This day was rather uneventful. As our flight was at 7.35 am, we had to leave the hotel at 5.30 am latest! We had woke up at 4 am unwilling as the bed in the hotel was too comfy for us to get our ass off the bed, however, we dun have the luxury of doing that. After washing and packing up, we left the hotel at 5.30 am as planned. At the reception, while processing our check out, I had a quick chat with the staff who had been working the night shift.

“How was your shift, must be tiring to be working the night shift,” I asked

“Yes, it was rather tiring” came the very polite reply by the staff despite the toll the shift has upon him.

“So what time do you knock off?” I enquired curiously

“8 am” came the reply

“Ahh…. just 2 hours more to go, personally I felt 3 am was the toughest time to past by” I replied

“Yes, it was tough at that hour” came the reply by the staff promptly

After the check out procedure was over and done with, I inquired about the airport transfer that I had arranged with his colleague the day before. The staff at the reception told me after checking that there was no record of such an arrangement. I asked if he can arrange it. The staff gave me the look of why do you wanna spend that kind of money?

“You can catch a taxi, and we can call one for you if you want.” Said the staff which confirmed my suspicion. I asked him how much would it cost if I catch a cab to the airport? As my very limited travel experience has shed some light in how some cabbies in some countries tried to quote through the roof prices to tourists, especially when it comes to airport trips.

“Our transfer costs 60,000Rps, and the taxi is run by meters, will only cost you at most 50,000Rps” replied the ever polite staff. At this point, I was very impressed with the service that the staff rendered. He not only was polite and even spared a thought for the wallets of the guests who stayed in the hotel. True to his words, the cab fare was 30,000Rps, about half the price we would have paid should we insisted on getting the airport transfer. Wow! I turned to my friend when we reached the airport and told him what I thought of the staff who processed our checkout, he was impressed and agreed that the staff was very thoughtful.

Back at the small-ish airport terminal, checking in was a breeze. Once inside the terminal, there are a few some shops selling goods ranging from souvenirs such as Batiks to paper puppets to dried foodstuffs. The airport has 2 waiting rooms, one for domestic and the other for international departures. We headed for the international departures through the customs, and the waiting room is just ahead. We waited for our flight to arrive for more than an hour (well to be fair, the flight departed on time), the bird that took us from Yogyakarta to Singapore originates from Jakarta. Well, I guess this is the business model for low-cost carriers. The flight back home was uneventful. Guess we were too tired, after having to wake up at 4 am for 2 consecutive days, we spent the next 2 hours snoozing on board the aircraft. 2 hours seem to fly past soon we found ourselves getting ready for landing…. with this marks the end of our trip and back to reality, back to work for the next day. Not too sure where my next destination will be, hope to do a longer trip at a further destination, till then time to sleep…….

Checking into our flight home

Empty waiting lounge in the airport

Walking towards our flight

Me with the aircraft on the tarmac

Preparing to take off

Jogja below us

Mt Merapi

Mt Merapi

Flying home

Flying home

Our alarm clocks went off at 4.30 am today, being awake, we are still discussing whether to go for the sunrise tour. Well since we are already awake, might as well just go for it. My friend and I quickly washed up and went to the reception at around 5.30 am, just in time for the sunrise tour as we thought. At first, we had the impression that there will be a huge group getting ready to go towards the temple, and that the places available are limited for the tour. However, as we approach the reception area, it seemed to be very quiet there. We asked the receptionist if there are still spots for the sunrise tour, she replied there are plenty of slots. At this point, we realised that the so-called sunrise tour is merely the hotel sells you the tickets to gain entry into the temple before sunrise and we are pretty much on our own! After payment, the receptionist gave us our tickets, a couple of torch lights and sarongs. At this point I was telling my friend, I didn’t realise that we need to wear a sarong into the temple, as the day before we entered the temple without wearing sarongs and the staff checking our tickets did not bitch about it. We were instructed by the receptionist to wear our sarongs before heading towards the temple. Now wearing the piece of batik looking cloth seem weird, however since everyone is doing that, we did likewise. After we donned on our sarongs, the guide gathered whoever is there waiting to depart the temple, and off we go, we are on our way to the temple. The walk towards the temple at night was rather cooling, in contrast to the heat we experienced the day before when we were at Borobudur. Soon we found ourselves at the gate, got our tickets verified and standing before us is Borobudur temple. The temple looks solemn at this hour, as though a giant still in his slumber. There isn’t a lot of visitors at the temple at this hour. Most of those who were here are here for the sunrise, mostly photograph enthusiasts. As there was little light for us to explore around the temple, we made our way to the levels where the stupas are situated, patiently waiting for sunrise.

