The Shirt

As promised, The Shirt was ready on Friday. It's based upon Medieval colorcombinations (left side has a different color then the right side) with a twist: the sleeves are unicolor, and the black background of the front side is stronger represented on the back side. The collar follows the color of the bodypart.
The decorations are only situated on the parts with a black background.
All in all a lovely shirt, and obviously an eye-catcher!

Now I'm curious how long it will last: since the colors are from natural substances, the shirt needs to be washed with a non-aggressive soap, and it should stay out of bright sunlight, otherwise the colors will fade away in time. I'm not too worried about it: I'm planning to wear it as much as possible, though not in the heat of the day :-) (and be assured, Yogya can be very hot in the middle of the day! It hasn't rained here for many days already, and we clearly see - and feel - the temperatures climbing up each day!). No need to say we love it !

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the desire of being pictured

One of the things that strikes me in Indonesia so far, is the desire of boys and men to be photographed. It really is incredible, when I show my camera and start taking pictures, everybody wants to model :-)

Like here in a chinese temple, some boys were re-painting the pillars, and I took a shot at one of them. The others ventured their highest creativity to attract my attention so that I would picture them too. Even an old man who was sitting there made it clear to me that I should not forget to portrait him. It's a photographers paradise here!

Speaking about paradise, I told one of the poolboys that Indonesia is a tourist paradise, and he reminded me that life for ordinary people here is not easy at all. Nevertheless, they don't loose their smile. Brave folks.

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batik

Yogya is one of the cultural capitals of Indonesia. No wonder the art of batik is so developped here. HL & E have spent half a day in dwelling the countless batik shops in Yogya, and they presented me the top 3 of their findings. What a luxury for me, to only visit the best.

The lady in this picture knows her stuff. I ordered a shirt, and she immediately understood what my idea was. At least I got that impression. As soon as the shirt is finished, I'll keep you posted!

That being said, batik here is obviously big bussiness. My friend R. in Semarang told me that his native village (2 hours from Semarang) is also famous for its batik, though not on the commercial touristic route. I'm very tempted to check that out, next time.

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Fences

Isn't it remarquable that we all build fences around us? We try to shield us from others, from those we consider the unwanted outside world. We park our car in a fenced location, so that the so-called "drop-outs" cannot reach it. We hide our emotions and feelings, afraid that they would show our vulnerability. We fence who we are.

And I plead guilty here ... I do the same in my country. It has to do with citylife and modern society, because where I grew up (a rural village), there were no fences, everybody was who they were, and they were accepted. Doors were open day and night, and nobody felt the need to hide himself.

And when I'm travelling, I return to my childhood and my fences drop. No doubt because we travel in a well-protected environment, where fences are not a necessity. Nevertheless, the feeling of liberation is undescribable. When we travel, I feel my potential unleashed, the stream of energy is unbelievable, and the feeling of wellbeing is a blessing. One could rightfully say that I'm a different person when travelling.

Do you feel the same, when away from daily routine? How can we preserve this most valuable feeling, and ban the negativity of routine out of our lives?

Do share me your insight!

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Boro-Budur (the Buddha near Boro)

A remarquable place, this 8th century Buddist temple near Boro (1 hour drive from Yogyakarta). A huge complex, and not one gram of cement was used: all the stones fit perfectly into each other and interconnect with each other, which in itself is a wonder.
If only the human world could achieve the same perfection ....

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Violent Education

Strange thing when we talk with our friends here ... all of them where beaten up by their parents when they were young. And I'm not talking about simple disciplining, but really beating.

Due to our travel plans, I have no time to do a research on this topic, but it surely is fascinating: how violent is the invisible layer of the culture here?

And for my other friends: what were your experiences, where you beaten up when you were young? Was it considered to be a normal thing? And why?

Too many questions for today :-)

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eyeing towards the future

We are only a few days here, so I am in no way able to form an opinion on the country and its future. From what I've seen and heard, I think that the country is looking to the future with a legitime confidence, although not without setbacks, mainly because of corruption. There is a lot of wealth, but it doesn't always go where it should be going.

That being said, I admire most of the people I've met. Their "joie de vivre" is their greatest strenght. I admire them for that.

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2 models for the price of 1

Funny thing in the square in front of the "stadhuis" in Jakarta, Indonesia. There was a photoshoot going on, a female model with high heels, and fancy clothes, was performing her actions (beautiful ruined art deco buildings in the background) and suddenly one of the streetkids thought that she had the same capabilities and joined her in the modelling, disturbing all the carefully staged settings. Life is chaos, and streetkids will remind you of that in case you forgot!

It was quite lovely though to see the modellist gently remove the streetkid. No harsh words, no brutal pushing, just gently persuading to stay out. Unfortunately she came back, time after time. She wanted to be in the picture!

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The Thumb

Funny thing in the "Stadhuis" in Jakarta, Indonesia: amongst the many canons that are standing there, this one has "the thumb". According to our guide there, it's a fertility icon (females who can't get pregnant have to push their private parts to the thumb, and males who cannot produce a kid perform the same ritual), although for me the real original meaning indicates something that is centuries old: I'll f*ck u :-) which, in the way of a canon, includes a lot of balls :-)

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