November 22

On our final full day in Yogya, we took the 1.5 hour trip to Borobudur, site of a Buddhist temple that rivals the Angor Wat for prominence. Covered by volcanic ash in the year 1000, it was rediscovered in the 1800s. During the Japanese occupation in WWII, soldiers dismantled many of the ancient stones which had to be replaced – a painstaking process. We had an excellent local guide, Joon, who shared information on the four quadrants on Yogya as we drove out of town by minibus. We drove past the site of the 2010 volcanic eruption which wiped out an entire village and bridge. It’s now being rebuilt. We learned about the BBC: bananas, bamboo and coconuts which grow everywhere in the area and are on nearly every corner, a mainstay of the people even in urban areas. Traffic is heavy but orderly getting out of town and it’s a beautiful day. Finally we reach the Borobudor complex. The temple isn’t visible yet; as Joon explains, it’s like enlightenment: you don’t see it until you experience it. We did see plenty of touts, however, selling spoons, mini parachutes, noisemakers, purses, T-shirts and the like. Once we made our way past the gauntlet, the temple was visible up ahead. Spectacular! We took several photos along the way and finally made our way up several series of steep stairs. The Buddha images were varied and intricate, along with several parables cast in bas relief. Joon is very knowledgeable about Buddhist philosophy, which co-exists with the Muslim faith in Indonesia and several others. Many of the stones are undergoing renovation. In high season, there are queues waiting to clime the steps but we did not have to wait so long. Was it hot! After we climbed back down, we headed for the indoor archeology museum featuring a huge Buddha head. Next on our list was the Mendut temple with a large sitting Buddha. His legs were not crossed because he was enlightened. And for fun, we took turns swinging on a huge banyon tree on the grounds. After a sip of coconut juice, we headed for lunch at a picturesque traditional restaurant out in the country where I had red snapper sate. Once back at the hotel and surviving Yogya traffic jam, Hoyt and I headed for the hotel pool joined by our tourmates, followed by a Bingtang at the hotel restaurant. We had dinner, nice Indonesian fare at a restaurant down the street followed by the shadow puppet show at the museum. To get there, we hailed a pedicab and had an interesting ride weaving our way through the maze of scooters, other pedicabs, cars and buses on the way to the museum. The performance featured full gamelan orchestra, several singers, and a puppetmaster who told the story using MANY puppets of all shapes and sizes.