As we were waiting, we went around taking pictures of the surroundings, which was rather tranquil at this hour. As we were walking around, we chatted with some of the staffs there. We came to realise that the so-called Mt Merapi that we were photographing yesterday isn’t Mt Merapi! It is Mt Sindoro, our guide generously pointed to us where Merapi is, and told us that the sun would rise in the direction of Merapi. Since there was some time before sunrise, we continued our photography session around the top levels of the temple. There aren’t many activities at the surroundings at this hour, even on the temple there are less than 20 visitors. I can imagine the peace and tranquillity of the temple when it was first built or even before its rediscovery before tourists came to know about its existence. I took the time to enjoy the peace and the unpolluted air that the temple and its surroundings offer. At this hour, visitors were either waiting patiently for the sun to shine across the lands, or busy taking photographs of the surroundings and the pre-dawn scenery. Soon the first ray of the sun hits Mt Merapi, the view was stunning. With the sunray, the surroundings are now covered with a blanket of fog, as though we were floating in the heavens! This is the time I begin to realise and appreciate the value of visiting this monument for sunrise. It debunked my preconception that this was a waste of time. I turned to my friend and told him luckily for his perseverance, if not we would not have been able to enjoy such a sight. All eyes are now gazing in the direction of Mt Merapi, where the sun slowly rising as though someone who just had a late night and reluctantly waking up. All visitors spared no time wasted and quickly snapped their cameras away.  

It was soon around 8 am, as the gates opened for the rest of the visitors. As the first batch of visitors arrived at the temple, the peace and tranquillity that we experienced just mere minutes ago were broken with hordes and hordes of visitors, ranging from tour groups to student groups. The eager visitors rushed straight to the top of the temple to marvel the surroundings, just as what we did for the past 2 days. As the top floor became rather rowdy, I ask my friend if he was done with photo taking. He to find it too noisy to stay around, and we decided to explore the bits that we have missed out. As we were moving down to the floors with carvings, all we did was to trace out the carvings from the video that we saw last night at the hotel auditorium and see if we can find something resembling the story of Buddha. We managed to spot some, but the rest was just not apparent to us. As we were scouring through the temple, we spotted some blocks which do not seem to fit into the building structure. I turned around and told my friend that these seemed like some misfit jigsaw puzzles, where the staff just chucked them there in a fit of frustration as they can’t seem to find the place that they belonged to. We continued taking pictures, making sure every corner and every turn was not missed. The number of visitors grew like wild mushrooms after a season rain, it was too crowded for us to bear. I suggested that we descent to the base of the temple and perhaps walked around the base. My friend agreed and we spare no time getting to the base. Now it is rather challenging getting down as opposed to going up the temple, we found ourselves walking against the crowd, who kept pouring into the temple. At times we even had to “fight” our way down. It was certainly a challenging 5 minutes down the temple.

The grandeur of the temple never fails to astound me

Borobudur Temple

At the base, we walked around the temple and found that the back of the temple (the side that does not face the garden that visitors has to pass by to get to the temple) was rather quiet. Except for a group boys, who appear to be students from a school excursion trip riding on the guarding statue. As my friend was interested in taking pictures of the statue, he asked the boys if they could be excused from the statue. Without hesitation, the boys cooperated and even told their friends to not block my friend’s picture taking opportunity. After walking around the grounds for several more minutes, the past 2 early morning waking ups have taken a toll to me. I suggested to my friend to get back to the hotel for breakfast, rest awhile and then head off to Yogjakarta, where our next stop is. He agreed and we soon found ourselves having breakfast at the hotel grounds. The breakfast was worth mention here, not as in the food is fantastic, but the location of our table. It is as though we were having breakfast in the gardens with Borobudur gracing her appearance, having breakfast together with us. This is indeed a memorable experience. After breakfast, we retired back to our rooms and started to pack up. It did not take long for us to pack up and my friend soon find it restless. He asked if I am interested in joining him to visit the smallish hill we saw at the top of the temple. As I was rather tired, I told him I prefer to stay in the room and rest. My friend went on his own, and upon his return, he told me that I had missed much as there was a museum near the temple, showcasing the history and the restoration process…. Damn, I should have joined him.

