Solo and Yogyakarta are 2 of the main tourist cities on Java. Yogyakarta (called "jogja" most of the time) is the most popular tourist destination on Java. Solo's official name is Surakarta and cartographers use that name. Most people call it Solo even though the name was changed in 1725.

We arrived in Solo first and spent 3 days at Hotel Helios, about 1km from the city center.

On the first morning we walked to "Kraton Mangkunegara" or Mangkunegara Palace. Central Java had royalty, bloodlines, aristocracy, the whole bit. Solo has two palaces, one for the king and one for the leading prince. Mangkunegara is for the prince. The bloodline continues today and the prince supposedly still lives there, though he spends most of his time away.

The palace disappointed both of us. We expected Versailles or something. However, the museum tour proved to be the most frank tour I've ever had.

The main feature of the palace, and all the palaces we have seen, is the pavilion - a pyramid-shaped roof supported by tall pillars. Three sides of the pavilion are open to the air. The fourth side of the pavilion connects to a museum. The floor is Italian marble. The inside of the top of the pyramid is painted in batik designs. Our tour guide Susi (pronounced Suzy), kept encouraging us to take a picture. The only thing we photographed was the ceiling.

Along museum wall inside the pavilion hang four or five paintings of previous princes. Susi told us about each one and how important the artist of this or that was. All I remember is the bird shit on the paintings. We had to remove are shoes to enter the pavilion but the birds do whatever they please.

The museum was pretty good. They had lots of unusual old jewelry, like tiny rings for baby hands and huge rings for prince-sized big toes. They also had various swords given by other royalty from around the world. But the chastity belts really perked our interest. I had never heard of a chastity belt for a man, but they have them there. Susi says they still use a form of them on Irian Jaya.

Both male and female chastity belts were made of gold. The men's belt was very rough on the outside, a little bit like lava rock. The idea being not only to protect the wearer but strongly discourage anyone else. The men of the palace wore it when they traveled outside of the court so they would not be tempted. I could only imagine they had a lot of the same problems that the British Royal family has and this was their solution.

The female chastity belt consisted of an ornate golden triangular piece, about four inches to a side, attached to a large link gold chain. Accoring to Susi, the women wore this at night in the palace to protect themselve from each other. "What is the word you use? Lesbian?" Susi asked. I can't imagine a tour of Buckingham palace describing the sexual activities of courtiers so vividly. I guess the newspapers do it for them.

But Susi wasn't done yet. From there she showed us a special device used by a boy after circumcision. The only thing I could think it reminded me of was an electric barbeque started. Susi then asked me if I was circumsized. No one has ever asked me that before. I told her yes, but I was too young to remember the event. Here she told us boys and girls are circumsized at about 10 years old. Joan asked Susi if she was circumsized. "Yes," she said, "but only symbolically."

Joan pushed to make sure, "No actual knife?"

"No knife," Susi assured us.

Solo is famous for Batik, a wax and dye printing method. While Batik methods can be used on many materials including wood, it is generally used for textiles, particularly cotton and silk. All over Indonesia you can buy batik clothing and materials, but Solo is one of the centers. We spent the afternoon looking at tons and tons of batiks - dresses, shirts, and most commonly, sarongs. Sarongs are really just bolts of cloth about 4x8 feet. The textiles are made in a factory.

Artists also use batik methods to create impressive paintings that have the bonus that you can fold them up to mail them home and wash them with soap and water if they get dirty.

We visited the factory for one of the larger makers, Batik Keris. They have stores all over Java. After we sign in at the front gate a guard took us to the main production area and let us wander around. The main factory is a large wharehouse 75 meters long by 50 meters wide. It is divided into three long areas.

In the center area, men stamp the cloth. The stamps are about eight inches square. Between cigarette puffs, they dip the stamp in hot wax then press it on the material. The stamp is like a tile on a floor, the pattern repeats itself. Some of the men work with blank white cloth, others work with cloth part way though the process. Almost all of them smoked while they worked. I saw ashes fall off cigarettes onto the cloth.

The area on the left has several very long rows of tables, like a giant family reunion. Each table is covered in plastic and the women do hand touch-up work using dyes. No hot wax here.

The area on the left also has only women working. They sit in groups of about six around a pot of hot wax. Each has a small wax application tool. They do the most detailed work.

We did not see the actual dying of the cloths. In fact, we did not see any cloth move from station to station in the 30 minutes we were there. I assume they have another building for dying. The only problem with visiting the factory is no one speaks English so we couldn't ask these questions.

The factory was hot and dirty. I got something on my boots that didn't come off for days. Joan thought the conditions wouldn't meet American standards but I've seen worse conditions in a Butler, Pennsylvania steel mill.

Next: Solo Part II

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