Dreams & Ambitions Discovered: Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Prambanan & Borobudur

After Malang I headed to Yogyakarta, the center of Javanese culture and home to both Borobudur and Prambanan temples. I stayed at a University for 7 nights with 19 year old Muslim student. He is really a fantastic and caring host though quite young. Staying in a dormitory at a Muslim school is obviously very different from the West. I never saw a female my entire stay there. Instead I could hear kids singing karaoke at 6:30 in the morning (having just woken up, not from being up all night).

On July 31st 2010 I went to Prambanan temple. I copy and pasted the below info from Wikipedia

Prambanan is the ninth century Hindu temple compound in Central Java, Indonesia, dedicated to Trimurti, the expression of God as the Creator (Brahma), the Sustainer (Vishnu) and the Destroyer (Shiva). The temple compound located approximately 18 km east of Yogyakarta city on the boundary between Yogyakarta and Central Java province. The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, currently is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia, and is one of the largest Hindu temples in south-east Asia. It is characterised by its tall and pointed architecture, typical of Hindu temple architecture, and by the towering 47m high central building inside a large complex of individual temples.

On August 1st I went to Borobudur, the largest Buddhist Temple in the world, and one of the top sites in all of SE Asia. It was recommended I go at sunrise and the place is so incredible I really wish I had. However, I was trying to get over a cold so getting up at 3:30 in the morning is the last thing I wanted to do. Instead I will provide insight to why I had a cold based on my visit to the #1 tourist attraction in Indonesia. Went to take a shit while at the temple and there is no toilet paper which I can accept, they don't use it here, I know to carry my own ok. But how the fuck can the #1 tourist attraction in the country not supply soap at their bathroom? To top it off they charged to use the restroom which is the norm, but if you are going to charge me to shit at least provide me with soap. Lucky for me I also had a bar of soap in my front pocket lol but obviously a lot of people are not using soap after they leave the shitter. Same people who are making my food I presume (and not using toilet paper). It is something I have gotten use to in Asia, I always keep soap or hand sanitizer with me. All that said, Indonesia is absolutely amazing, one of my favorite countries I've ever been to.

On to Borobudur, the following is from Wikipedia:
"Borobudur, or Barabudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist monument near Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. A main dome, located at the center of the top platform, is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues seated inside perforated stupa.

The monument is both a shrine to the Lord Buddha and a place for Buddhist pilgrimage. The journey for pilgrims begins at the base of the monument and follows a path circumambulating the monument while ascending to the top through the three levels of Buddhist cosmology, namely Kamadhatu (the world of desire), Rupadhatu (the world of forms) and Arupadhatu (the world of formlessness). During the journey the monument guides the pilgrims through a system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the wall and the balustrades.

Evidence suggests Borobudur was abandoned following the 14th-century decline of Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms in Java, and the Javanese conversion to Islam.Worldwide knowledge of its existence was sparked in 1814 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, then the British ruler of Java, who was advised of its location by native Indonesians. Borobudur has since been preserved through several restorations. The largest restoration project was undertaken between 1975 and 1982 by the Indonesian government and UNESCO, following which the monument was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Borobudur is still used for pilgrimage; once a year Buddhists in Indonesia celebrate Vesak at the monument, and Borobudur is Indonesia's single most visited tourist attraction.