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.