After a rough night of sleep due to the call to prayer beginning at 4:30am and airplanes sounding like they are going to land on the hostel every hour (after 6 months of traveling with little sleep I'm used to it), I unfortunately woke to a text message from Danny saying that the cockfight had to be postponed because his roosters were not ready to fight that day. Hey, if they don't want to fight you can't force 'em. So instead of going back to sleep, I decided to get up at 8:30 and head out to Borobudur, one of South East Asia's greatest monuments.
Instead of paying the $15 travel agent fee to get a ride out there, I wanted to take the public bus for more of an adventure and to see more of surrounding Yogyakarta. While waiting for the bus, I met a Japanese friend Takehashi, who was doing the same thing. We made our way out to Borubudur, about two hours, to the setting of a stunning temple.
The temple consists of 6 square bases topped by three circular ones and was constructed during the early part of the 9th century AD. It is guarded by the "lion guardians" and has images of Buddha in 4 different positions facing North, East, South and West. Nearly 1500 narrative relief panels illustrate Buddhist teachings and tales, while 432 Buddha images sit in chambers on the terraces. On the upper terraces there are stupas which contain 72 more Buddha images. It's suggested that the name Borobudur in Javanese means temple on a hill (boro = temple, budur = hill).
Takehashi and I spent over three hours walking around the temple, taking in the numerous reliefs and admiring the scenery. The top of the temple is one of the more serene and relaxing places as there is a great view of the valley and is relatively quiet (except for the numerous 'hello miiissteeeeer' from the local kids).
After spending most of the day at Borobudur, we headed back to Yogyakarta on the public bus to relax in the late afternoon. For dinner I made my way through my usual street-cart eatery stops: 1) Jagung Pedas. Fresh grilled corn covered in chili sauce, 2) Sate Ayam. Chicken satay with amazing peanut sacuce, and finally 3) Bakso. Indonesia's version of chicken noodle soup. Following dinner I made my way back to my guesthouse where I was hanging out in the common room and met this girl from San Francisco (the first one in 6 months)! We wound up talking for hours, reminiscing about SF (mostly burritos and Sub Center) and about the people we mutually knew. Talking to her certainly got me excited about returning there in a month!!
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| Borobudur |
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| Lots of Buddha's and stupas |
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| Grandest stupa in the back. Each smaller one had a statue of Buddha in it |
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| One of many reliefs |
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| Overlooking the valley |
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