The Temples of Java… Part 2.

Early the following morning we were back up on the upper gallery of Borobudur…

Up among the stupas to great the new day...

Low cloud cover had convinced us that there would not be the stunning sunrise we had hoped for the previous evening, but knowing we had a very full day ahead of us, had us tramping around the upper terraces long before most tourists arrived…

Meditating at the greatest Buddhist temple in the world...

Patti climbed up onto a low wall and meditated for awhile…

I stood watching the serenity etched on her face as she sat cross-legged near the parapet, facing the rising sun…

I was delighted that she was able to experience this special moment at the most magnificent of Buddhist temples, and this while small groups of people wandered past us, some glancing inquisitively at her, while others spoke in hushed tones as they drew nearer, respecting her private moment of peace…

A number of Buddhists passed us, carrying burning incense sticks. chanting prayers of their own… I wondered what Borobudur would look like when a full blown ceremony was being held… I could only imagine the riot of colour made up by monks in their orange and saffron robes, the chanting and singing… I am pretty sure it must be a magnificent spectacle…!!

Many of the carved reliefs are made up from different blocks of stone... Imagine the planning that went into getting them all lined up in the correct positions after they were carved...!!

"Yes, yes..., I know it might be a simple feat for you, but my legs just don't bend that way, see...!!"

One of my favourite pics of Patricia... It gave me a huge kick to see how much she enjoyed her visit to Borobudur...

Having already walked the galleries the day before, we took the most direct route down to the foot of the temple and then wandered out into the extensive grounds beyond it…

You have to agree that this is one of the most impressive structures you will ever lay eyes on...!!

Scratching where the average trunk don't reach...!!

Up close and personal... Patti was enthralled at getting so close to an elephant...!!

While searching for the path to the Elephant Cave on a hill nearby, we came across the stables where a small herd of elephant were being bathed and scrubbed by their mahouts…

All thoughts of finding the cave were swept away as we were allowed to enter the stable area and get up close and personal with some of these beautiful animals…

Out in the enclosure stood a few concrete posts of varying heights and we were treated to the sight of the elephants being allowed to use these posts to scratch parts of their bodies which were hard to reach…!!

Patti was delighted to be able to touch and stroke the elephants while my mind flew back to Chitwan in Nepal, where I had spent as much of my free time as I could bathing and clambering over the herd of elephants there…

Her expressions of delight and wonder easily matched mine from those many months ago…

Although I dislike the thoughts of elephants in captivity, it is none the less a privilege to be able to see them at such close quarters...

We set off on our 250's to explore the nearby village and temples of Mendut and Powan... (250's...?? 2 wheels and 50 spokes...!!)

We passed gaily decorated houses such as this one... Bali take note: See how clean the streets and sidewalks are...!!

At midday, we hired bicycles, (those infernal contraptions which I have studiously ignored until very recently…) and pedaled into the village to visit the two other temples on the Pilgrim Route to Borobudur…

We reached the Mendut Temple near the centre of town, where the only statue of Buddha seated in a chair can be found…

This temple was built at the same time as Borobudur and together with Powan Temple and Borobudur itself, forms a straight line, similar to the Pyramids of Egypt and many of the Mayan and Aztec Temples in Central America…

Co-incidence…?? I think not…!!

Mendut Temple... Destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt by Dutch archeologists...

The Buddha seated on a chair....

This beautiful Banyan Tree attracts people to its spreading shade...

Buddhist deities are carved into reliefs on the outer walls and galleries of this temple, and in the grounds nearby stands one of the most impressive Banyan Trees I have ever seen…

The significance of these temples in relation to Borobudur is yet to be determined, and probably never will be…

Outside the temple we ran the gauntlet of the dozens of curio sellers that have stalls set up there…We were pestered by T-shirt salesman and other demanding folk who followed us all the way from the main gate back to where we had tied up our bicycles…

We had bought a few small statuettes at Borobudur, and Patti wanted a necklace made from the seed pods of the Bodhi Tree, which Buddha’s mother had given birth to him under, so we wandered through the stalls negotiating with the ladies who worked at them…

"Your sister called and said you should buy a fridge magnet for her or face the consequences when you eventually get home...!!"

We spent some time in this quiet little monastery...

The exquisite lotus blossoms on a pond in the garden....

We also visited the little Buddhist Monastery near the gates of the Mendut Temple, where we meditated for a few minutes before strolling through the gardens surrounding it…

These gardens were spotlessly clean and deserted… We saw a number of large ceremonial gongs hanging from ornate shelters, and although I was itching to take a good swing at one of them with the mallets lying nearby, a look from Patti suggested it would not be a good idea to shatter the silence of the monastery…

All I wanted was to liven things up a bit, I explained… Apparently the monks would not have appreciated my efforts to do this…

The central pathway was lined with replicas of the stupas at Borobudur....

