Dec 3, 2011

Jogjakarta Part I

I just went on a 3 day trip to the city of Jogjakarta, located on the Indonesian island Java, to visit some temples and experience Indonesian culture. This first blog post will be dedicated mostly to the Borobudur temple!

The Phoenix Hotel where I stayed at was an old Dutch colonial mansion. The building was gorgeous; colonial, antique, and very rich.

I saw the Ramayana ballet which is a Javanese story about Rama fighting for his true love Sita.

Our first stop on my private tour of the temples. This is just a small temple and the huge tree next to it is thousands of years old.

Next to the little temple and gorgeous tree, was a Buddhist monastery. A tranquil garden was open for visitors and provided the perfect meditating atmosphere.

This is the Eastern entrance of the Borobudur temple. When monks visit the monument, they have to go up all the 10 layers and walk clockwise on each tier to read the stories that have been carved into the panels on the side of the building. The Borobudur has no chambers and only has its exterior to showcase Buddhist lessons. The temple was built in the 9th century, but no one knows how long it took to build. In 1006 there was a "big flash" (the eruption of Mount Mepai) and the Borobudur was covered completely in ash. The ash protected the building for centuries until a Dutchman discovered it once again in 1812 and excavations began. The Buddhists had left Java after the big flash and many had gone to neigboring Bali.

The first two levels of the building are still hidden behind stone. They are hidden, because they reveal the evils that mankind faces and must overcome; dance, drink, fornication, war, etc. As you can see, many of the Buddhist statues have no heads. This is because 60% of the heads have been stolen over time.

At the highest level is the large stupa (a stupa contains four elements: the priest's robes, a lotus flower, an upside down rice bowl, and a walking stick) which is surrounded by smaller stupa.

Me in front of a stupa. Inside these stupa are Buddhist statues and if you touch them it will give you luck. Of course you are not allowed to touch them, but with the promise of luck, how could I resist?

My tour guide and I in front of the Northern side of the temple. (Note: each of the four sides are exactly alike!)

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