Borobudur, Yogyakarta, Java

The day after we went to Pranbanan (July 2008) , we visited the famous 10th century Buddhist temple site of Borobuduer near Yogyakarta. It is so big, I could not fit it into my lens view - not having a wide angle lens.



Ketut looks up the steps


'Tut sits on the steps waiting for me. We arrived shortly after sunrise.


Just a few of the many. many stupas. Under each is a statue of Buddha.


Peeking through to Buddha


Buddha uncapped


These Japanese tourists were pushing everyone out of the way, yelling at people to get out of their frames and climbing all over the statuary - throughout the temple! I began giggling uncontrollably, the British woman next to me followed suit and 'Tut tried to shush us to no avail.


One of my favorite views






'Tut

Pranbanan, Yogyakarta, Java

I went to Yogyakarta, Java, rather than stay in Ubud, Bali, for the Coq's cremation (the Coq was Ubud royalty if you haven't read previous posts), but watched part of it on Australian tv from Yogya. They said there were 300,000 people in the tiny streets of Ubud. What blew me away before I left was the Media Center sign on the quickly constructed gate around the soccer field/playground off of Monkey Forest Road in Ubud. Media Center? In Ubud? Friends who attended said it was an unbelievable crush of people.

When we returned the night before the big Padang Tegal cremation of 87 people, of which Tut's grandfather was one ( a second cremation for a different banjar), I was sick with a bad cold. I always get sick when I get exhausted. I slept two days while 'Tut stayed up most of the following 48 hours, as he had a lot of duties to perform for that cremation.

So instead of cremation photos, I'll give you some from Yogya. In this post, are photos of Pranbanan, the 10th century Hindu temple complex built about 50 years after Borobudur. It suffered a lot of damage in the earthquake that rocked Yogya a few years back, and there are still some scaffolds up as repairs continue.