Yogyakarta
We’ve spent the last few days around Yogyakarta, in the centre of Java, with 2 nights in a hotel near Borobudur and 2 nights in a hotel in central Yogyakarta. After a smooth flight from Bali, we arrived into the massive but under-utilised airport at Yogyakarta. From there, it was about 1 1/2 hours by car to Borobudur. Our hotel seemed almost empty the first night, but there were a lot more guests the second night. We are just coming out of the rainy season here and peak season really doesn’t kick off in earnest until next month.
The next morning we were up bright and early (helped by having gone back an hour between Bali and Java) to join our guide and driver. First stop was the temple of Borobudur - the largest Buddhist temple in the world. To give you some statistics - 35m high, 118m square, 504 Buddha statues, 2,672 reliefs, and constructed in the 9th century!
We were driven to the VIP entrance and changed into special sandals which aim to reduce wear and tear on the monument. Numbers are now restricted so only 150 people can climb the temple in each hour slot. We had a guide who was able to explain the reliefs telling the story of the life of Buddha.
We also visited two smaller temples close by, both part of Borobudur’s UNESCO world heritage listing, before travelling about an hour north by car to visit the Hindu temple of Selogriyo. This were many fewer tourists here - just 6 visitors all day when we signed the visitors book early afternoon. We parked up in a small village and set off to walk about 2km through the rice terraces. Lots of farming activity going on - everything is so lush and grows so quickly and easily. This lady is sieving rice grains which had been spread out on rush mats to dry in the sun. The final climb to the temple was hot but worth it and there was a super little stall selling coffee and cold drinks on the way back down.
The next day, we’d arranged a driver to take us to our hotel in central Yogyakarta via a stop at the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, and another world heritage site, Prambanan. The main temple area actually contains 240 temples (16 large ones and 224 small ones around the edge) and there are subsidiary temple areas with hundreds more. The site is beautifully maintained and landscaped and very much more spacious than Borobudur. Whilst seeing Borobudur was an amazing experience, on balance we probably preferred Prambanan. A great guide joined us to tell us about the reliefs - this time stories from the Ramayana. Whilst the main temples have been restored, the smaller temples are still largely untouched - just piles of stones following various earthquakes. We spent about 3 hours wandering the site, but just a couple of photos below.
On our last day here, today, Friday, we have been exploring central Yogyakarta, visiting the sultan’s palace, the water palace, the Sonobudoyo museum and the Vredeburg fort (the Dutch VOC base in Yogyakarta). After the sultan’s palace, we had a coffee stop at this lovely little cafe. The museum merits particular mention - supposedly the best collection in Indonesia after the national museum in Jakarta. A couple of highlights below. The last picture shows some wayang puppets.
Our hotel here is opposite the train station. We leave by train early tomorrow morning, heading back east to Surabaya where a taxi will meet us to take us up to Mount Bromo.