All I ever used to know about Magelang district was from what I saw through bus windows on trips to Central Java, and on my two visits to Borobudur Temple. It was merely a place that I would sweep through on the way to see family in Yogya.
Then a friend of mine told me about her time at an art camp in Magelang district. Eloprogo Art is a compound of houses, galleries and studios at Eloprogo village in Borobudur subdistrict. Out of curiosity, I asked her to take me there. We contacted the owner, artist Sony Santosa, who said we could stay overnight.
The Eloprogo Art compound is like a village of its own. Situated at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the point where the Elo and the Progo rivers meet, the surroundings are as green as any forest I have ever seen, with rambutan trees growing wildly all around.
Arriving at the entrance gate, large statues of an ox and a dragon in menacing stances greeted us. A sculpture of a woman’s head — said to be made in homage to the artist’s late first wife — was placed inside a pond. With an air of tranquility, she seems to be watching over an unfinished building, occasionally used for art performances. Paintings decorate many parts of the hamlet-like compound, with each building displaying at least one.
Sitting on stones arranged in a circle, eating peanuts and looking at the magnificent view of the river, over a lush forest, and mountain just in view, is one of the most memorable moments of my stay.
Also enjoyable was heading up to the Borobudur traditional market, where I tasted the most delightful sprout-bean porridge for only Rp 1,500 (14 cents) a serving.
The old Kangen Laut cafe also kept us well fed. Having recently changed its name to Bebek Bakar Pak Jenggot (Mr Goatee’s Roast Ducks), it serves sweet, tender duck, which gave Magelang some bonus points with my friend. She swears the area has better duck than some of Yogya’s most expensive restaurants.
Returning to Yogya a day later, I found myself wanting more of Magelang’s charm, so the next week, three other friends and I embarked on a trip in the morning, riding motorbikes even though it had started to rain.
We passed through an array of stone handicraft shops every few kilometers on Jalan Yogya-Magelang.
When we reached Mr Goatee’s Roast Duck, the owner, Alif, Mr Goatee himself, took us to the local tourist office and a friendly staff member there said he would take us to the top of Tidar Hill, a gorgeous little hummock in the backyard of Magelang’s military academy.
Alif had to do his Friday prayers, so we decided to meet him later at the hill’s entrance gate, giving us time to wander around on our own for two hours.
At the heart of the city was the Alun Alun, or the square. Here, we saw Magelang’s most iconic building, the Water Tower. Designed by a Dutch city planner in 1918, the 21.2-meter structure stands on 32 pillars and can hold up to 1,175,000 liters of water for the city’s everyday use. An enormous sign over the tower that read “Magelang Kota Harapan” (City of Hope) probably once gave the locals some optimism but is now ironically rusty and faded. Luckily, this gloomy token is not reflected in the locals, who are relaxed and smiley.
Across from the tower was an alabaster-white statue of the Indonesian national hero Prince Diponegoro. The Liong Hok Bio Buddhist temple sat adjacent to the square at the entrance of Magelang’s Chinatown, the busiest part of the city and a great cheap place for lunch.
Tidar Hill is regarded as the heartland of Javanese mysticism. Several graves of legendary figures representing Javanese mysticism and Islam are now tourist attractions.
The climb to the graves is an easy 15-minute walk up a stone stairway surrounded by pine and snake fruit trees, and leads to a tranquil view of the city.
The rain had turned from tempestuous back to drizzle, so it was clearly time to get on the road again.
About 14 kilometers from Magelang to the north are the Pringsurat Ponds. It was cold and we were soaking wet. Taking motorcycles was not the best idea, but arriving at Pringsurat was worth the pain: We got to dip in the heavenly warmth of the hot springs, surrounded by the breathtaking landscape of misty hills. But we also noticed something was missing.
Introduced to us in 2005 by a friend, Pringsurat used to have a stone relic of the Hindu god Ganesha at one end of a pond as well as many other relics. Asking the site’s caretaker about their whereabouts he said apathetically that they had been stolen.
Before we knew it, the sun was setting and our day had come to an end. So we headed back to Yogya as the rain continued to drizzle upon us.