Yogyakarta

The second inland trip we wanted to make was to visit the temples of Borobudur and Prambanan.  We took a flight from Denpasar airport to Yogyakarta which was pretty painless since the airport is very near the marina (the planes fly overhead on their approach pattern). 

Borobudur is an ancient Buddhist temple.   Recently it was covered completely in ash from a volcanic eruption.  You can see by all the nooks and crannies this temple has that it must have been a nightmare to clean up the ash.

We arrived early in the morning and the dawn mists still wrapped the temple giving it an ethereal quality.  Later the sun burned off the mists so we had the temple in two completely different lights.    Again, this is not high season here so we enjoyed the temples without dealing with tourist mobs.

The temple is stacked in 7 layers.  The lower layers show humans in their lowest state, preoccupied with material goods and wealth.    Then as you ascend the stairs and walk (always clockwise) around each layer you approach a more enlightened world until at the top you reach Nirvana.    The place was beautiful with the carvings and the buddhas looking out over the plateau.

Later we rode on to Prambanan, a Hindu temple complex, dedicated to Shiva.

 We had a nice little losman to stay at in Yogyakarta on Sosrowijawan Street.   Its always fun to meet other backpackers while there on these side trips.

This is a father daughter team from Holland, Henni and Melissa.

 We were pretty close to the Sultan's palace from our place so we walked the mile or so to the palace.   You get stopped by touts all along the way wanting to take you to a batik exhibition (which will close that day, last chance to see this).   Yeah, right.   We dodged about a thousand of them and their pedal taxi counterparts all the way.

The Kraton, or the Sultan's Palace, occupies a lot of space in Yogykarta.

  

The attendants all wear traditional clothes.   At certain times during the day, performances of gamelan orchestras, dances and puppet shows are free of charge on the grounds.   

 What are the chances the sultans are related to Spock, a Vulcan?

Last, we stopped at the Taman Sari, the Sultan's water palace, built for his relaxation and pleasure.  Here we met a group of students who were on assignment to speak to foreigners and learn something about them.   Their subject of study was English so this was to practice their skills.

 

Back at Benoa and the marina, we are preparing now for the rest of our trip through Indonesia.  Most likely we will not be making any more in land trips.   There's plenty to see right from our boat, including the Komodo dragons and beautiful diving and snorkeling spots.    This will be our last stop with civilized shopping so we have to do another stock up to get us through to November when we will probably be in New Zealand.     Some pretty big boats have come in here.   Here's a picture of  Ghost owned by a obviously wealthy New Yorker who spared no expense except as to where he registered the boat.   The hull is carbon fiber and all the fittings are titanium.  Guaranteed to set you back a few zillion.