripes slant from top-left down to bottom-right; Solo is the mirror-image.
- What Solonese wear for funeral is the same as what Jogjans wear for parties!
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- Natural barks for batik dyes.
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- Batik Cap or stamped batik.
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- Making batik tulis or drawn batik (literally written).
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- At the batik factory.
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- Batik stamps.
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- Waxed cloth with the pattern. This is a Jogja pattern … flip it round and it becomes a Solo pattern … or is it the other way around?
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- Becak or rickshaws.
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- Cycling around Solo.
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- The kraton or palace at Solo.
Our cycling tour guide was a young Solonese who had spent two years in Nelson, New Zealand as an au-pair for a German family who was in Indonesia … so it’s an idea if you want to bring some home-help from overseas. However, be prepared for a long process though … my friends who have maids go through the hassles of organising the appropriate visas travelling with their maids as domestic helpers do not get the same visitor visa that their employers get.
The traffic had built up a bit since we first started and the ride on my rickety bike proved hair-raising at times.
When night falls
I went out with the Swiss threesome for dinner, joined briefly by a Japanese guy that I went to Prambanan with (back in Jogja). We found at the local open-air dining street a place that had a tank of cobras. They’ll cut it open, let you drink the blood and make the snake into a satay (or other dish as you please). We opted for something less adventurous.
Back at our homestay, gamelan practice was on. We sat in on an enchanting hour of percussive enchantment. Like last night, I conclude that Java isn’t a place you just see … it has to be experienced.
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- Our homestay in Solo.
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- Our homestay in Solo.
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- Our homestay in Solo.
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- Our homestay is also home to the community gamelan orchestra.
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- Our homestay is also home to the community gamelan orchestra.
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- At the open-air food street, this woman plays with a cobra. You can drink its blood and then have it as satay. My flash blinded her, the cobra struck and she died … LOL
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- Cobras at the open air food street. You can drink its blood and then have it as satay.
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- Promising benefits of consuming cobra!