Borobudur Temple

The quieter side of the temple

Temple ground at ground zero

Borobudur Temple

Borobudur Temple

The gardens around the temple

Borobudur from the hotel grounds

On our way back to Yogjakarta

We checked out of the hotel at around noon and our transport towards Yogjakarta was already waiting for us. On our way back, the knowledgeable driver shared most of the sights along the way, despite his lack of knowledge in the English language, that did not deter him in sharing his local knowledge with us. We are grateful for his generosity in sharing the information. It took us a couple of hours to reach our hotel in Yogjakarta. The rustic looking hotel looked like a museum from the outside and throughout the hotel! There are pieces of the local history scattered around the hotel. Every turn and every corner we would be able to find a piece of historic artifact. The hotel was tastefully decorated with a good balance of history and contemporary theme. Our room was equally fantastic. After settling our luggage in the room, we headed out to grab lunch. On our way towards the main entrance of the hotel, my friend pointed to something which caught my attention:

“Look at that” he exclaims

“Wow, the world’s most expensive coffee” I replied

“Shall we try it later?” He asked “It would cost at least SGD65 back home”

After I have done the maths (which comes to about SGD20), I replied “Why not? We should try this since it is 3 times cheaper here”

“On, let’s try this at night after we came back from town” came the reply from my friend

“Okie,” I said

And we were on our way out to find food. After grabbing food to fill our stomachs, we headed for the so-called shopping street of Yogjakarta. I mean from our touching down to our way to Borobudur to coming back from Borobudur, I did not see any shopping malls around. When we asked the receptionist in the hotel, we were told that the shopping street is just a stone’s throw away from where we put up. We were given a map of the city by the very helpful receptionist, we followed the map heading towards the shopping street. After about 15 mins of walking, we still do not see any shopping mall. At this point, my friend was wondering if we had been tricked or missed the turn towards the shopping mall. Upon closer study of the map, we realised that the map isn’t drawn to scale. As we walked further down, we spotted the train station that we are supposed to come across. This confirmed our theory that the map isn’t drawn to scale. After crossing the railway crossings, we came upon the start of the shopping district. Here is where we saw hundreds of stores lining up the roadside, selling mostly souvenirs to local tourists and foreigners alike. Along the side of the road lined up horse carriages. I suppose this is for the tourists more than a mode of transportation for the locals. Along the way and back, we kept getting locals asking if we wanted a cab. I was a bit perturbed by this but soon learnt to ignore them. After passing the train station, we came upon a shopping mall some 10 mins later. Though modern, we find the shopping mall does not have to sell stuff to our liking and decided to get out of it after spending some 10 mins inside.

As we got out of the shopping mall, we thought the rest of the walking street looks more or less the same. We decided to head back to the hotel for dinner and then rest up as we were pretty worn out after 2 days of waking early, moreover we had to wake up pretty early for our morning flight back home the next day. We decided to head dine at the hotel instead, as the rest of the town seemed to be closed to us. After dinner, we headed towards the cafe for the most expensive coffee in the world. To be frank, the coffee doesn’t taste that bitter, unlike the other coffees. We saw this gift pack that came with the mug, which I quite like the design, bought one each. As we were buying, we chatted with the restaurant manager. We came to learn that the hotel doesn’t sell the coffee a lot, as demand mostly comes from tourists due to the relatively cheap pricing in Yogjakarta. The sales of the gift packs are even lower. After chatting for around 1 hour with the manager, we decided to head back to our room and rest for the night, after all, we have to wake up early tomorrow morning for our flight back home.

 

My friend and I have been talking about planning a trip to Borobudur since last October. We had the research done up and was about to go back then, however, due to work, our trip did not materialise. Sometime earlier this year we begin talking about our trip to Borobudur, it finally materialised for us this time around. After months of waiting, today marks the day we finally embarked on this overdue postponed trip. We got to the airport rather early, did some shopping and soon found ourselves heading towards Yogjakarta, one of the two gateways to Borobudur. As we did not check in our luggage, we cleared immigration and met up with the driver assigned by the hotel to pick us up at the airport very quickly. The moment we cleared custom, the driver was already there waiting for us to pick us up to the hotel. Along the way, he pointed out several interesting sights. One of those that caught my eyes were the ashes from Mt Merapi, which erupted 2 years ago. When this volcano displayed its rage, its ashes covered the whole of Borobudur, as a result, the top few floors of the monument was closed to the public due to restoration works. We were informed by our driver that the top few floors were opened after the Indonesian government has done some restoration works to it.

