introducing parakan, my birthplace

(c) ukirsari

for me personally, parakan is always be …
~ a beautiful place in the slopes of two mountains: Sindoro [sometimes also called as Sundoro] and Sumbing.
~ a small lively city with tobacco and clove fragrances.
~ a small town which is divided into two by a river so called Galeh.
~ my sweetheart, since i was born here

the legend of Ki Sura Menggala

i was born here and everytime i can see from the window of my grandparents’ house: in one of the peaks on Sumbing, there’s a place. where one of my ancestors buried; Ki Sura Menggala [later on, his name’s taken for my surname]

the legend about him spread by the mid of 18s. an inlander rebellion who got ‘guillotine’ by the Dutch. the conquerors believes; if his head join together with his body, Ki Sura Menggala can alive and continues his rebel act towards Dutch. so … he buried separated in two places: Jogjakarta and Mount Sumbing. from now on, he still lives in my heart. sembah sungkem pangabekti dalem: ukirsari katur Eyang Sura Menggala.

catch the mist

what i love most from my birthplace? oh, pretty much. too many to mention.
but the thing i’ll never forget is about ‘catch the mist’. trying to be faster than fog and mist early morning or late night.

one of my nice memories, when sibling, cousins and i back from the cinema close to midnight, after watching ‘the outsiders’. yes, i was a big fans of ralph macchio and c. thomas howell and matt dillon since 10 years old. and there’s no mass transportation from the only one cinema in the city to my granparents’ house after 10:00 PM. what can we do then? six of us [me, dhedhek, agung, dhimas, pras and han] walking fast in between fog. so freezing, pretty damn cold and i could not see. just hold dhedhek’s hand pretty tight. 2 km seems more than 10 km away!!

and how nice, when we reach home, Grandpa still awaiting us. greeting us with his deep-gentle voice: “naarhuis, naarhuis!”

visit dieng: abode of the Gods

this place addressed as dieng and so called abode of the gods. house of the gods which leavings ancient ruins of temples, predating the old buddhist temple borobudur.

even dieng doesn’t have 4 seasons the altitude over 2,300 above sea level here is astonishing.

surrounded with gorgeous mountaineous range of mount sumbing and mount sindoro. nearby the place i was born. a cozy small lively town named parakan.

after trekking to the temples which have names from the main characters of epic mahabharat, i go to the coloured lake and mingle around with locals. and found many sincerely smiles around me. so peaceful here!

20/07/04

Di-Hyang [Sanskrit lingo]

(c) ukirsari

The name Dieng taken from Sanskrit lingo Di-Hyang, means Abode of the Gods. It’s the oldest-ancient Hindu ruins in central Java, mostly built between 8th – 9th centuries and covered by plateau and several craters in Dieng.

Due to the mysterious depopulation of central Java, this archaeological site was forgotten ’till 1856 when van Kinsbergen, an archaeologist drained the flooded valley around these ruins and rediscovered remaining temples [it was over 400 temples and the rest about 8 temples so far].

From Tuk Bima Lukar to Kawah Sileri

(c) ukirsari

When I was a kid, I’d been anywhere in archaeogical sites of Dieng. And added with scenic route on the way there and back to my grandparents hometown: Parakan.
Then after, after … whenever I have much time to visit Dieng, I always visit my fave places there:
~ Tuk Bima Lukar [‘tuk’ means spring, it’s an ancient spring and flowing into Serayu River]
~ Arjuna Complex of temples
~ Dwarawati Temple
~ Gatutkaca Temple
~ Bima Temple
~ Sembungan Village [the highest village in Java, about 2,400 m above sea level]
~ Sileri Crater
~ Candradimuka Crater
~ Sikidang Crater
~ Telaga Warna [Coloured Lake] — but now it’s not so awesome as before 😦
~ Gardu Pandang Dieng