Borobudur was my personal favorite of the two temples. It wasn’t as tall or as intricate as Prambanan, but the setting was striking, with seven mountain peaks surrounding the temple (which itself was built on a hill in the middle of the valley).
Our guide’s English was also a bit clearer, so I felt like I learned more about the symbolism and history of the place. Borobudur was built in the 9th century with a design that combines the Indonesian indigenous tradition of ancestor worship with the Buddhist concept of attaining nirvana. It was abandoned in the 14th century due to volcanic activity in the area, and lay under layers of ash and jungle growth until a British guy heard about it from locals and ordered its excavation in 1814. Weirdly, he never visited it himself. Today, it’s the most-visited tourist attraction in Indonesia!
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| These people were evil in their previous lives and got reincarnated with ugly monkey faces. |
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| Supposedly the Sanskrit word for "monkey face" |
We had a trafficky 2h drive back to Yogya, where we got a traditional meal called gudek, which consists of stewed jackfruit with hardboiled egg and rice. Hayley got hers with chicken (also traditional) and I added tofu and tempeh to mine. I also inadvertently got cow skin in mine, which I did not try (the orange thing in the meal below).
Once again exhausted, I achieved my now-regular bedtime of 8pm.
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| a very good day! |
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| bonus pic: I asked why our hostel cat had a bobtail (not pictured) and the hostel worker said "sibling love!" which we eventually figured out means this cat was born of incest 💀 |
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