Jambi,the Challenge of Tourism

I was in Jambi to visit my brother's family and, while I was there, I wanted to visit the Muaro Jambi Temple Complex. My brother had lived there for five years but had never even heard of it, so he had to ask around for directions. I myself had only found out about it through a Hungarian friend. When I found the temple complex I really couldn't believe what I was seeing. Temples sprouted up from a huge grassy park surrounded by forests in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

The Muaro Jambi Temple Complex is the largest in Indonesia and twice the size of Angkor Wat. It was first discovered in 1883 by the English naval officer S.C. Crooke and he was soon followed by the foreign researchers who would give the temples their names. It was not until 1954 that Indonesian authorities carried out a full survey of the site. In 1976 it was tidied up, and in 1981 it was finally properly researched. Apparently they discovered 82 temples buried underground, though so far only 11 have been restored, including Candi Gampung, Candi Tinggi, Candi Gedong and Candi Kedaton.

The Muaro Jambi Temple

Muaro Jambi is a Buddhist complex, built between the 10th and 13th centuries during the Melayu Kuno and Sriwijaya periods. It is called a complex because the individual temples are built systematically around a central structure with support buildings, drainage ditches, walls and gateways. All the temples here are built using large red bricks so it is no surprise they are easily damaged. It is also thought the complex included residential areas, and Chinese ceramics from the Sung dynasty have been found here. The whole time I was in the complex I was distracted by the smell of the durian being eaten by local tourists enjoying a picnic and the spectacular views from the shores of lake Telago Rajo. Otherwise, there was hardly anyone in the complex, although we did run into a group of kids sitting on top of one of the temples, taking photographs, having a laugh, smoking and then leaving their trash lying around. Frustrating!

We found a museum housing a collection of artefacts discovered around the complex, but it was closed that afternoon. I went around the back to see if I could get someone to open it up and found an old man in the public toilet. "Oh, kakak wants to go inside the museum? I just closed because noone seemed interested today." Incredible! In the end I slipped him some change to encourage him back to work and he was happy to show us around. There was a statue of Pradnyaparamita which had lost its head, a statue of GajahSinga, stones from the base of a temple, coins, ceramics and more. Some of the other visitors also came in to look around. It was depressing to see them touch and even kiss the statues and then sit on them to take a photograph!

Some of the collection is also housed in the Jambi Province National Museum on Jalan Urip Sumoharjo, but every time I passed by there it was closed. I knocked on the door once and was told the museum was under renovation. My ten year old cousin showed me a path around the side that had not been closed off and we found statues that were hundreds of years old just left outside on the terrace unguarded!

The most impressive building in Jambi has to be the Governor's office. This spectacular building looks like the White House but is built in the Melayu style. There is a large lawn in front surrounded by lush trees and on Sunday we went inside to take our photos in front of the building. We were soon approached by security, asked to leave, and told we were not allowed to take pictures there. It's a shame the public can't visit such a beautiful building so I told them I was a tourist, all the way from Jakarta, who just wanted to take a few pictures and they finally let me in.

Another building a tourist should see is the Al Falah Great Mosque, also known as the Mosque of a Thousand Columns. Although it might look like there are a thousand columns, there are actually only 232 (a bit like the "Thousand Islands" of which there are actually only 105). The mosque has a huge and colourful dome and stained glass calligraphy in the windows. A massive chandelier hangs in the middle and forty of the pillars are plated with copper and covered in beautiful engravings. Part of the mosque is without walls to keep it cool. When I was taking pictures, people were staring at me as if to ask, "Why would you want to take pictures of a mosque?"

If you are looking for gifts to take home with you, the first place to visit is a batik store. I had only ever seen Javanese batik before so what I found in Jambi was very different. It is made from soft cotton and the colours are stunning with blood red, fuchsia pink, dark purple, orange, deep blue, turquoise, and more. Motifs include ships, swans, peacocks, pomegranates, pineapples, grapes and durian! Jambi batik has been famous since 1928 when T. Adam brought some back for researchers at the Colonial Institute in Amsterdam. If you are looking for batik I heard there was another good place near Sungai Batang Hari, but we couldn't find out how to get there. It's a shame because a batik centre like the one in Sukaraja, Lombok, would make an excellent tourist attraction.

For New Year's Eve in 2010, the big event in Jambi was a gala dinner at the city's most expensive hotel. Guests were dressed to the hilt, hair fresh from the salon, men in jackets and little girls in their Cinderella dresses. It was a buffet and, of course, included the usual scramble for food. But what was really surprising was the band made up of transvestites. They wore skimpy outfits, danced, turned somersaults, and sang while sitting on the laps of men in the audience! I guess this was popular in Jambi, and the ballroom was packed with happy laughing people. What I found funniest was a palm reader called Miss Loreng.

From the stage she asked if anyone wanted to come up and have their fortune told, so, of course, I had to put my hand up. She looked at my palm and said, "Watch out, ya Bow, you have to be careful with your stomach, or you will get sick easily. Regarding a partner, I can't say he is far away, Bow, but I can't say he is coming soon, either." And for that I won a food voucher!
Anyway, although they seemed somewhat challenged by the idea of tourism, Jambi had no such problems with technology. The airport had free WiFi which was more than you could say for Jakarta's SoekarnoHatta!.

Jambi,the Challenge of Tourism 2013-12-29T07:00:00+07:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: Vera