I arrived in Solo after 26 hours and three flights on the evening of my birthday August 12th, met by Hartono in full court regalia, including a parang rusak barong motif batik, a design originally worn only by the king. When he asked before I left the US how I wanted to get home from the [...]

A royal welcome to Java

I arrived in Solo after 26 hours and three flights on the evening of my birthday August 12th, met by Hartono in full court regalia, including a parang rusak barong motif batik, a design originally worn only by the king. When he asked before I left the US how I wanted to get home from the airport which is about 25 km, I jokingly told him by oxcart. Instead he hired a dokar, 

a traditional mode of transport in many rural areas of Java. It is a wonderful horse-drawn buggy and I had never ridden one before. It was a warm clear evening and I thoroughly enjoyed the two-hour ride home to Karanganyar. A wonderful meal of my favorite Javanese dishes prepared by Mbak Minah, my housekeeper, awaited me, and a birthday cake with a very special wish for my 60th year. “Welcome in 59, Year of You”.

This entry was written by daniel, posted on August 13, 2008 at 8:06 pm, filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
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