Java, Indonesia: The temples

As promised, here is the first part of the more detailed travel report. After arriving in Surabaya, Java we wanted to get somehow to Yogyakarta where the two famous temples Borobudur and Prambanan (both UNESCO world heritage) are. The problem is that public transport in Indonesia is not as comfortable and reliable as in Singapore. So we had to skip the initial plan (taking a train) and took a minibus. After bargaining, eating and exchanging money it was at least 6pm when we left Surabaya. The traffic was quite dense and we advanced much slower than we expected, so we had to change our plans once more. This time we skipped the night in Yogyakarta and we got directly to Borobudur. We arrived there at around 2am and it was completely dark and deserted there. So we lay down on the sidewalk and tried to get at least 1 or 2 hours of sleep...

The advantage of arriving so early was that we were the first to enter the temple area at that day. We decided to book a guide who could explain us some things about the temple - and he was really great. He told us a lot about the history of the temple and the meaning of the different parts in Buddhism. The temple was built in the 9th century (so it's more than thousand years old) as a shrine for Buddha and a pilgrimage site. It consits of 6 square platforms (representing the earthly life with desire), 3 round platforms (representing the 3 stages of heaven) and a big central stupa on top (representing the nirvana). The base of the monument is about 120x120m and it is about 35m high. On each level there a numerous carving mostly telling stories of the life of Buddha. The whole building is very impressive and it is stunning how well preserved most of the carvings are. But I think you can see the dimesions of the building yourself on the pictures.

After Borobudur we went to the other temple, Prambanan. So we took a bemo to get there. A bemo is something like a cab but in the size of a minibus. It was perfect for us because we could just fit into it with eigth persons. That's why it shouldn't be the last bemo ride of our trip...

The temple Prambanan is equally impressive as Borobudur. Prambanan was built in the 9th century as well but it is a Hindu temple. The shape is very different from Borobudur and there are numerous small temples which haven't been reconstructed yet. Actually the whole temple was a giant jigsaw puzzle when it was rediscovered. Most of the buildings were collapsed and all the stone blocks had to be put together in the right order again... Unfortunately the monument suffered severe damage in the earthquake of 2006 - that's why the direct surroundings of the large temples are still closed off. Each of the three buildings is a shrine dedicated to one of the three Hindu gods: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Keeper, and Shiva the Destroyer. I have to admit that I don't remember many of the details the guide told us. It was very hot in the high noon sun and we all could feel the lack of sleep.

We stayed there for around an hour, then we had to hurry a bit to get to Yogyakarta. The rest of the day was consumed by finding a money changer, finding a place to eat and getting to the airport. But finally we managed and we could catch our plane to Denpassar, Bali.