Arrival at Yogjakarta Airport

Around Yogjakarta Airport

On our way to Borobudur

On our way to Borobudur

One of the small towns we pass by while making our way to Borobudur

On our way to Borobudur

On our way to Borobudur with Mt Merapi in the background

More padi fields

We booked a room at Manohara Hotel, which gave us the advantage of being closer to Borobudur. When I said close I mean close. As the hotel is situated in the compounds of Borobudur, the monument is just a stone throw away from the hotel. We headed for the restaurant in the hotel to combat our hunger pains after almost 4 hours of travelling. The restaurant overlooks Borobudur itself, it is a nice feeling munching our long overdue lunch while watching the temple absorbing numerous visitors coming to admire its grandeur. We took our time having our lunch as we felt we have all the time in the world to visit the temple. Staying in this hotel gave us this advantage. After lunch we took a stroll around on the gardens in the hotel ground just in front of the temple, the call of the temple is just too great for us to resist (partially there was nothing much around the hotel, they don’t even have a swimming pool!!) we decided it is time to pay a visit to the monument we have come to visit. True to what has been advertised on the hotel website and the comments left by patrons of the hotel, Borobudur is a mere 5 minutes stroll from the hotel compounds. Before hitting the entrance of Borobudur, which is just a guardhouse beyond the gates that protect the monument from visitors during its slumber at night, we walked through a garden leading to the temple. Walking through this stretch towards the temple reminds me of a lot of the Persian gardens that we have visited slightly more than a year ago.

Statue of Ganesha in the hotel grounds

Replica of a stupa in the hotel grounds

Statue around the hotel grounds

Face of Garuda

Model of Borobudur in the hotel grounds

The actual Borobudur afar

Selfie with Borobudur

The path that leads to Borobudur

The orientation of the temple

Borobudur

After we had our tickets checked, we breezed towards the base of the temple. Standing at the base, looking up at the temple is indeed a sight of awe. The magnificence of the temple, its grander, can only be felt when one is standing at the base. We thought there was plenty of time for us to explore the temple at our pace, we did not scale it once we were there. We took our time trying to get a good shot of the temple at the entrance side of the temple. I even have time to take pictures of the lions guarding the temple in ancient times. After a few shots, we decided to scale the temple. We reminded ourselves (consciously or subconsciously) we will have a lot of time to explore the temple as this is the only thing on our itinerary for this trip. After taking some photos at the base of the temple, we decided to explore the temple’s 9 storeys level by level. As we were moving towards one of the stairways leading up to the pinnacle of the temple, we came across what seemed to be some form of guardian statues that seem to ward off evils. I thought these 2 statues are rather interesting and started to take some pictures on it. After that, we attempted to climb to the first level of the temple. Well climbing seems not as easy as it looks, not due to the structure of the temple, neither is it due to the difficulty of the climb, it is due to the hordes of visitors coming to visit the temple. What would otherwise seem like a 1 – 2-minute climb ended up to be around 6 mins due to the crowd. Climbing the relatively steep stairways, while battling a step on the stairways with visitors either going up the same direction with us or coming down from the temple proved to be challenging. Nonetheless, we made it, to the first level after 6 mins. We decided to walk clockwise (As the temple is square-shaped at the lower 6 levels and circular at the top 3 levels) around this level. Divorcing from the stairways, we turned to our right. At this moment, the intricacy of the carvings on the walls on the temple just overwhelms me. We are talking about 2 full panels of carvings on each side of the wall. As one walks through the corridor of each level, one would be surrounded by these painstaking carvings on the wall. At one glance, the carvings seemed to be telling some stories, but to my uninformed eyes, they just seem to be telling the story of Buddha. Most of the carvings do not seem to make any sense to me and seemed rather random. Given that, the carvings are very interesting and seemed very detail. Forces of nature do not seem to take too much of a toll on the carvings, although erosion can be seen more on some carvings than the others. I would say most of the carvings are rather intact.

