Day 157
Urg it is a painful early start this morning and I don't want to leave this comfy bed. 5.15am the alarm goes off and we dress and check out by 5.30am to get to the airport on time. Check in is easy and we don't have to do the strange liquid thing that we had to last time. We have a quick breakfast and then our flight is called, it's easy and quick and we land in Yogyakarta the same time we left, 8am, due to the time difference. I've done a bit of research and found we can get a bus from the airport to right near our hotel so we grab one from outside for the stupidly cheap cost of 30p for 2.
The bus drops us off and head in the direction I think we are meant to go but after 10 minutes walking we are back on the main road as we as have definitely gone the wrong way. Turns out the bus didn't drop us where Google maps thought it would and we miss out road by about 10 steps, whoops. We start down the correct road and it's meant to take 8 minutes but after 10, we still haven't seen our left turn and I'm despairing a bit. Luckily a shop keeper sees us looking panicked and points us in the right direction, turns out we have completely over shot our road. I find where we are on the map and after a little more walking our guesthouse with the smallest sign possible comes appears. It is run by 2 sisters and they are so friendly that the long walk is soon forgotten. The reason we have come to Yogyakarta is to go and see the Borobudur temple and we waste no time in getting a sun rise tour booked for the morning, I can't wait.
We drop out bags after this, have a quick shower and grabs a bus into town. Everyone is a bit intrigued by us on the bus and a lady next to me asks loads of questions but I don't mind as she's really helpful in telling us where to get off to see the Palace. We take a short walk from the bus stop towards what we think is the Palace, pay to go inside but it turns out to be the gardens. Nice enough but a bit boring. We realise we needed to walk a little further down the road and then the right building comes into sight. Man this place is a jumble, we wander round the grounds and buildings trying to do it in some order but you can't. We don't really learn anything and our stomachs are rumbling so we had out.
It's Ramadan at the moment so most of the restaurants are closed but we manage to find a local food court and through hand signals get us a plate of scrummy vegetarian food with 2 drinks for under £1! Our early start and the heat are starting to kill us now so we head back and spend the rest of the day chilling with a nice and early 7pm bedtime for tomorrow.
Day 158
It's a 3.30am start but we are both awake at 2.30am due to the Call for Prayer. The driver picks us up at 3.30 and we head off for an hour and a bit drive to Borobudur. The park doesn't open till 6am but if you pay the only hotel on sight a little extra you can go in from 4.30. We pay up and grab our free torches before making our way to the temple. It's pitch black so we don't really see anything till it's right in front of us and wow, Borobudur is big!
We hand our tickets to the security and then make our way up to the top to find a good spot for sunrise. The sky has started to lighten not long after we arrive and once we have snaffled our breakfast made for us by the hotel, we set out to take shots.
I also start to see what's around me and I'm in awe of the stupas that surround me. Ben goes off to take some different shots after a while but I stay, a bit taken a back by it all, when I was about 8 or 9, just after my parents split up my Dad when travelling by himself across Indonesia and I remember being so transfixed by the postcard he sent back and the descriptions he told me of a temple full of Buddha's under bells and I suddenly realised that I was in the place my 8 year old self dreamed about seeing. Very cool.
The sun continued to rise and Ben came back just as the sun rays became trapped by the mountains either side of it and made a wedge in the sky.
We made our way down to the lower levels at this point to start our assent to enlightenment. Well that's what is suppose to happen. Each level has a set of reliefs going round it and they are incredible, and so much better than the Angkor ones.
We wandered around taking them all in but sadly we couldn't reach enlightenment as one of the levels is having work done to it but I was still taken aback by the beauty of it all. The only problem was that when we reached the top and started to look around the Stupas, I managed to trap what we thing was a bee between my shirt and my arm and I got stung. I've never been stung before and I didn't react well, I didn't have an allergic reaction but my body decided to do what it always does when it gets a shock and it tried to faint. Not so cool on top of a ten tiered temple, but I sat on the floor, blocking the way of all the other tourists until it passed. But man, the pain stayed for ages :(
We made our way down now and go and check out the hidden foot which they think got hidden as the design of the temple changed half way through building as a new architect came in. Our ticket includes tea and a little snack so we head back to the hotel to grab that. There are a couple of museums included in the price so we go in search of them. They are okay but a bit boring so we head back to the car now. The drive takes a little longer on the way back and we have to keep telling the driver no as he "recommends" good tourist things we could do/he can get commission from. We lunge when we get back as we feel so tired from our early start, but we pop out for a road side dinner of soup and noodles before coming back to pack for leaving Indonesia tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment