Waking the guys up at 3.30am is no joke. With lots of swearing, I managed to roll them out of bed.
We met up at the reception just before 4 am for the Borobudur sunrise tour. Staying at the hotel gives us the advantage of avoiding the crowds by a special pre-dawn stroll through the hotel grounds and right up the UNESCO monument. Upon signing up at the counter, we were given a sticker to show that we came from the hotel and torch. Our guide for the day was Pak Fatah. A French lady joined us in our little tour.
The mist enveloped us as we walked along the trail to the entrance. Pak Fatah started his narration of the monument and how he came to be a tour guide. Before the hotel was built and the surrounding areas being designated as part of the UNESCO site for protection, he used to stay at the village that is right next to the ancient compound. When he was young, he didn't understand the hubbub about this temple. Tour buses used to deposited tourists right at the foot of the building.
The village has been there for ages. The temple was his playground. The village children found the place as an amazing place for a game of hide-n-seek.Tales were passed from the elders that the villagers used to be the labour force for the temple, centuries ago.
The Indonesian government, realizing the value of tourism, decided to relocate their entire village. Although there was a tone of regret in his voice, Pak Fatah acknowledged that it was also for the greater good. However, he felt that the compensation could be have been better.
 |
| Stone steps leading upwards through the arches of Kala. I took this photo on the way down as the dawn light was too dark |
Pak Fatah, although a Muslim, is very knowledgeable about Borobudur and its Buddhist teachings. He explained patiently to us the difference in design in every level. Borobudur was designed to reflect the road to enlightenment.As one discards away worldly needs and desires, the ascending design became simpler, without need of adornment.You can hear the passion about conservation in his voice.
 |
| At 5am |
 |
| The morning mist lifting up |
Every stupa had its own Buddha sitting in it.
As Borobudur is located quite near to Mount Merapi, an active volcano, the Borobudur park management has designated each stupa to a park official. When there is news of an eruption, the park official will run to his stupa with a "stupa cover" to secure it before the volcanic ash reaches the temple. The first incident they had with volcanic ash was very costly and time-consuming to clean. Each stone had to be removed, cleaned (vacuumed or jet-sprayed) and replaced.
 |
| Sun is coming up at 5.30pm. How many sunrises did this Buddha see since it was carved? |
With Buddhas surrounding the main stupa, you would expect the main stupa to have some enormous statue. However, archaeologists found none within. It was just a large empty room. According to Pak Fatah, Buddhist monks have informed him that the room is empty to show that enlightenment. That there was no need for a statue of any sort.
 |
| Main Stupa in the back |
 |
| There are no lions on the Java island. How did this fella end up here? |
 |
| Bas relief depicting Buddha's past lives |
The tour ended via another exit directly back into the hotel. That's when my spare shoe gave way. Sigh... of all the things that could have happened.
At the exit, there were lots of souvenir touts who lay in ambush. They are very persistent. Ignoring them would be your best option.
We returned our torch to the counter and received a nice scarf in exchange. Since we were hotel guests, we went to have our breakfast and had our tour snack delivered to us.
 |
| Fried banana fritters with cheese. Strange but yummy combination |
We checked out after breakfast for the second part of the day's touring. We were headed for cave and river tubing! On the way there, we would make stops at the Pawon and Mendut Temple.
True to his word, Mr. Budi fixed my shoe too!
The Pawon temple lies in between Mendut and Borobudur. It's a small temple and empty inside. Some say it serves as a tomb.
 |
| Pawon Temple |
We stopped 2km later at Mendut Temple. There was a huge crowd of students on excursions. The strange thing is that they kept trying to speak to us in Japanese O_o. I was tempted to yell back "
日本人じゃありません".
They even asked for photos with us. More strangeness.
I couldn't get a shot of the whole temple with the crowd. Mendut Temple is apparently older than Borobudur and it is still being used today. However the conservation on the temple walls are somewhat lacking.
 |
| Mendut Temple |
 |
| Offering up a prayer |
 |
| Students on excursion. You can see that parts of the area is still being excavated. |
It was a 4 hour drive to Gua Pindul for cave and river tubing after the temples. Unfortunately we not able to capture any photos during the tubing session for fear of dropping our phones into the river. In short, it was a very long journey.
Tubing looks like this, minus the pina colada.
 |
| Credits to funny-pictures.picphotos.net |
Gua Pindul is generally visited by the locals as a point for river sports. During the wet season, lots of white water rafting is done in this area. Cave and river tubing cost us IDR160,000 each. We started by changing into our swim gear at the rudimentary bath house (around IDR20,000 per entry), getting our tubes and getting an assigned guide.
As we slowly drifted into Gua Pindul, our guide explained the sights to us. In the wet season, cave tubing is usually off limits since water levels could rise dangerously high. There were many rowdy students in the cave doing cliff jumping. Although it was 7 metres to the bottom, our guide cautioned against it as it was still dangerous.
To get to the river tubing portion, we loaded up our tubes into the back of the truck and headed out. The truck stopped us sorta like in the middle of the field and we lugged our tubes down to the river. As it was the dry season, the water currents were really slow and our guide had to pull us along. It was a slow float along the 5km stretch. He told us that the best time to do river tubing is right after the monsoons, around June. Then the swollen river would have receded a little and the currents would be able to push us along at a nice steady pace.
We did a quick kampung style shower after tubing i.e. using a bucket and scooping out frigid water to rinse off the river water. As there is really a lack of space to hang your belongings within the cubicles, best to just put everything into a plastic bag and sort it out later.
For dinner we headed to Yogyakarta for Nasi Gudeg. Mr. Budi brought us to a street in Yogyakarta that specialised in this local dish. We ended up at warung Yu Djum. We sat cross-legged on the floor as Mr. Budi ordered for us.
This place seemed quite well-known. Never ending streams of people stopped by to do takeaways.
 |
| Nasi Gudeg - boiled jackfruit in coconut milk, boiled egg, buffalo skin, soya cake(tempe) and chicken |
Portions were on the small side. It has a sweetish taste to it, probably attributed to the palm sugar involved in the cooking. If you are a big eater, you may need 2 portions of this.
Borobudur Sunrise Tour
Inhouse Price: IDR230,000
Foreign Visitor Price : IDR380,000
Registration : Front desk of Manohara Borobudur Hotel
Gudeg Yu Djum
Address: Kaliurang Street Km 4,5 Karang Asem CT III/22
Tel:+62 274 515968
