Borobudur (1-28)

Upon arrival at the homestay in Borobudur, I was met by Ika, who is very accommodating and speaks excellent English. He was a primary school teacher but returned to Borobudur last year so his six-year-old son can grow up in a healthier environment. When I asked about the possibility of teaching in Borobudur, he said he loved teaching but left because of the administration. The homestay is in his family’s compound. His wife served tea and snacks, both of which were welcome. After relaxing, I took my evening walk.

Wednesday morning was sunrise at Borobudur, which is known as a good sunrise viewing spot, day. Ika called his friend to check on the prospects for a nice sunrise before taking me to the starting place at 4:30 AM. There he checked me in and walked me to the second to top level, which is his favorite sunrise viewing place. He left me there, and I enjoyed the quiet of sitting alone. Other people were at the top level, and after a short while, a small group with their guide sat beside me. They talked a lot; so I walked around for a while. 

I enjoyed watching as the sky became lighter.

Luck was with me, as at 5:45, the sun visibly rose. It wasn’t a spectacular sunrise, but there was nice color. What I enjoyed was the changing light on the temple. And it did get quieter in the area as that happened.

After the sunrise, I spent a lot of time walking around the top, taking photos, and enjoying the atmosphere. The tour groups from Yogyakarta moved on rather quickly, and only a few of us were left. I enjoyed the respectful, quiet atmosphere. At 7:30 more people started to arrive, and at 8:30 the students arrived. But it was still possible to be alone some of the time and to take photos without lots of people.

Borobudur is a 9^th century Buddhist temple and is the largest Buddhist monument in the world. I wasn’t aware of this before I decided to visit. In fact, I learned about it only last year when Khun Toi’s son visited and posted pictures on Facebook. After seeing the photos, I knew I wanted to go there. The temple is built on a hill formed with a huge pile of rocks. It has ten levels representing the stages to enlightenment. One is underground and is not accessible. 

The top central stupa is surrounded by three circular levels of small stupas. These are made of stones in a way that the top level has square openings and the other two have diamond openings. 

Inside the stupas are Buddha statues. Most are missing heads, but some are complete. 

A few stupas have the tops removed so the Buddha images are exposed. 

The lower six levels are square and have Buddhist relief carvings like those I’ve seen in many places 

and Buddha statues on the top 

or in niches at the top. 

Since it was a clear day, views of the surrounding area were lovely. However, the distant volcanoes were not visible after the sunrise.

The small museum has a model showing the view from above. There is also a model of the whole temple in the Yogyakarta museum I visited.

One of the volcanoes erupted in 2010 covering the temple in ash. Ika had given me a book that explained the damage and recovery process. It was interesting to learn about this project.

The top three levels were fairly quiet when I was there. On the next level down there were a large number of students from an English language school who were there to talk to foreign tourists. The good thing was that they were not allowed to go to the higher levels. I chatted with one small group. When they learned that I am American, they wanted to know about scholarships, as they want to study in the U.S. They would have talked longer, but I was ready to move on. 

The girl especially was very dynamic. She gave me a key chain in thanks. No sooner had I left them than another group approached me. Another good thing about these young adults was that they did take “no” for a response when I explained that I had already talked to some students. Later I did talk with two other groups, but it was nice that I could choose to chat or not without being harassed.

At the bottom, I observed a group of Thai Buddhist monks. It was fun to see them and listen to their familiar chanting/praying.  

The exit path goes through a plethora of shops selling the usual souvenirs as well as items made from volcanic ash.

As the sun rose, the heat level also rose. By noon, it was 30^o C./86^o F. I was glad for the fan when I returned to the room. Then I had my breakfast for lunch, as had been arranged. After eating, it was time to relax and enjoy the fan.

After resting, I decided to go for a walk. When Ika returned, he offered to take me to the two other ancient sites—Mendut and Pawon. Like Borobudur, they were built in the 9^th century. Mendut is the oldest of the three sites.

It’s one large building that is covered with reliefs. Ika told me several stories the reliefs depict. 

In the center there are statues. 

Another building has been discovered recently and is partially excavated. 

Pawon, a small temple which is also one building, is the most recent of the three sites. The reliefs are a combination of Buddhism and Hinduism.

Ita invited me to join the Christian gathering in his home in the evening. I thought I would do that, but after dinner I was too tired to be social and was ready to crash. In the morning, I asked him about his being Christian while his family is Muslim and learned that since his father is Christian and his mother is Muslim, he was brought up without religion but sometimes went to church with his father. When he was fifteen, his father told him to choose one and he chose Christianity. His wife is also Catholic. 

From his comments, I think he doesn’t like the muezzin that blares loudly from the new, big mosque being built next to his home. After thinking about it, I can see how this imposes part of the dominant religion on everyone and others may resent that. While there are several small mosques around the village, there is only one church. Interestingly, the top of the buildings is similar. There are about 500 members from the surrounding villages.

Borobudur village is quite small. Most people live in the outlying areas. It has two main streets with small shops, restaurants, and hotels and other places to stay.

Challenge of the week was that on Monday I learned that my flight from Pangkalan Bun to Surabaya after the orangutan tour had been cancelled. The airline cancelled its flights for three days. The agent suggested an alternate flight, but on Tuesday I learned that it was already full. So he had a new plan: fly to a third city and then to Surabaya for my connecting flight to Bali. Fortunately, this worked and cost only an additional $67 since the cost of one flight was covered by the refund from the cancelled flight. Since the flight left several hours earlier than my original flight, it reduced the time on the last day of my tour, which was disappointing. But at least I could make the connecting flight and get to Bali as scheduled.