Borobudur & Prambanan, Indonesia

Day 4

Today my plan was to visit in Borobudur temple. Andry wrote me last night instructions how to get there and after breakfast he took me to the bus stop. After adventuring with Yogyakarta's bus system I found myself at a bus station in the northern part of the city. From there I took a minibus to Borobudur. On the way I saw my first rice fields which was exciting for me. Roadsides seemed to be full of shops selling statues, especially Buddha statues. Borobudur influence, maybe? Bus also stopped at some market where street players and sellers filled the bus in hope of getting some money.

At Borobudur bus station I was little confused which direction I should go. But Indonesians are so helpful and soon there was somebody pointing me in right direction without even asking help. Ignore all the rickshaw and taxi drivers because the temple area is only 1 kilometre or even less from the bus station.

At the gates to the temple I forgot there was a special entrance for foreign tourists so I first asked ticket from a normal ticket office. No wonder the entrance prices looked cheap. After I found my way to the tourist entrance it was big relief: they had air conditioning there! And free water (just a very small bottle), coffee and tea. And free internet so you can tell all your friends in Facebook that you're in Borobudur now. After getting the ticket, they gave sarong to wear and then I was off to explore Borobudur temple.

The temple area was quite full of people because it was holiday season in Indonesia. First view to the temple is quite amazing, it rises on top of small hill. The path there is quite cleverly designed so that you can see the first view of the temple after a curve. Some locals didn't really care about the sarong rule and used it as head scarf against sun which was shining from a clear sky. I burned myself very badly on that day. After climbing to the temple I had my first "Hello Mister!" experience. And soon I had probably 100 more of those experiences. Indonesians love to take pictures with tourists and as I am blond and very tall I was quite popular photograph friend. I enjoyed just enjoyed this, but I noticed that some other tourists weren't so happy about this habit. There was also some "official" photographers and one of them started to follow me and forced some people to take pictures with me, so funny. I also scared many small kids almost to death that day.

Views from the temple are really nice and very green. If you want to know about the carvings hiring a guide is not a bad idea but I myself was just walking around the temple and taking pictures by myself and with others. The temple is large but somehow it didn't really impress me that much. I, however, recommend to visit it, even just to have "Hello Mister" experiences. I skipped the museum which was included in the price and went to explore the souvenir village outside the entrance. I bought some chicken to eat and a traditional farmer's hat to hide from the sun. Then I walked back to the bus station and in the bus back to Yogyakarta I met a lovely local couple and the trip went fast by talking with them. I walked back to Andry's place from the bus stop. It was a long walk but really interesting. During the walk I saw how normal Indonesian neighbourhood lives, experience that not all tourists are able to do. Andry came back home in the evening and we went to eat near his home.

Day 5

Today my plan was to visit in Prambanan temple. It is located at the outskirts of Yogyakarta so the trip wasn't going to be as long as to Borobudur. Andry got new work order from his boss and he had to leave the city that evening. That meant that I was going to stay alone at his place my last night in Yogyakarta. Again Andry took me to the bus stop and we said goodbye to each other. Again locals were very helpful and they helped me to get to Prambanan as easily as possible.

Prambanan also has different entrance for tourists with same luxury services. But Prambanan has student discount, yay! I already saw quick peek of the temples from the bus but I was amazed when I saw the first sight of them after the entrance. My judgement: better than Borobudur. The temples are totally different in architectural style than Borobudur and I like more this Hindu style. The biggest temple in the Prambanan complex is Shiva temple which was closed during my visit. Other temples were open. There was more foreign tourists here than in Borobudur which was surprising for me. Also "Hello Mister"s were here too and again I took like 200 pictures with people. I also met some school children who spoke very good English and chatted with them quite long time. When I had enough of the Hindu temple complex I walked to the Candi Sewu which is a Buddhist temple almost 1 kilometre away. It still belongs to the same area but because it is far away from the Hindu temples only few people had found their way there. Actually there was only 2 American tourists with me there and we were quite excited to have a whole ancient temple just for us. Also in the area there is a small museum and zoo with deers and a cassowary bird. Like in Borobudur here was also a souvenir village.

Next day I was going to travel back to Jakarta so my next destination was train station where I had to buy a train ticket for tomorrow. In a bus from Prambanan to the city centre I met an American girl who was working in Indonesia and we chatted the whole ride back to the city about our travels. It was really nice to meet her. At the train station I was shocked: the line to the ticket counters were 1,5 hours long! After getting my waiting number I went to buy some snacks for waiting. The waiting time actually went by fast because there was so much happening at the train station and I also got to chat with some locals. It also started to rain little bit. After getting my ticket to a morning train to Jakarta I went to find a internet cafe or something. I didn't need to look for long because I was in the backpacker area and there was internet available at a first hostel I saw. Internet wasn't working in Andry's place and I needed it to check my next hosts contact information. After my time was up it was already dark outside and rainy. I took a bus and went to visit in a shopping mall near Andry's home. I also had visited in this mall in the morning to buy relief for my sunburns. I had now dinner in there (some Chinese food) and then bought some food for tomorrow's train ride and for breakfast. Because it was quite long way to walk from there to Andry's place and it was dark and little bit rainy, I decided to took a taxi to home and after shower I went to sleep.