A Day Trip to Gedong Songo Bandungan - Hindu Temples / Banyu Biru Prison Camp

Candi Gedong Songo - Hindu Temple Mt Ungaran

Friday morning - ah a NEW DAY...we decided to enjoy the great weather we were having and go for a ride on our bikes!  Great weather...Great idea!  So off we went at 10 am to enjoy the ride through the villages once again!  It can still be busy on these two lane roads but still- it is lots of fun especially climbing up in elevation which we did!

We decided to go to Ambarawa passing Banyu Biru on the way.  When we past the Police Academy - Nick stopped ahead and decided to go back and see if we might be able to go inside of this Police Training facility....why you ask?  Because this is the very camp that Nick, Cecile and Nick were confined in when the Japanese invaded Indonesia for 3.5 yrs. 

This police academy was the concentration camps for the Dutch during the war, and before the war it was actually a  prison.   They were here with so many others from 1942-1945....it was called then Banyu Biru Women Camp.   We have driven by it on our bike rides several times already but had not  yet inquired with the guards at the gate post if we could enter.

So we made a U-turn and drove up to the post and asked the men there in broken bahasa Indonesian if we could go inside to see the barracks.  The 3 police officers at the gate DID understand enough to know that when Nick was small he lived here...we were pretty sure some may have known the history of this facility.  They made an inquiry on the walkie-talkie and then one officer asked us to follow him onto the grounds - which we gladly did!

We went into the compound and past many buildings and came to a other post and there where Captain greeted us and understood a little more.  He said not now - but if we could come back at 3 pm - they would show us around!  Oh my - how great is that! 

So off we went on our ride - heading to Bandungan to go see the Hindu Temples we had heard about up high on a mountain! 

Oh I must tell you all - I JUST LOVE RIDING THAT MOTORBIKE UP & DOWN THOSE MOUNTAINS! How fun it is - zipping around like that!  I sure hope we can do the same back home!

 

We paid our fee to enter...there was other tourists viewing these old dwellings.

 Here's a Link on Mount Ungaran

 

 A colt was getting a little training ~ he had a mind of his own - yet!

 You could go by horseback along the paths to the different temples - but oh were we glad we did not consider that....the horses walked on the stone blocks that was the pathway...and later it began to rain too...so slippery!

Nick recalls having come here 25 yrs ago - and his driver had taken a picture of him by the sign!

 Well lets do it again Nico....! We will have to see your picture album from 25 yrs ago and go through that again when we return!

 These grounds are also used to grow tea...and so we saw many levels of tea gardens on our walk upward to the temples.

 These dwelling are quite old...VIII C

 There was a stone alter inside.

 Each temple (candi) was higher in elevation....so we kept climbing.

 The name Gedong Songo is derived from Javanese "Gedong" which means house or building and "sanga" means nine.  So Gedong Songo Nice houses or dwellings ~ Simple huh?

 It is hard to imagine these go back to 800 AD amazing huh? 

 There was a sulphureous Sping that came out of the rock close to the creek...so the setting was

 

We had climbed up and then down again to this river canyon...and it was hot.  We had brought some water & some health bars so sat in the shade and rested a bit.

 Back down again passing some buildings that were used for overnight stays - simple but serene.

 Do you see the pathway we still had to walk.....it was a great hike...probably about 2 miles all together...and we had built up a sweat!  Good exercise!

OK Nico are we hungry?  I would think so...so let's zip down to that once Dutch owned restaurant Hotel RAWA PENING PRATAMA ~ they serve a nice lunch?  So off we went - felt so good to get back on the bike and feel the wind! Whoa!

 Welcome!  Selamat Datang!

 Saw some pretty flowers in the garden...just have to take a moment to enjoy!

 Such beautiful gardens and you can sit under the Pavilion that overlooks the lake and Salatiga in the distance~

 All Right- All Right...is everything cool???!!!!!!

 Yes it is -

 Here comes lunch - we enjoyed it !  They had" Kroketjes" but it was filled with potato instead of the ragout we are used to in Holland - nevertheless very nice! 


As we headed back to the bikes I saw this Thermometer - it was a old one...probably from the olden days....what fun to read!

Well it was time...3 pm and we had an appointment to meet the police again at the front gate at the Police Academy...so we headed down the mountain to Banyu Biru again...and were there right on time!  The officer at the gate saw us coming and again we followed him into the compound.  This time we went on to the officer's post and they asked for some ID which we gave them - our Oregon drivers license.  They made a copy and then this other office Kapitein Sudwondo came to us (the one on the left) and as we talked and he realized we were "Indo" and he had this big grin on his face and then gave me a warm hug and Nick a warm handshake!  Oh what a blessing it was!  He was so kind and friendly and especially for Nick coming back to this place - it was a real blessing!  He welcomed us back.... his "family" he said!  Oh my...we were so' touched!

The two officers asked us to follow them and we came to some barracks that he said was old and from the Dutch times.  He pointed out the wooden ceilings with the big beams.  These barracks are still being used when there is training going on.  There was bunk beds in the barracks but of course they were not from the past.

Kapitein Sudwondo brought us to another building that was older still, and pointed out the floor...the floor was made of stones but a large area of it was only dirt - he told us that they had recently opened it up because in this particular area the stones kept lifting up...he told us they found bones there - buried from the war time...of the people that had been killed.  Wow - how sad is that???!!!! Yes he said they were decapitated.  How overwhelming that was to hear.  This was a Women Camp but we also know that before it was used during the war it was also a prison for many years ~ Anyway hearing such cruel things is sad!  War is ugly!

 Then we were brought along to another building -  down a corridor...through another building and then into this area - that was used in the past but longer ...they had built around it but Kapitein Sudwondo wanted to show it to us as well.   It was from the Dutch era and so he wanted to be sure that we saw it.  He showed us the prison cell - and it was a small room...so hard to imagine people actually lived like that for so many years- tough!
 Nick picked up some broken roof tiles to bring back to Cecile and the family down in LA. area - his nephew & niece who both were with their mother (Nick's sister Maud) & also were incarcerated here with Nick & family. 

Well you can imagine what an emotional afternoon this was - but it was good...all part of this trip we have made in Indonesia...another link to the past.  We are thankful to these officers who were so kind to take us through.  They understood.  God has been so good to us - being able to re-trace some steps and it has been a very valuable & fulfilling time for Nick & I.  

We are so very grateful ~