Solo - Borobudur

On the second day early morning, we setted out to Borobudur! Super excited cuz I like to see historical sites. I was really very dead because the day before I go Solo, I slept like 2 hours then on the first night, I slept like 5 hours. Not enough sleep!!

We as usual gathered at the 5-star Sunan Hotel first and waited for the other troupes to come down.

Mung Mung on the other hand was all set to go out with his hat on. In case you guys don't know, Mung Mung was very popular with the troupe! Everyone likes him!!!

Ang likes to use him to hammer her back.....

But she also wanted to take photo with him. Hee hee... later on, Susan also took photo with him.

Very popular Mung2. We got on the bus after awhile and the LO started giving out boxes which contains some bread and water for our breakfast. I think the organisers are very thoughtful.

Our breakfast box.

This is the 'kai lu' police car. Later, it will be escorting us to Borobudur which is a 2.5 hours drive from our hotel. There are a few police cars stationed at the hotel too.

Arriving at Borobudur, Susan asked Mung2 to be the tour guide! Everyone, please don't get lost and follow Mung Mung!

Aaah, the famous Borobudur temple. It's really huge! It was built about 1200 years ago. Imagine that.

The tour guide explained to us that the stupas on the temple were built to imitate the bodhi leaf when folded.

From left, Lin Hong, Susan, Shui Xiao Yan and me. Notice that we were wearing uniform? This t-shirt was given to us the previous day in the goody bag. We got to wear this when we go for field trips.

We are going to start climbing the temple. I want to go up to the TOP storey! The one behind susan is Shui and the one behind me is Faizah.

Can you spot mung2? Hee hee.. Camouflaged. Look at the intricate carvings! They are so beautiful.

Me and Mung mung were touching something that is 1200 years old.

This was taken about 4 levels from the top. These are the stupas I was talking about. They were built to imitate bodhi leaves.

Inside each stupa, there is a statue of a buddha. It is said that you will have good fortune if you can touch the buddha inside. I tried my luck.

Yay! I can touch the buddha's arm. Mung's arms are too short. He cannot touch it. Lol...

The buddha inside.

Nice, I was glad we came here!

After we left Borobudur, I fell asleep in the bus again.... About an hour later, I was woken up to see an old indian temple which was destroyed by the tsunami a few years ago.

Look at this! Magnificent! For the past 2 years, the government has tried to restore this temple but the progress was slow because they will need to piece all those stones together like a mega jigsaw puzzle. Look at all those stones! I wonder how long they are going to take to put them all together again.

It was beautiful.

The stretch of coaches waiting for us...

When we got on the coaches, the LO distributed fruits and some snacks to us again. In fact, they gave us so much food that we can't finish at all. We all bring them back to the hotel and I didn't have time to eat them anyway. All my free time were used for sleeping. Lol..

Solo - Opening Ceremony

We attended the opening ceremony on the first evening. Like I said in the previous post, I was quite suay cuz I need to go to the dancing school with the teachers to translate for them. I must say that the Indonesian dancers did a great job. I like their dances. It is a Javanese dance yet it has chinese opera elements in it.


Taken in our hotel lobby. I should have taken some photos of the dance rehearsal but I forgot. All I know is that the place was very hot and I want to get it done asap.

In the coach, I saw many people on the street were waving us though they didn't know who we are. Lol. Some even took photos of us. When we arrived at the palace (opening ceremony was in the palace), we marched into the ceremony area like we were walking on red carpet. There was music and dancing to welcome us.


The ceremony area (which will also be our stage). As it was still early, we decided to walk around the ceremony area to look at the exhibits.

Susan posing with a mask. When she saw the photo, she exclaimed loudly,"I look so ugly!"

I told her that she will be beaten up if someone hears her.

Me pretending to play their traditional instrument.

Susan also pretending to play. She told me that she likes to pretend. Lol, in the batik factory, she also pretend to do the batik.

Li lao shi also joined in the fun.

Susan in front of the main palace with Ang in the background. Think Ang was dying le cuz she told me that she was very tired and has little eat for that day.

Performance by the locals. This lady has got a very cool hair style. I liked it. QY and Ang liked it too.

Her hairstyle from the back.

