Yogyakarta and Central Java

“Live your life by a compass, not a clock.”

-Stephen Covey

Waking up in Java

It was before dawn in Yogyakarta when my alarm went off. The sun still lay sleepily below the horizon while I sleepily got dressed. It was 3am. On this day, I was scheduled to meet a van filled with foreigners and a local tour guide at 3:30 am. We were headed to Borobudur Temple. A.k.a. The largest Buddhist temple in the world.

I came to Yogyakarta to see Borobudur. And a few other things. But mostly this temple.

Yogyakarta is a medium-sized and relatively calm city in central Java, the biggest island in Indonesia. The larger, more frenzied Indonesian cities lie elsewhere on Java. The crowded capital of Indonesia, Jakarta sits in western Java. Cosmopolitan Surabaya is north and a bit to the east. Yogyakarta lies smack in the middle of the island. The city is slower paced and is known for its temples, culture, and art scene.

I arrived in a Yogyakarta a few days prior to this very early morning. I left my yoga retreat on the small island of Gili Air, ferried back to Bali, and caught a quick flight to Java.

And so here I am. I’m awake (sort of) and ready to see the sights.

The Temple

Borobudur is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple near the town of Muntilan, in Central Java. I didn’t stay in Muntilan, because well, there isn’t much to do in Muntilan if you’re not Indonesian. Tourists such as myself, who come here to see the temple often opt to stay about an hour to the north in Yogyakarta.

The temple of Borobudur lives in historical infamy not just for its size, but also its design. It consists of nine stacked platforms, six square and three circular, topped by a central dome.  If that’s hard to visualize, try to think of a Mandela. While the builders of the temple never documented the original design intent or temple purpose, many believe the temple’s geometric shape clearly resembles a Mandela.

If you don’t know what a Mandela is, I can’t help you. But google can. Look it up.

I shared my early morning van ride to Borobudur with three young German ladies and a Swiss couple. We all lightly napped in the van and arrived at the temple just before 5am, at which point our driver handed each of us a flashlight and pointed us to the illuminated walking path leading to the base of the temple stairs. The guides come here everyday and don’t feel a need to accompany tourists to the top. At least not for free. Their job is to drive and drop off, and they trust you can figure out the rest.

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Worth the Wait

My favorite thing about Borobudur after seeing it in person is how perfectly un-overrun it is. It’s not busy at all, and it’s so refreshing to take in a wonder of the world without bumping elbows with a Chinese tourist or getting hit in the face with a selfie stick.

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The cost probably has something to do with the underwhelming crowds. You can (and I did) rent a private room with free breakfast in a homestay or guesthouse in Indonesia for under $20, but entry to the temple for sunrise sets you back about $50 USD. Aided by the fact that Yogyakarta is not a highly well-known tourist destination, and the result is that the temple is almost barren compared to the crowded grounds of other iconic sights like Machu Picchu or Angkor Wat.  The morning I was there, I shared the sunrise views with maybe 60 other tourists. I guess that makes it worth the fee.

Speaking of the views…..they didn’t disappoint. I can try to put the experience into words, but quite frankly they will never do the moment justice. A picture is worth a thousand words anyway, and lucky for you all I took about a thousand pictures.

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Beautiful, right? The sunrise had just the right amount of wispy cloud cover, soft sunny illumination, and some lovely purple hues adding a splash of color. 

More than Meets the Eye

The temple sits perched high on a hill, which also helps with the sense of awe over the morning scenery. The higher the sun rises, the farther I could see over the horizon. Eventually, once the sun reaches its peak, I could take in fully the town below and the expansive mountainous jungles of the Indonesian countryside. Morning light also gives a whole new perspective on the temple scale and details.

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Inside many of the domes or stupas sit dozens of buddha statues. The majority of these statues are barely visible through the holes of the stone domes, but a few stupa caps have been removed so tourists can completely see the craftsmanship inside. To give you some concept of the work involved – there are over 70 of these full size buddha statues encased in stupas, with a total of more than five hundred smaller versions scattered around the temple.

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The levels of the temple are also covered in intricate relief carvings. Walking around the temple is like reading the pages of a storybook. You could literally spend hours walking in circles around each terrace level, reading through the story of the detailed carvings.

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Visiting a place like Borobudur, it’s difficult not to think about the nameless multitude of people that built it, and the sheer amount of work involved. It’s easy to think of ancient cultures as lacking the knowledge and technology of today. But very few of us can ever hope to be a part of something that will leave such a tangible mark on the planet, or continue to touch so many people for centuries to come. Borobudur has withstood volcano eruptions and earthquakes, and it’s still standing here for thousands of tourists and locals to see each year.

Something to draw a little inspiration from.

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The City

Yogyakarta is not a bad city, but there isn’t a whole lot going on here. And good lord, it’s incredibly freakin’ hot all the time. In the few days I spent in this city, I sweat through everything I was wearing.  And aside from the inspirational and awe-inspiring Borobudur, the sights were, well, dare I say underwhelming.

On my first day in Yogyakarta, I tried to visit the Royal Palace. I’m still not sure if it was open or not. The owner of my homestay told me the Palace is open until 2:30pm. Therefore I arrived promptly with time to spare (and sun to kill) at noon. On my walk over, some dude I passed on the street caught a glimpse of my non-Indonesian skin tone, and without question or prompting, proceeded to ‘helpfully’ tell me the Palace was closed due to an event. I should go to this art market instead.

