Mixtures of Religious History

Yogyakarta was meant to be the highlight of my trip, as I originally came to Indonesia to see Borobudur. While, Yogyakarta was not the highlight of my trip, the temples were certainly exquisite, and we are glad we visited them.

We arrived in Yogyakarta by train, and the ride was less than comfortable. We had paid a lot of money to be on an executive air conditioned train; the only problem was that the trainw as a bit TOO air conditioned. We continuously throughout the night ran to our bags to pull out another piece of clothing to lay on top of ourselves; we had towels, socks, and numerous shirts on by the end of the night. When we arrived at 7 in the morning, the train had become so cold that we could see our breath. We were very happy to step outside, despite the overwhelming heat. Even the silly movies, ridiculous Indonesian pop, and Avril Lavine music videos couldn't distract us from the cold of that train.

We arrived and were immediately bombarded with calls for transportation. We ignored them and walked to the main hostel street. We were confronted with a man trying to sell us a hostel, and his price of 4 US dollars sounded appealing. We went to look at his hostel, found it acceptable, and then looked immediately at tours to Borobudur. They offered a tour that took in Borobudur and the Prambanan temple for less than 10 US dollars, so we joined. The tour left at 8, and it was then nearing 7:30. We hopped right back out to find a place for breakfast. We had a nice meal of Nasi Goreng and banana pancakes, topped off with fresh fruit juice.

Before I begin my discussion on Yogyakarta, I would like to give a brief history of Borobudur. Borbudur was built in the 9th century by the Buddhist kingdoms at that time.