With the dreaded night of sleep the past night, I decided to change hostels to Dewi Homestay which is a great place, with friendly staff, clean and comfortable rooms and is quiet!! Thankfully I got a good night's sleep for another early morning wake-up call, this time for my trip to Prambanan again via public bus.
Prambanan is a 9th century Hindu temple dedicated to Trimurti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Sustainer (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva) and currently is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, and is one of the largest Hindu temples in south-east Asia. It is characterised by its tall and pointed architecture, typical of Hindu temple architecture, and by the towering 47m high central building inside a large complex of individual temples.The Shiva temple is the holiest among the three zones. Its the square elevated platform surrounded by square stone wall with stone gates on each four cardinal points. This holiest compound is assembled of eight main shrines or candi. The two other main shrines are that of Vishnu on the north side of Shiva shrine, and the one of Brahma on the south. Both temples face east and each contain only one large chamber, each dedicated to respected gods; Brahma temple contains the statue of Brahma anwd Vishnu temple houses the statue of Vishnu.
I wound up spending almost all day out here as the temple complex is one of the more amazing I've seen (I enjoyed it more than Borobudur) and reminded me how much I enjoy the Hindu architecture. The complex grounds are also very nice and so it was great to sit in the park under a tree and relax, taking in the sites and enjoying the calm and quiet out from Yogyakarta.
After the long hot day I returned to my guesthouse where I hung out with a few people there, sitting around talking for most of the night. Sunday I planned to take easy, as I am heading on another long hike, this time to Gunung Merapi (the most active volcano in Indonesia). The hike is relatively easy, although it starts at 1:00am arriving at the top for sunrise then back down by 10:00am. Should be fun!
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| Prambanan Temple Complex |
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| Nandi, Shiva's mount |
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| 3 headed Shiva |
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| Shiva Candi (temple) |
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