Now, I’m no travel novice, and this story sounded just a little dubious. So I politely nodded to this dude and proceeded on my way to the Palace anyway. But damn it, when I finally maneuvered my way though the maze-like streets of Yogyakarta, all the Palace gates looked locked shut.  I certainly couldn’t see anyone inside or find an open entrance. So I guess it was closed?

I told my homestay owner about this later, and she insisted that guy was full of crap.  Event or not, the palace is open until 2:30pm.

So maybe it was open? Who knows.  The whole trip there lacked such visual interest or appeal, I didn’t even take any pictures.

After overheated disappointment at the Royal Palace, I tried my luck at visiting the nearby Water Castle. The Water Castle is an old bath house for royals. It’s a short, but sun-attacking walk from the Royal Palace, and was most certainly open on arrival which was a plus.

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The Water Castle was…eh.  Alright. Most of the pools (there were only a few to begin with) didn’t have any water in them. Other than that, the structure mostly consists empty old rooms and a few cool wall paintings.  I’m not saying it was bad, but I saw everything there was to see in about 20 minutes.

Hindu Sites

Interestingly enough, just outside the city limits of Yogyakarta also lies a very large Hindu temple, Prambanan. Unlike Borobudur, Prambanan can’t claim to be the largest temple associated with a particular religion in the entire world. However it is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia.

Both Prambanan and Borobudur were built around the same time – the 9th century. Historians suggest the construction of Prambanan was likely meant to mark the return of the Hindu Dynasty to power in Central Java after a time of Buddhist domination. In reality, it’s a mystery for the history books but this seems reasonable to me. Otherwise it seems a strange coincidence to have two large architectural marvels from two different religions but the same time period sitting outside the same city in central Java?

Another interesting historical factoid is that Prambanan collapsed during a major earthquake in the 16th century. For a few centuries to follow, the Javanese locals knew of the ruins but didn’t pay much attention to its history or significance. In the early 1900’s a group of archeologists reconstructed the temple using mostly the original ruins and materials.

Prambanan sits much closer to Yogyakarta, being only 17 kilometers outside of the city limits. I took a cab to get there. The temple grounds are quite expansive and sit on what almost seems like a large city park, complete with childrens playground and garden space.

In contrast to Borobudur which is one very ginormous temple, Prambanan consists of one larger central temple, with several medium and smaller temples surrounding it. The three main temples are dedicated to the Hindu gods Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. They contain statues of each god inside the temple walls. Several smaller temples surround the central area and contain statues dedicated to various other Hindu deities and shrines.

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Also in contrast to Borobudor, Prambanan is completely overrun with visitors. Not tourists necessarily, but hoards of school children.

So. Many. Kids.

I happen to think this is great. It’s fantastic to see local schools get out of the classroom to show kids the amazing history and culture sitting in their own backyard. But, ugh, there were just so many of them. Most of these kids have also never seen a pale-faced, blonde-haired foreigner such as myself. This created the very strange environment where EVERYONE wanted a picture of me. I could not walk 10 steps without some young teenage girl or boy walking up to me, giving me a full introduction of their name and background, and a request for a picture. I was an instant celebrity.

This situation isn’t completely new to me in traveling. I’ve been on the receiving end of lots of lingering stares in several countries where I don’t look like a local. I’ve even had children run up and try to touch me. But the sheer volume of teenagers here and the prevalence of smart phones and cameras made this experience feel so much more aggressive. Not to mention, while most of the kids were very polite, this wasn’t universally true. Several kids also followed me around, or snapped paparrazzi-style photos of me from across the grounds. Like I couldn’t see what they’re boing.

Most of the kids were so sincerely friendly and earnest that I initially reluctantly agreed and took a few awkward pictures standing on the temple stairs. But after 10 or 15 minutes and a half dozen pictures later, I started politely declining. I’ll gladly say hello and nice to meet you, but I’m sorry, I don’t take pictures.

I felt a little guilty at first, but not too much. When traveling, especially alone as a female, I sometimes need to say no to things and set clear boundaries that help keep me feeling comfortable and safe. I can’t feel too bad about that. Even if it’s to a group of teenage kids.

Javanese Theater

The last thing on my to-do list before leaving Yogyakarta was to see a Javanese Ballet. The Ramayama dance company puts on daily performances just outside the temple grounds of Prambanan. In certain months, the dance company holds night time shows at an outdoor stage with the back-lit temple setting the backdrop to the performance. I didn’t visit at the right time of year for this, but luckily the indoor theater is still only a short walk from the temple grounds. The show starts just an hour after the temple closes, making it super convenient to see both in the same day.

I still arrived at the show early, and used this time to befriend and chat up an elderly Indonesian archeologist. We first connected when I sat down with my drink from the snack bar, and upon finding out I was American he told me he spent several years living in various parts of the US while attending graduate school and going on archeological digs. Waiting for the performance to begin, he shared some interesting tidbits about the reconstruction of Prambanan, as well as other historic sites I should visit should I ever find my way back to Indonesia one day.

Just another interesting encounter from countries across the globe.

The dance performance itself definitely exceeded my expectations. The costumes were more colorful and ornate than I could have imagined, the storyline was extremely complicated but fascinating, and the dances were both extremely talented and emotionally committed. I would mark this as a must see stop for anyone traveling through the area.

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Adding to the random events of the day, during intermission of the show I ran into my tour guide/driver from my trip to Borobudur earlier in the week. He was there with another group of tourists from the city, and helpfully offered to drive me back to Yogyakarta with the rest of his tour group and drop me at my homestay for about half the price of a cab ride. I hadn’t figured out how to get back yet at this point, so that worked out great.

It was a strange day full of interesting encounters, but a very memorable end to my stay in Yogyakarta.