You went where?!?

So, I am probably one of the world's strangest tourists. Instead of visiting places which are popular with most people, I prefer to travel to graves - especially monuments to national "heroes." Yeah, kind of crazy. But still, I think it is intensley interesting. How a nation remembers its heroes tells you a great deal about the political situation of the time. Also, it lets you know the strength of the efforts to create national identity.

Here I am at Suharto's grave. Suharto was the dictator of Indonesia from 1966-1998. During that time he presided over the decimation of his opposition (estimates range from 1/2 million to 2 million were killed in his initial power grab). He also led the country into an era of rapid economic growth, in which it became one of the small "tigers," or rapidly growing Asian economies. The economy, though, failed him in 1997 during the Asian Financial Crisis. He stepped down from government in 1998, and eventually passed away in his home. The economic woes have since continued. His grave is on a mountain side, and it serves as a popular point to visit for many Indonesians who recall the benefits of the rapid economic growth under the authoritarian regime. About 3,000 visit each day, with the number rising to 7,000 on weekends and holidays.

I also went to this gravesite, which was a Suharto creation. On October 1, 1965 (or September 30), 6 military generals and another soldier were killed in a supposed communist attempt at a coup. This was the basis for Suharto's power grab; as the senior-most remaining military leader, he was able to consolidate power quickly. Soon after, he instigated a mass slaughter of the members of the PKI, or the communist party of Indonesia. In justification, Suharto built this monument at the location of the general's deaths. You can see the general at the front pointing at visitors, giving them responsibility of building up Indonesia. Kind of passing the torch.

Lest you think that all I do is visit graves, I also visit ruins - which are similar in many respects. Here is Prambanan. It is a Hindu temple which was heavily damaged in the earthquake a few years ago. Lots of rubble is still falling from the towers, thus we were only allowed to get into one of them. It was intersting, but also very, very hot there. We just ran from shady spot to shady spot. Here you can see one of the chandi is in the midst of restoration.

Lest you think that my life consists merely of traveling about visiting graves and monuments here, I would love to include another picture. But as I have been here for 1/2 hour trying to get Windows to work with me, I am giving up. It suddenly decided that it can't recognize my photo card reader. For those of you who are Mac fans out there, I am almost ready to join your ranks. Windows is crap.