Borobudur Temple on ground zero

Me with Borobudur closed up

Happy to be here

Guardian Statue at the base of the temple

Guardian Statue at the base of the temple

Another shot of me at Borobudur

Borobudur and the surrounding mountains

Borobudur from ground zero

The temple is just magnificent

We started to scale the temple

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Carving of a guardian on the temple

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

The carvings are detailed

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Me on Borobudur

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddha statue on Borobudur

Me in Borobudur

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

At this point, the carvings make no sense to me

Me with the carvings on Borobudur

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple wall

Inside Borobudur

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Glad to be able to come to this temple

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

The young prince attaining Buddhahood

There must be hundreds if not thousands of carvings on the temple walls

Selfie in Borobudur

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

A Buddha Statue in Borobudur

Borobudur Temple

Inside Borobudur

Borobudur

Borobudur

The architecture is just amazing

As we were walking around, like tourists, we are looking for some picture-perfect spots. Well, once in a while we get tourists standing here and there taking pictures, but other than that we thought the lower level was still relatively “free from tourists”. Perhaps people come here to visit the pinnacle of the temple, the view as I read it, is quite stunning. Well, more of that later. My friend and I constantly reminded ourselves how much time we have to explore the temple and given that luxury, we “budgeted” our time at each level well. We spent about 45 min on the first level of the temple, back to the same crowded stairways that we ascended the monument with, we proceeded to the second level of the temple. The same awareness just fills me with the number of detailed carvings on the wall along the corridor of the structure. Each carving seems to tell a different story, some more visible than the others, at this point it became more apparent that the story told was about Buddha and Buddhism. As we were strolling along the corridors, with occasional “Hi’s” and “How are you’s” from foreigners, we came across this lady with what seemed to be a Russian accent. She requested us to help her take some pictures, well I must say she certainly has some interesting poses up her sleeves. It seemed this Russian lady is travelling alone. At this point I was thinking, she must be really brave to have travelled alone to this rather remote site (not that I have not done that before). After snapping some pictures for her, we bided her farewell and continued with our admiration of the temple and photo-snapping affairs. Well, level 2 took us another 45 mins or so. Up we go to level 3. Halfway through level 3, our patience started to run low, as, without any explanations, the carvings started to look the same to us. Halfway through the level 3, we started to feel the carvings are rather repetitive. My friend and I decided to move up the next level halfway through. At this point, we realised the stairways on the other side seemed to be less crowded. Boy, this is one of the best decisions we have made during this trip. We did likewise for the next few levels, walking around it halfway and then proceeded up to the next level, along the way, I felt as if I was patronising the photo-taking, snapping a few pictures here and there. The carvings made not much sense to me anyway, they don’t seem to be telling a story (well maybe I hadn’t been able to appreciate the carvings at this point).

View of the surroundings

Almost reaching the top

This is the stairs that brought us to the top of the temple

Breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains

The head of the Buddha Statue is believed to be stolen

A complete Buddha Statue watching over the temple

Buddha Statue in the temple grounds

An interesting mix of Balinese and Hindi architecture

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Around the temple

The number of carvings and statues are just countless

Close up of the headless Buddha

Another complete Buddha

The top part of the temple from afar

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

View of the surroundings of the temple

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddha statue

Lion standing guard in the temple grounds

Borobudur Temple

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

The walls depict the life of Buddha

In the temple

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Borobudur Temple

Borobudur Temple

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

View of the temple with the surrounding mountains

A couple of the many Buddha statues in the temple

The surrounding mountains make the temple look grander

Top of the temple

Buddhist carvings on the temple walls

Buddha sitting Solemnly on the temple watching over the land

Borobudur and the surroundings

Soon we found ourselves at the circular levels of the temple. Reaching this level sure takes the repetitive carvings after carvings mood away from me. At this level, we can see the picturesque greeneries surrounding the temple. At one side we see a mountain range, with its low clouds, certainly is a welcoming and refreshing sight for city dwellers like us. As we turned around, we saw this volcano, which seemed to be a stone’s throw away from the temple. We read about how Mt Merapi has erupted a few years ago, and as a result, the temple was covered with volcanic ashes. Immediately, we deduced that the very volcano we saw is Merapi. Sparing no lost time we send our cameras snapping the volcano away. As I was walking around the top few levels (which are relatively open), I managed to take some rather nice shoots. At this point, my patience as totally ran out of juice, I skipped a few levels and headed for the topmost level. Afterall the top few levels looked the same to me with stupas springing up around like wild mushrooms after a heavy rain pour, except that the stupas are more organised. As I was walking around the top level, I found myself facing the west, looking at the sun setting between mountains and beyond the farm fields. Wow, this site may be common to the residents in the area, to a city dweller this sight is indeed rare and therapeutic to a certain extend. As I watch the sun slowly fades away from the sky, as though it is retiring for the day, my fingers are busy working with my camera to capture the picture-perfect moment.

