our tourism

Sultan's Palace

We visited the Sultan's Palace, Kraton. Indonesia consists of 26 provinces (prior to the secession of East Timor, there were 27) and the majority of provinces are run by governors. But a few Sultans had been allowed to remain in power. The father of the current Sultan of Yogya had remained in power because he was a vitally important fighter in Indonesia's war for independence from the Dutch.

Coincidentally, our group leader had played an anti-independence Dutch military man, years ago in a small Indonesian film. He had been living in Yogya at the time and the filmmakers had rounded up all the westerners they could find and hired them as extras. The 'Dutch' army had consisted of Australians, Canadians, Americans, British, and a few Germans. One of the Germans had a few on-screen speaking lines -- the theory being that German would sound like Dutch to the average Indonesian. Our guide had been quite exuberant in his death scene, overacting to the hilt and enjoying the experience. He had never seen the film.

We watched classical dancing in the Sultan's courtyard. You can see classical dancing there twice a week-- one day is the official performance and the other is the rehearsal. We were there for the rehearsal, which is more sparsely attended than the real thing. It happens every Sunday and is very colorful and intricate. The dancing is accompanied by musicians playing on traditional instruments.