Global Nanpa

Borobudur temple, Yogyakarta

Borobudur is probably the most impressive buddhistic monument you can find worldwide. It is not that large in size, what striked me most was the outlook, a peaceful scenary and the magical atmosphere. Videos and pictures cannot really capture it. It is incredible how much I saw and experienced in only 2 days Yogyakarta. I don’t feel like going there soon again, but it is good to know that there is a place like this out there where you could escape to, bringing your brain into a safe haven from mind-fuck terror.

http://www.vimeo.com/11964614

Prambanan temple, Yogyakarta

Prambanan temple isn’t as impressive as Borobudur, but still you should see it at least once when being around there. I let the video speak.

http://www.vimeo.com/11962839

Malioboro street, Yogyakarta

A good way to explore Malioboro street is to take the bejac, “taxi anti-pollution”. The colors of entire city of Yogyakarta look funny in my eyes, they use colors like yellow, blue and pink. It often does not harmonize or isn’t fitting with our western design standards. Maybe that makes it a bit more charming. Of course there are nasty street sales guys also, but they are not as aggressive at all compared with other places I had recently been to. It looks very different but it feels very much like being in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This is the best place to compare it within South East Asia.

I guess the reason why Yogyakarta has such many pharmacies is probably because so many older people live there. It is slow-paced and a great retirement place. A cool, younger guy working for Hyatt Regency was telling me about his career worries there. As a young person in Yogyakarta is not much to build, achieve, modernize or whatsoever - it is totally non-dynamic. For older people living there and tourists searching peace and serenity : that’s exactly what the beauty is.

http://www.vimeo.com/11952924

Water Castle, Yogyakarta

The water castle is just next to the bird market, so you can easily walk from there. Although Yogyakarta went through many changes during its history, it seems like that the sites are still well maintained, not much got destroyed or rebuilt so that you get the feeling you took a trip with a time machine when walking around there. It feels unreal certainly. The normal people that cross your path are not only very friendly but also have a lot knowledge to offer. Surprising is always the fact that most of them are critical thinkers, something that’s sadly not often existing anymore in Asia.

http://vimeo.com/11949862

Ngasem bird market, Yogyakarta

The bird market was one of the most unique things I saw in Yogyakarta. It is like a mini world, lots of things to explore and I felt a sensual overload there, you cannot see, hear, smell everything that’s crossing your path. I even got a little headache soon because it was so dense, humid and simply too much sensual information. I felt a lot more better when we walked from there to the Sultan’s palace. One of the best things about Yogyakarta is that time seems to stand still.

http://www.vimeo.com/11771520

Lady Bar 2 from Xavier Durringer also known as “The ape gives Buddha honey” or “Up to you part 2 ” or “Don’t give away flowers in Thailand part 2″.

The second part of the movie will be shown on the French TV channel Arte on Friday, September 11th at 8:45 pm. I certainly will watch it :

“Never believe what the Thai girls say. 99 percent of what they say is bullshit. They all have the same book to screw us. The number of guys that have lost everything there, it’s incredible. But that’s how it is, the guys know but they get screwed all the same.
Thailand is what ? Pinocchio land !”

You can watch a trailer of part 1 here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkxB9tSeYNQ

The full movie in German language can be downloaded here :

http://www.otrkey.com/?q=Schenke+keine+Blumen

Some trailers of part 2 can be watched here :

http://www.arte.tv/fr/recherche/2805094.html#2