Bogey promotes tourist attractions
Bogey promotes tourist attractions
By Primastuti Handayani
YOGYAKARTA (JP): As sophisticated aircraft ripped above
Jakarta during the Indonesia air show, the sky hundreds of
kilometers away was turned into a more colorful and much more
peaceful spectacle.
The ancient temples of Borobudur and Prambanan were the
targets for a pack of skydivers over the last two days. Most of
them had competed in the Sixth World Parachuting Championships in
Lido, West Java.
The two-day bogey jump extravaganza attracted thousands of
domestic and foreign tourists. They crowded both temples to watch
the free fall.
The sky above the Buddhist temple of Borobudur in Magelang, 41
kilometers north of Yogyakarta in Central Java, remained so clear
on Monday it seemed it did not want to spoil the enthusiasm of
the spectators.
"It's great fun. It's really beautiful. The temple is lovely
from the air and I really had a good time," commented Graham
Field, captain of the South Africa team.
Field, on his first trip to Indonesia, said he was satisfied
with the championships and bogey jump and said he looked forward
to returning someday.
"It's very good. We were very surprised because there are so
many people here waiting for the jump and the temple is very
good," said Paul Denis-Smith of Great Britain.
Denis-Smith, who also jumped in the championships last week,
said the weather in Indonesia is nice but too windy. Strong wind
plagued the world championships last week.
The world championships' organizers arranged an Air Force
Hercules to drop the 70 skydivers in the two-day recreational
jump.
Tourism
Maj. Bedjo Sasmito, spokesman of the Adisucipto Airport here,
said the jump was held to promote tourism.
The foreign skydivers gave plenty of lessons to the
Indonesians, even in the non-competitive event, Sasmito said.
"Young skydivers must learn how the foreigners perform today
before bidding for a podium finish in a world level championship
in the future," he reckoned.
About 2,000 spectators cheered every skydiver who managed to
hit the orange cross pegged to the ground in the middle of the
park.
A light wind caused some jumpers to drift off target. They
landed near the temple or outside the park.
The second bogey jump over Prambanan temple, about 15km
northeast of Yogyakarta, also attracted the attention of
tourists.
The Indonesian skydivers made up for their modest finish in
the world championships with some relatively fancy midair
maneuvers.
After visiting the ninth century Mataram Hindu temple, the
jumpers and spectators were entertained by the traditional
Jathilan dance. The performance employs supernatural powers.
As Sasmito hoped, many of the skydivers bid farewell yesterday
pledging to return to Indonesia.