THURS: Yogya

Borobudur

Yvonne, Marie, Me and Didi with Borobudur in background

Up early in the morning @ 4am to leave with Amir for Borobudur @ 5am. It takes about 45mins drive through some of the most interesting places, early local street markets and villages devastated by the volcanoes......we're going to the heart of volcano territory to visit one of the most stunning Buddhist Temples. 
Note, when I goggled Yogya months ago I found this pic of a temple and had it as an affirmation pic on my computer. Wouldn't ya know it, it was a pic of Borobudur!!!!.....a coincidence.....!!!!

150 stairs, 4 stairways leading up to 5 levels of enlightenment

We get through the gate and find rows and rows of markets. Too early for selling....not even. Went to a special visitors centre, had a coffee and got our lavalava's to wear for our trip up the temple. Everyone got one. Our guide said it was to bring back the respect to the culture......can't remember what locals name for the skirts, it was too early to take in and we were captivated by this stunning piece of architecture. It was nice to participate in the culture, but it kept the heat in......never mind just think of the calories I'm sweating off ... :)

Beautiful reliefs carved by hand

Stunning, awesome, magnificent.......doesn't even rightfully describe this iconic place. Over 20-40,000 people in the high season visit daily with over 2mil visitors last year. The surprising thing about the heritage sites we visited is that they are in constant state of repair and revival. UNESCO funded local workers to learn how to restore most of the temple after the volcano erupted. Most of the damage was due to earthquake, rain and acid rain from the ash. we entered from the West as our guide awesomely explained just about everything to us. He was a huge deposit of knowledge. Got his training in tourism and came back to Borobudur to help with the efforts at the temple. He explained the intricate drawings and stories about the way in which the temple was hand built with NO CEMENT!

One of the many Buddha, stunning and peacful

Encapsulated in each of the bell-like shapes surrounding the temple is a Buddha. Each Buddha has a different expression and hand position. You can see the restoration and you're in awe of the expansive amount of work that has been completed already. This is just one of many temples undergoing a rebuild. All with locals as the main workforce.

This place was an experience - there were buses of school children visiting from outlining areas that wanted to practice their English on us. Of course they hadn't seen anything like us before so bombarded us with simple questions and wanted photos with us. It was interesting being a tourist attraction.

Walking tourist attraction

Borobudur really touched me because of its artistic beauty, attention to detail, and the mind full design.....certain number of layers, certain number of Buddha's, their placement in terms of each layer and to each other. Each layer pertains to the evolution of attaining enlightenment. The lower levels are earth, the middle is growth and the upper levels describe nirvana. I wish I had hit 'video' on my camera our guide was awesome.

Ok, so after that wonderful experience we exited through the East door and down to the hawkers again. Some of which were Yvonne's friends......she said she got good deals and I believe her!!! 

The sleeping Buddha at the Mendut Buddist Monastery

After negotiating ourselves through the market coming out virtually unscathed, we stopped in at Mendut Buddhist Monastery. It was soooo awesome......... you can go there for a 20day meditation accommodation & kai included for 600,000rupe.......that would be awesome! And of course another group of markets where we got a nice dress each. 

It was off to the Volcano museum on the side of Merapi, an active volcano. It was an architecturally interesting building from the outside and full on info on the inside. Not your average museum as it's still under construction. Then off to the Batik Museum - a historical account of the Sunltans reign. Mostly about the wives and daughters which was a nice change. It was described as a floating museum because of the stone rooms which were surrounded by water. Very beautiful with lots of historical info. The Batik was stunning and even more interesting was reading the letters from cousins to one of the young princesses to help mend her broken heart. So poetic and such beautiful handwriting. It had a shop called Muse which had contemporary products and a restaurant where we had kaikai.......yes kaikais again.

Back to d'Omah for a massage.........mmmmmmmmm neck, back, shoulders and facial. I really deserved that.....90mins of complete and utter bliss!! Tomorrow has to be the foot scrub and reflexology.....mmmmmmmmmmm!!