Temple Trekking in Yogyakarta

Mendut Temple

Prambanan Temple

Borobudur

My last holiday in Indonesia was to the city of Yogyakarta (pronounced jogjakarta). Located in Central Java, this city is renowned for being the centre of Javanese culture and fine art. It was also, for a time, the Indonesian capital during the Indonesian Revolution in the mid-1940's.

The first time I heard about Jogja was through a gay Belgian couple I had befriended on my flight over to Jakarta last January. They were going to visit the city and all the attractions it had offer, including seeing the temples Borobudur and Prambanan. This certainly got me interested in a possible visit in the next few months. As I got settled into Jakarta life and gotten to know my house mates, coincidently they had just spent Christmas there and had regaled me with tales of rafting and visiting the temples, my interest was piqued.

 I  made the decision to go by myself in January as a last tango in Indonesia. I booked my train for the 28th of January for five days. I knew from the get go that I wanted to do the temples, eat good Javanese food and treat myself with spa therapies as I like to be pampered on holiday. More than anything, this trip was to get my head right about heading home and leaving all my new found family here.

So I left Jakarta on a train at 8 in the morning. The journey was a long one (7 hours) so I managed to squeeze in some sleep despite having a male passenger playing a staring contest with me and my neighbour practising her elementary level English with me. I wanted to take some pictures of the lush green of the Javanese countryside ;however, it is rainy and horrible and my camera could capture the scenery well enough, boo hiss!

Despite all that, I arrived in overcast Jogja  and quickly went about looking for transport to my accommodation, EDU Hostel. I took a becak (pronounced be-chak) for 30,000rp from the train station. I took in the sights and smell of Jogja. It smelt of rain and nasi goreng, honestly! I checked in and went upstairs to my 6-bed dorm room(female). Thankfully there were only 3 of us in the room. I couldn't help but notice how big the hostel was and how clean and tidy the rooms were,definitely puts it in the running for best hostel I've stayed in. 

My primary reason for being in Jogja was to check out the temples so I went on a mission to find tours for the temples.The hostel offered multiple tours of the temples and other fun activities like rafting and batik printing classes. I then decided on the 8 hour sunrise tour of the temples (Be at Borobudur by 6am and then Mendut temple and Prambanan), I got talking to a couple of guys who coincidently were on the same train as I was. They decided to book the same trip as me ,what luck friends! One is an American Peace Corps volunteer on holiday leave from Ethiopia and the other a Brit from Coventry (my family's neck of the woods) who is travelling through to Australia for work. 

Before the crack of dawn (4:45am), we disembarked from our hostel and were treated to the history of the temple from guide. As I was still virtually asleep, I did not listen to the guide and slept soundly until we reached our destination. However I do remember him saying that Borobudur was built in the 9th century and the architecture was inspired by both Javanese elements as well as Indian art which gives it makes Indonesian. As it is a place of pilgrimage, the journey begins at the base of the monument and follow a path that leads to the top through the three levels of Buddhist Cosmology: Kamadhatu (world of desire), Rapadhatu (world of forms) and Arupadhatu (world of formlessness). 

I paid the local price as I had a laminated photocopy of my KITAS while my new mates had to pay the bule price (difference between 200,000rp and 30,000rp anyone?) on we went with our sarongs wrapped around our hips and a lovely old man as our guide we were free to explore this beautiful Buddhist temple. I couldn't help but marvel at the stone carvings that told stories and overlooking the beautiful golden sunrise. I was beyond astounded. It is incredible what the  human imagination and faith could make with hands. This place is a true wonder, I wonder what would have happened if Raffles did not 'discover' it 1814? Would we have found it? Probably.

 Although it was not crowded, there were a number of high schoolers who were waiting to talk to visitors to practice their English and have their obligatory snap with a foreigner. I was obliged to speak to them after the temple tour was finished and spoke to them about Britain (they thought I was American) and British slang and idioms. I guess I could never stop being a teacher. It was so time for us to go as our 2 hours were up so the boys and I headed towards a warung for our free breakfast which was not great in all honesty. Borobudur should be on every travellers list if they are passing through Java. It is truly worth it.

One of the 1,460 narrative relief panels found in Borobudur.

Stupas

Buddha in a stupa

New friends

The temple trekking continued with  Mendut Temple, Borobudur's 'infant'. It is 10 minute drive from Borobudur and is so small that we did the tour in 20 minutes. Despite the brevity of the tour, Mendut was still a lovely bit architecture and more surprising is the fact that it is older than Borobudur. The temple also shows carvings the Javanese bas-relief of Hariti, considered as a symbol of fertility. It is still used today during the Buddhist festival of Vesak, where Buddhists walk from Mendut to Pawon temple and end at Borobudur.

Hariti

Buddha

Temple inside the roof

We then moved onto Prambanan which was on the other side of Borobudur a 45-minute drive to be exact. Unlike the temples we had just seen, Prambanan was a Hindu temple complex. There are three main temples each named after a Hindu god in which the followers would worship; Shiva (the largest and most impressive in my opinion), Vishnu and Brahma. We had these high school kids as guides who knew their stuff but bless them their English was not great.I've convinced myself that Prambanan was used as a location for the opening scene of the Mortal Kombat film, I'm sure of it. It is similar to Borobudur because they have almost the same intricate stone carvings telling stories and legends. However, I was not blown away by it as I was to Borobudur. Prambanan does have many more smaller temples surrounding the complex, some of them were in a state of repair and other were beyond that stage. Nevertheless it was lovely to walk around the vast complex which included a market to buy souvenirs.

Remains of Bubruh temple

Hard hat for the Shiva shrine

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Sewu temple

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After spending two hours at the complex, it was time to call it a day. We headed back to our hostel tired but thoroughly satisfied with our exploits. I was particularly exhausted as I haven't had to get up that early since high school. I highly recommend visiting these temples as you would get a sense of Indonesia's religious past. I'll be honest, I thought it was Islam dominated from day one but these temples proved that was not the case. If you are foreign visitor expect to pay 200,000rp at both Borobudur and Prambanan. Mendut only cost 3,000rp. It is also best to visit Borobudur in the morning because in the afternoon it gets REALLY crowded. 

This next few days were all about kicking back relaxing by the pool, getting lovely messages and reflecting on my time Indonesia. Going to the temples is on my list of favourite I've done here and will never forget.