Jogyakarta, Indonesia: House of Candis
Half way through June 2010 I had no thought of going home to Philippines - or anywhere else - in July. I was too busy struggling with an absolutely impossible workload to be thinking of taking a holiday.
However que sera sera as the song says - and which at that time, my husband, Dexter, unexpectedly visited me on my workplace. I was surprised of his visit anyway. It ocurred to me that, I should be able to look forward to a substantial break before I returned to work and welcome a new School Year .Then I happened to see a flight advertised for Jogjakarta, an Air Asia's holiday promo, that would have fit perfectly. At that time one of my colleagues, Mr Krisna, introduced me to his friend, Mas Oko, a native in Java Indonesia who recently opened his place as a transient for tourists. What a great prospect!I booked for our flight together with my other friends. So to Yogyakarta, house of Candi!
Being one of the oldest cities in Indonesia, Yogyakarta has many heritage buildings and monuments. Largely thanks to its proximity to the temples of Borobudur and Prambanan.
We stepped in a huge SUV, owned by Mas Oko, full of dutch eating candies and started with the temple of Borobudur. Borobudur is the largest Buddhist monument in the world. Located on the Indonesian island of Java, 40 km (25mi) northwest of Yogyakarta.This site was in a very bad condition but the Indonesian Government with UNESCO have decided to refurbish the place from 1975 to 1982. It has become one of the main religious attractions in all of Indonesia.
Carefully designed as a step pyramid which had six rectangular storeys, three terraces that were circular, and the summit was a stupa in the center. In each layer you will discover many relief scenes depicting the different stories of the Buddha and the life he lived that are adapted from the Jataka Tales.
On the upper level, the stupa has a special buddha inside that the locals in the town believed that you are to make a wish and then touch its hand through the holes and the wish will come true....this in the past used to be for the blessing to have children however no people just wish for whatever they choose! I have lots of wishes and dreams in life but I never give a try to do it, aside from the fact that I can't reach it. I don't believe on it anyway and having that fear something will pull me inside. A little bit scary.
Climbing on steep stairways and walking in circles under the very bright sun with a temperature around 30 degrees Celsius is pretty exhausting. Good that I've brought a bottle of water while walking around. The weather in Indonesia tends to be hot and humid year around, do remember to bring enough drinking water, and keep drinking throughout the day. An ample supply is on sale at the entrance if you happen to run out.
On our way out of the temple, we're being surrounded by locals selling some tourist's stuffs, souvenirs and clothes. Some of them are quite aggressive and persistent. I think it's best not to give a try to buy. You can find a lot of those stuffs in Malioboro where you can be able to bargain and find more designs in lower price.
It was already a drizzling 10:00 am when we arrived here so it took us for almost the whole day taking a leisurely stroll around the temple. So I suggest you go here early in the morning to capture its panoramic view shadowed by a dark blue sky and minus the discomfort of the sunny heat.
Its amazing to read the posts which give enormous amount of up to date information about the beautiful sites. Pictures are really marvelous and takes us directly to the place where they exists in originality.
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Thanks for the pain you took to put all the information at one place.