A pagoda containing this statue had been donated to Javanese Buddhists by their counterparts in China...

"What..!! Another 4km...!! On a bicycle...!! Big Fella, where are you...??"

If no decorations are available, then use your imagination...!!

Back on our “modes of inconvenient travel”, we cycled back toward out hotel, stopping to see the Powan Temple, the smallest of the three, and devoid of any statues…

We made up for this by taking photos of each other in the niches where statues had once stood… As yet we have not been struck by lightning, so we assume that Buddha looked down on us with an approving smile…!!

Outside the temple, a few women had gathered to try and flog some more trinkets to us, but with a wide smile we indicated the bags already tied to our handlebars and told them we had more than enough memories of Java in them already…

The Powan Temple is smack in the middle of a residential area, and I guess the people living there have made a living from selling their wares to tourists for many years…

Powan Temple, the smallest of the three temples in Borobudur village...

Strike the pose...!! And hope a lightning bolt is not on its way to a place near you...!!

During the full moon in the months of May and June, Indonesian Buddhists observe a ritual known as Vesak, by starting at Mendut Temple and walking to Powan Temple before ending at Borobudur…

Incoming...!! Hnadlers watch their birds come zooming towards the "end zone"...!!

Our flight back to Bali was due to leave after 10pm, and with time to kill, we asked our driver to take us to the Hindu Temple complex close to the airport…

On the way there we passed an open field where a group of guys were racing pigeons, Java style… We stopped to watch them for a while, and saw that the male birds were attracted back to their owners by the female birds that the young men held in their hands…

Groups of male birds were placed in a large wicker basket on the back of a scooter, and then a rider would take them out to the far side of the open field and wait for the signal to release two birds at a time…

The bird who got back to its owner the quickest was the winner apparently… Much to our dismay, Patti’s search for a bookie to place some bets with, bore no fruit…!! Not a betting man among them it would have seemed…!!

We watched the birds arrowing across the rice paddies, heading directly for their handlers at high speed, and then spreading their wings at the last minute and coming to rest atop their mates that were tightly clutched in the hands of the men holding them… It was an amazing spectacle, and we took numerous photos and video of the occasion…

Then it was back in the car to race through the hectic afternoon traffic of Yogjakarta, trying to get to the Hindu temples near the airport…

Late afternoon found us hurrying towards the series of Hindu temples that make up the Prambanan Complex...

Prambanan Temple Complex once consisted of more than 230 temples of various sizes, but today barely a handful are still standing… Built during the same period as Borobudur, the main temple, that of Siwa, is an impressive structure in its own right… Other smaller temples near Siwa all glorify the Trinity of Gods worshiped by Hindus, namely Siwa, Vishnu and Brahma…

We managed to mingle with other last minute visitors before security moved in and ushered us all towards the exit...!!

We arrived at the grounds barely minutes before the guards closed the entry point and advised us that we only had a few minutes to view the temples… We hurried to the farthest part of the complex, my reasoning being that it would take the guards longer to find and eject us that way…!!

And I was not the only person thinking that way it would seem… A number of other tour groups were scattered through the same area, climbing the stairs into the smaller temples and snapping away madly with cameras and video recorders…

The main Siwa Temple was closed for renovations, but we managed to get into the temples dedicated to Vishnu and Brahma…

Just as at Borobudur, the galleries on the outside of the temples had been carved to show scenes from the Hindi beliefs…

We watched the sun go down and disappear altogether from the terrace of one temple, before the guards appeared and began herding us towards the exit…

Another glorious sunset... This time from the lower gallery of the Vishnu Temple, we watched the sun duck down between the clouds and the distant horizon...

Naturally we would have preferred to spend more time wandering around the vast complex of Prambanan, and realistically we should have allowed an extra day for our trip to Java to fully experience the majesty and grandeur of this site, just as we were able to at Borobudur…

From outside the fence, we looked back and wished we had spent another day here in Java...

Our flight back to Bali was delayed by more than an hour and we finally landed in Denpasar at midnight, Bali time, and arrived back in Ubud at 1.00am on Tuesday morning…

It had been a whirlwind few days for us, and I was hugely thankful that Patti and I were able to spend this special time together, visiting one of the most awe-inspiring monuments to man’s ingenuity and determination…

We had also had an opportunity to experience Indonesian culture on Java, a far cry from that of more laid-back Bali… Thinking back to our visit to Java, Bali might as well be a separate country altogether…!!

It is that different to the Indonesia we experienced in Java, and I am sure will be as different to the other islands I will be cruising through in the weeks to come…

Speaking of which, I have now finalized my date of departure from Bali and the love I discovered in Ubud…

On Tuesday morning, after a blessing ceremony for the Big Fella and I, which has been thoughtfully arranged by Patti, my trusty steed and I will head for Padangbai and the ferry to take us to Lombok, five hours sailing away…

A sad day is in the offing…!!

©GBWT 2011