Java
The capital city of Jakarta retains much from the colonial Dutch and British periods, with many fine colonial-style buildings and the recently restored ‘old quarter’. The National Monument towers 140m (450ft) above the Merdeka Square and is crowned with a ‘flame’ plated in pure gold. The Central Museum has a fine ethnological collection including statues dating from the pre-Hindu era. Worth visiting is the Portuguese Church, completed by the Dutch in 1695, which houses a magnificent and immense Dutch pump organ. The modern Istiqlal Mosque in the city centre is one of the largest in the world. There is an antiques market on Jalan Surabaya and batik factories in the Karet. Throughout the island, puppet shows are staged in which traditional wayang golak and wayang kulit marionettes act out stories based on well-known legends; performances can sometimes last all night.
Around 13km (8 miles) from Yogyakarta is the Prambanan temple complex, built in honour of the Hindu gods Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu, which includes the 10th-century Temple of Loro Jonggrang and said to be the most perfectly proportioned Hindu temple in Indonesia. At the temple there are also open-air performances of Ramayana ballet which involve hundreds of dancers, singers and gamelan musicians. Perched on a hill to the west of Yogyakarta is Borobudur, probably the largest Buddhist sanctuary in the world, which contains more than 5km (3 miles) of relief carvings. The Royal Mangkunegaran Palace in Surakarta is now used as a museum and has displays of dance ornaments, jewellery and 19th-century carriages used for royal occasions. Mount Bromo in the east of Java is still very active, and horseback treks to the crater’s edge can be made from nearby Surabaya. During August and September, Madura is a venue for a series of bullock races which culminate in a 48-hour non-stop carnival celebration in the town of Pamekasan.
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