Borobudur and beyond

Hasan Bissri (guide_hpi@yahoo.com) English-speaking guide

This was my 4th visit to Borobudur (1971, 1974, 1991), a 8th or 9th century Buddhist temple outside Yogjakarta (Indonesia), and the first with a guide. Although we had a series of okay, but not great, guides in India, we still felt that a guide would keep us from a superficial look at the temple. A potential guide approached us as we exited the visitor's center.. We hired him (temple has a set guide fee and all guides are licensed). We ended up with a first class guide. He not only described the site but created vivid memories.

Hasan Bissri (guide_hpi@yahoo.com) pointed out that the steps to the top of Borobudur become steeper because "reaching nirvana is difficult." The difficulty of reaching nirvana was a theme that he developed throughout the tour. Another theme was the incorporation of Hinduism into the local Islamic culture; the most visible is the three parallel roofs instead of a dome on the mosques. Hassan was also a good source of information on the rehabilitation of Borobudur and separating the old components from the newer.

Path and steps leading into Borobudur

Another view of Borobudur

As we viewed the reliefs Hasan told the associated stories/fables that he had learned as a boy. Whether they matched up with existing scholarship wasn't important - the stories illustrated the depth of religious commitments. In one story (not associated with a relief) a woman was followed by a man who was intent on marrying her. She asked why he was so attracted to her. He that it was her beautiful eyes. He was told to wait outside her house; eventually a servant came out bearing her eye and told the potential suitor that now he had what he valued he should go away. The lesson  - people may be called to make great sacrifices not superficial ones.

Monkey to the right sacrificed his life to lead the other
monkeys to safety

Water drain - no longer in use

Devotees circling the stupas

"Open" stupa (a new innovation). Many Buddhas are missing - through
vandalism or held in private collections

West-facing Buddha - hand position represents meditation

A lasting lesson from Indonesia is how much one can accomplish with simple gestures. A sideways wave of the hand shoos away a beggar or hawker. In Solo we watched a becak driver clap his hands to attract another driver. The following sign illustrates the same tradition of a gentle touch.

From Borobudur we headed to an area devastated by the 2010 eruption of Mount Merapi.

18 months after the eruption. The river bed is filled with volcanic ash distributed by a
superheated (600C) cloud of ash sweeping down the mountain, killing everything in its path.
The trucks are hauling off the ash in the river bed, which is being used to make bricks.

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Out of disaster - opportunity. Drivers provide transport
to view more of the destruction

Signs of life returning

Another sign of life - for tourists tee-shirts and DVDs of eruption

 Our final stop was Prambanan a Hindu temple built about the same time as Borobudur (different sites give different ages, but both Borobudur and Prambanan are over a 1000 years old). In previous visits we attended the Ramayana ballet held in front of a temple. We couldn't go this time. The performances are from May to October (dry season); from the posters it looks less sedate than the performances we saw.

At Prambanan no guides appeared (perhaps because it was late in the day). We would have appreciated one especially to bring us up-to-date on the progress in repairing the temple from a 2006 earthquake.  Dust from the 2010 Merapi eruption was also visible. (A friend asked how the temple compared with those we saw in India. Prambanan included separate temples from Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu - not common in India. The temples seemed spikier and closer together than we had seen in Indian complexes.)

A view of the complex. In the foreground
old or recent destruction? We don't know

Borobudur requires sarongs - Prambanan doesn't

Local school girls posing (after taking pictures of Doug)

 As we left Premanan we want to buy a guide book. A hawker sought out a book and offered it to us for 100,000 rupiah; his final offer was 70,000 and ours was 60,000. A few minutes later he tracked us down and offered to sell it for 65,000. We agreed. After we completed the transaction we couldn't find Lina. The hawker pointed to where he thought she went. Long story short - after about 10 minutes he found her and we tipped him 5000. Everyone was happy. Sorry that we didn't get a picture.

Back in Yogjakarta we stopped for satay, wandered through a night market, and had dinner. At Borobudur we asked Hassan if tourism had helped the region. He said that it had and gave as an example that now most families had two or three motorbikes. As a picture below confirms there are a lot of motorbikes in Yogjakarta.

Cooking satay - other family members were cooking
at separate spots to her left and right

A view of the night market opposite the Sultan's Palace on a Saturday night.

Perhaps buying Yamaha stock would be a good idea

A lesehan (street restaurant) complete with street performers

Jalan Malioboran, the main drag, is filled with these street food options - relatively different from each other. We ate at one, but the next night we sought a restaurant with chairs.  The city has changed over 40 years.  Jalan Malioboran stores no longer close from noon to 3pm because of the heat.  While vendors have always occupied the sidewalks, they used to give way to food vendors after dark.  The lesehan are now located across the street from the main stores.  And motorcycle parking lots are everywhere (reminding me of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in the late 60's and early 70's).

On logistics - we took at a train from Bandung to Yogjakarta - an 8 hour trip that took 9.5 hours. Later we learned that a faster train left an hour earlier (at 7 a.m.). About midway we stopped and waited for a train headed toward Bandung to pass. (We felt that we were back on Amtrak.) We were in an air conditioned car; sometimes the ac worked. On the return trip the ac cars were booked so we took business class which had fans. (Their presence was scarcely noticeable.) On the AC cars we rec'd pillows; on the business we paid for them! On the AC car the caterer was a pretty girl who received many orders; on the return two bored older men - not so much business. To get to Solo we took an hour long trip on a commuter train - comfortable. Far better than KL's KTM Commuter.

On the train to Yogjakarta

Padi fields along the way - a scenic trip
(but one way is enough)

The train to Solo

For our Yogjakarta tour we  booked a taxi (driver and car) through Cakra Tour and Travel (travelcakra@yahoo.com). They arranged for a driver to take us where we wanted to go for a very reasonable price. (They also have group tours.)