Hi Guys,
To read
A trip to Jojga - Part 1: The 9th Century Prambanan Temple, click here.
Borobudur has a famous Sunrise
tour which is supposed to give a spectacular view of the sunrise amidst the
mountains, but with the rains I decided it was not worth making it. After
waking up at 6 am, the walk to the temple was took 10 minutes. A group of
foreigners were coming back down the temple stairs after completing the Sunrise
tour. A large chunk of school kids had come in for touring the temple.
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| The famous Buddha statue amidst stupas and the picturesque mountain behind! |
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| A view from the top of the temple |
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A view from the side of the temple
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While Prambanan temple is largely
a Hindu architecture, the Borobudur temple is slightly different. The temple’s
structures is more like a large cube with layers of squares inside. Constructed
in 9 layers with 118 meters width a 35 meters height, the outer six are squares
and inner three are circular with bell shaped stupas around. There are 72 small
stupas and one giant central piece. Apparently, this temple was also built in 9th
century, probably before the Prambanan temple by the rival Sailendra Dynasty.
And the temple was abandoned and rediscovered in the recent centuries.
Indonesian Government has taken special interest in restoring the temple to
show the world that they value their culture and are secular in nature.
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| The Rain Starts and the Umbrellas are out on rent! |
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| One of the many Buddha Statues |
As I reached the top of the
temple and was having a look at the surrounding mountains and fields, the sky
opened up and it started raining. And I having forgotten by Umbrella at the
room had no choice but to take shelter at one of the pillars. And some
Bollywood fanatic locals came up to take a picture – there a quite a few words
that you will keep hearing across in Indonesia – it includes Shah Rukh Khan,
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Ahchaa, Nahi… And as rain was not relenting, I took an
Umbrella on rent (interesting business) for IDR 10,000 from the base. And then
I began my walk up again to the top. After spending some time seeing the
numerous Buddha statues around and taking a stroll through each of the layers
which contains relics from the life of Gautama Buddha, I walked down. On the
best of days with no rain, I believe one can sit in the top and enjoy the
mesmerizing views around.
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| One of the many relics in the nine layers depicting the life of Gautama Buddha! |
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| And one Selfie with the stupas amidst the rain! |
Similar to the Prambanan temple,
the complex is huge and there a lot of activities to do. Early in the morning,
most of the souvenir shops were just being opened. And a chunk of tourists had
started pouring in. Coming back to the guest house and munching on the no meat
Nasi Goreng and feeding fishes in the paddy fields, it was time to head back to
Jogja. This time, decided to take the local bus from Borobudur to Jogja. It
costed IDR 25,000 a fraction of the Grab trip. The bus was as good as a rural
Indian bus and the driver took his own sweet time to drive. Driving through
some small towns and across rivers, we reached Jogja a little later than 1 pm.
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| The paddy fields behind the guest house. How peaceful life is here! |
After having completed the main
objective of the tour, it was time to have a look at the Jogja’s Royal Place
called Keraton and a dutch time swimming pool in Taman Sari. And then I hit the
traditional and classic shopping street of Jogja – Jalan Malioboro. After a
stroll across, spent some time in souvenir purchase in the shop of Hamza Batik.
After watching the local street vendors cook and the vintage street
architecture, it was time to leave the lovely city.
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| One of the pools in the colorful Taman Sari - a swimming pool from the earlier centuries |
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| The traditional Malioboro Street with a lot to shop! |
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| The Batik drawing technique demonstrated live in Hamzah Batik store |
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| And some Satays being prepared on the fly |
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| As night falls, it is time to leave the wonderful city! |
There is a lot more in Jogja than
just the temples. There are few spectacular beaches to the west of the city, a
few volcano treks around, an amazing cave visit is also there. All in all, to
cover and enjoy Jogja in detail, you will need atleast 4-5 days with you which
is a luxury.
Happy Reading!!!