Stupas at the top of the temple

Stupas at the top of the temple

View of the surroundings from the top of the temple

Stupas at the top of the temple

Me with the Stupas

Stupas at the top of the temple

Buddha watching over the land

View of the top of the temple

Borobudur Temple

Panoramic shot of the temple and the surroundings

Sunsetting from the land

Stupas at the top of the temple

View from the top of the temple

A Buddha inside the Stupa

Stupas at the top of the temple

Stupas at the top of the temple

Me with my friend in the background

View from the Stupa level of the temple

On the top of Borobudur

There are some carvings on the base of the Stupas

Stupas at the top of the temple

Me on the top floor of the temple

The centrepiece of the temple and it is the highest point of the temple

Shot of a Buddha inside one of the Stupas

Close up of the Buddha inside one of the Stupas

Sunsetting with the Stupas in view

Sunsetting

Awaiting Sunset from the Stupa level of the temple

Me with the sunsetting

Stupa and the sunset

On the top of the temple

Sunsetting over the mountains

Panoramic shot of the surroundings

Me watching sunset

Detailed carvings on the walls of Borobudur

Sunsetting

Sunset

Grandure of Borobudur Temple

We soon found ourselves being “Chased” out of the temple. Looking at our watches, geezzz…. it is about time for them to close. Reluctantly, we had to peel ourselves away from the temple and started to descend the temple. Well, we still have the next morning to take more pictures of the temple. As we were walking out, the relentless vendors selling souvenirs at the compounds of the temple sprang to work. Seeing tourists coming down from the temple, they were quick to peddle their wares in the hope to clinch some last-minute sales. I was rather interested in a miniature model of the temple. A vendor approached me and I checked out the price with him:

“100,000 rupiah,s” said the vendor.

I was like… what??!!

“50,000 for 2” I counter-offered.

“Too low” came the reply.

“Nevermind then,” I said to the vendor and was about to walk away.

“okay 50,000 rupiahs for 2 then”

I quickly choose 2 of the models and walked off after paying the vendor. Happy I was to have managed to strike a bargain. We walked around what seemed to be a bazaar in the day. Well too bad most of the shops are closing or have closed. My friend and I decided to head back to the hotel. Once returning to our room, our stomach strikes, as though demanding food. As there don’t seem to be any restaurants or eateries around the hotel, we settled our dinner in the hotel restaurant. A staff member was playing the traditional Indonesian musical instrument, and singing along to the music. The dinner was decent and did what it supposed to do –  to fill our stomachs. As the night is still young we decided to walk around and explore the hotel a bit. We stumbled into an auditorium of some sort, the staff was kind enough to allow us to pop in and take a look at what was showing inside. Once inside, the empty auditorium was shown a video clip about Borobudur! The informative video explains the carvings in the temple, the stories behind the carvings and the proper way to visit the temple. At this moment, my friend and I were like “geezzz we should have seen this before hitting the temple”. It became apparent to us what the carvings meant, and our suspicion of the story of buddha was confirmed. I was thinking to myself, well at least when we visit the temple again tomorrow, we can appreciate the carvings more.

Nightfall

Around the hotel grounds at night

Dinner time

Traditional Indonesian Music Performance at dinner time

Buddhist artwork around the temple

The short clip lasted about 30 mins, soon we found ourselves roaming around the hotel. As there was nothing much (not even a swimming pool) in the hotel, we decided to retire back to our room. While in the room, we were still trying to decide if we should wake up early (we are talking about 4 am!) to see the sunrise at Borobudur. My contention is that there is no guide who brings us around the temple and explain it to us. We paid additional money just for the chance to go into the temple before every else does to see the sunrise.  My friend pointed out that since we are already here, and this was one of the things we said we wanted to do when we were planning for the trip last October. I agreed that it is a waste to have come to Borobudur and not going for the sunrise tour. We set our alarm clocks and went on the retire, hoping that we can wake up in time for the sunrise tour.