The Upside-Down Boat

The "boat" at the background

Checking the eggs boiled "naturally"

Local folklore has it that a beauty called Dayang Sumbi once lived in West Java. She cast away her son, Sangkuriang, for disobedience, and in her sadness, was granted the power of eternal youth by the gods. After many years in exile, Sangkuriang decided to return home. He unknowingly fell in love with Dayang Sumbi and planned to marry her, but then she recognised his birthmark just as he was about to go hunting.

In order to prevent the marriage from taking place, Dayang Sumbi asked Sangkuriang to build a dam on the river, Citarum, and build a large boat to cross the river, both before the sunrise.

Sangkuriang meditated and summoned mythical ogre-like creatures to do his bidding. Dayang Sumbi saw that the tasks were almost completed and called on her workers to spread red silk cloths east of the city to give the impression of impending sunrise. Sangkuriang was fooled, and upon believing that he had failed, kicked the dam and the unfinished boat, resulting in severe flooding and the creation of Tangkuban Perahu from the hull of the boat.