This is a fashion show modelling their batik products. The dresses are quite nice actually but actually I think is because the models are pretty~

Almost died from exhaustion of the whole day's events. When we got back to the hotel, we washed up quickly and went to sleep because we will be going to Borobudor the next day. The bus will be leaving at 6am!!

Solo

*singing* Bengawan Solo~~~ la la la la laaaa~

Yes de, DA JIA HAO! I am back from Solo liao got miss me????? :D

The trip was a fully packed and rushed experience but nonetheless, it was still fruitful to me. I was so ecstatic that I can visit Borobudur!!! It is truly one of the wonders of the world with it's magnificent structure. I took lots of photos of that place.

Hmm.. I am thinking how I should blog this trip, go by days or go by events? I think maybe days ba....

-Day 1-

We took a super early flight at 0755 so we gotta reach the airport at 0555. Woot!~ Sleepy like mad but fortunately we got to sleep in the plane.

My monkey, his name is Mung Mung. From now one I will just call him Mung2 ok. Mung2 was very excited cuz it's the first time he is taking a plane!

Mung Mung and me. I look very dead cuz I didn't sleep much the day before, almost concussion liao.

QY and me gossiping as usual. Hahaha...

Airport of Solo. We were very heng cuz we took a direct flight. We were split into 2 groups and the other group was not so heng. They took a transit so they will board the plane at 10am but reach solo only around 2pm. Transit still got to wait 2 hours. Poor things.

We board the plane at 0755 and arrived at about 9am (Solo time) which is 10am Singapore time. Good for us, we got more time to rest and eat.

This is the registration area at the airport to welcome all the participants of this event which I found out was called World Heritage Cities. As you can see, we are very 'dua pai' (big shot) that the registration area was guarded with police too.

We went to a 5-star hotel to register ourselves and get our goody bag. This hotel was supposed to be our hotel because we are so 'big shot' but apparently, COI did not do the co-ordination well and we ended up in a 3-star hotel. What the hell lor. Sad. The organizer also paiseh that they got to put us there but anyway, we still eat all our meals at the 5-star hotel.

The goody bag, which I have no photos of, is a batik cloth bag with a pen, notebook, slippers, t-shirt, hat, mask, name tag and some flyers inside. The hat is orange colour which I thought is a weird colour lor. So bright!

The goody bag is of good quality so I think my mum will like a bag like that.

Saw this sign outside Sunan Hotel, no durians allowed in the hotel!

After that, we went to the 3-star hotel to check in and went back to Sunan Hotel for lunch. The lunch was not bad lah, I like the dessert!

The lunch buffet~

Mr Mung also like the food!

After eating, we went to the Batik museum. For each troupe, there will be 2 LO attached to them. The Liaison Officers will be in charge of our transports and needs. So our LO told us that they will be bringing us to the Batik museum then after that we will need to go to the opening ceremony.

We felt like we are superstars lor, hahaha. Every time when we go out for field trips, there will be police cars escorting us! They will sound the siren and 'open road' in front will 6 or 7 big coaches follow behind. People on the streets were gazing at our coaches wondering which big shot is in town.

When we arrived at the museum, there were a couple of camera men and photographers standing outside the coaches filming us coming out of it.

Camera men wore a name tag with the word 'PRESS' on it.

QY still tot that those photographers are those that take photos of you and later ask you to pay money for it. I told her they are reporters. Lol...

The guy in blue in the photo above is our LO.

Mung2 and me in the batik museum.

We got a chance to visit their workshop too. The moment we stepped in, the strong smell and the heat of the workshop almost knocked me out! The factory area was very very hot because they have to use fire to constantly keep the wax melted and the strong smell comes from the melted wax.


Indonesian woman using the wax to fill in the patterns.

Man printing the designs onto the white cloth.

I also pretend to do the batik.

After visiting the museum, we went back to our hotel to shower and get ready for the opening ceremony. Unfortunately, the very unlucky me did not go directly to the opening ceremony. Ang, Lin Hong, Li, Shui and me gotta go to the Solo dancing school to watch their rehearsal. They will be joining us for the performance the next day so we need to go see how is their progress. Actually it's not my business but I have to be there to translate for the teachers...

Ok, I will blog more another day~