Monday August 5th and Tuesday August 6th, 2024 - Photography Tour Begins with Borobudur and Temples Galore

First Glimpse of Borobudur Buddhist Temple - In the Distance

 That rocky, spiky, out of focus mound you see in the photo - off in the distance - is the first glimpse we had of the Borobudur temple from one of the the porches of our hotel. Many of you have probably never heard of it, yet it is regarded as one of the greatest architectural achievements of the world, is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. 

It was Monday evening, I had driven here from Yogyakarta, and our photography group was meeting here for dinner.

Roads Decorated for Independence Day - August 17th.

The temple lies about 35 miles north west of Yogyakarta and travel takes about an hour and a half by car, which tells you a little about the roads here. They generally have two lanes for cars, with a half lane on the outside, ostensibly for motorcycles. Driving here is very fluid - so it sometimes becomes a four lane road and there is lots of maneuvering going on. I was very glad that we always had cautious, reasonable drivers during the entire duration of my stay here. It took constant focus for the drivers.

Broad Panniers on Motorbikes

It was not uncommon to see bikes carrying much greater loads than seemed reasonable. As you see here, two abreast take up as much space as a car.

Amazon Delivery?

I was impressed with how much people were able to fit on their bikes and still keep their balance. I'm not sure if the bike on the right is carrying tires or plastic piping - but it looked to me like quite an odd load.

Thrift or Consignment Store?

My last offering from the road (before we get down to the serious business of temples etc) is this store that I saw on the way. I'm not sure if the name - Second Shit Love - is a poor translation, or expresses exactly what a thrift or consignment store really represents! LOL!

Mount Merapi at Dawn

Now that I have joined the ranks of some serious photography aficionados (under the leadership of Nathan Horton) sleeping in is off the books. We were out before dawn to get our second glimpse of the temple in the early morning light. This time, we were able to see Mount Merapi, a 9,550 ft stratovolcano. The little plume of 'smoke' you see coming out from the top, is steam and other gases from a vent at the summit. It is Indonesia's most active volcano (believe me there is plenty of competition from other volcanoes in this very tectonically active area) and has been erupting since the mid 1500's, causing earthquakes and deaths. It was beautiful in the dawn light and magical to watch the sun emerge from behind it. The temple does not appear in this image - just imagine that it is off to the right on that ridge.

Borobudur Temple in the Morning Light

As the dawn brightens, we could see the temple more clearly and start to appreciate its size. Soon we'll be able to see what is creating all those spikes on top. In the past people were permitted to enter before sunrise for photography, but now the temple is closed until later in the morning......so we have time to fill.

Jack Fruit Seller at The Local Market

You'll be glad to know there was time for breakfast, but then it was off to the local market to catch a glimpse at some of the vibrant life here. We learned three basic words - 'permissi photo?' which as you might guess is a way to ask if people mind having their photo taken. Also 'bagus' which means 'good', which was useful when we showed people the photo we just took. Finally 'terima kasih' or 'thank you' is universally appreciated. It is a little embarrassing to admit how few words we needed to manage in order to get by.

Jack Fruit Up Close and Personal

Although the people are the real reason we are here, I thought you might appreciate this photo of a jack fruit. They are bigger than a football and have this lovely fibrous and colorful center which packs together almost all tropical flavors you can imagine. It is related to the fig and mulberry, and a tree produces up to 200 hundred of these huge fruit each year. It is a little similar to durian in appearance, but dos not have the stink of durian. As you see in the previous photo, the woman selling it is peeling off the yellow fibers surrounding the fleshy orange part of the fruit.

My photograph? Oh Really!

The market is quite large - covering several blocks - yet the arrival of eight, clearly foreign, people with cameras slung about them is an event that is noticed. Nathan has been here before, and brings prints to people who he has photographed in the past, which is appreciated. This goodwill, along with the people's general spirit of generosity led us to be well received. While this young woman above met us with giggles, she enjoyed having her photo taken pretty quickly.

Hijab Beauty

Most people in Java (indeed most of Indonesia as well) are Muslim.  Almost all the woman wore hijab, which framed their faces beautifully. I'm not sure what this lady was selling, but the rich color of her hijab brightened the dark space behind her beautifully.

Timeless Tools

There is a beauty about these old scales, that a modern, electronic scale does not possess. It was fun to see them being put to good use and one can wonder for how many generations they have been used. They will probably still be good for many generations to come, also.

Basket Seller With a Big Smile

This woman was inside the darker part of the market, so when we saw the light picking up the vibrant color of her yellow hijab, many of us stopped to photograph her. Nathan sometimes pays people for their willingness to pose for us and her big smile here is due to the notes she has in her hand from him. In other cases, he will buy items when he enters the market and then give them to people as he moves around. I never did get this system 'down', always feeling a little awkward about whether to pay or not - I regret it usually meant that I didn't.

A Freely Offered Smile

In spite of my uncertainty about the whole process, I thrilled at people's generosity to respond to complete strangers like myself. This gentleman caught my eye and clearly was keen to 'get in the picture'. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out and thank him in my heart.

Mother and Child

People were also happy to have us photograph their children - sometimes offering to have the youngsters pose with them, or alone. I thought this mother holding her baby was a precious sight.

A Bad Day for Selling Chickens

In the event you get the impression that it is rosy for all, clearly it was not a good day for this woman. It is possible she saw us coming and put her head down, or that she was just tired and taking a nap. I just was intrigued by the elegance with which she was holding the fingers of her bejeweled left hand - perhaps she was pointing to tell us it was time to go to the temple!

Getting Closer to Borobudur

In the time I was there, I learned that there is not much about Indonesia that is straightforward. It is the fourth largest democracy in the world made up of 17,604 islands. You might be relieved to know that only about 6,000 are inhabited, so governance is simplified a little that way. It is a mish mash of tectonic plates scraping and diving their way around. Likewise, historically it consists of a mish mash of previous kingdoms, sultanates, colonies etc. Likewise, there have been many religions come and go. 

Our guide told us that Buddhism arrived here in the 5th Century from Sumatra and that Borobudur was built in the 8th Century as a place for education and prayer. It was abandoned by the 14th Century as Islam became the predominant religion. It disappeared under jungle and volcanic ash until the early 1800's when British colonialists became aware of it and began restoration.

The 'Spikes' are Revealed!

The structure is 115 feet high, so it took over 100 steep steps to discover that the 'spikes' we could see from a distance were these bell-shaped stupas with diamond-shaped perforations. In total there are 72 of these bells at the top. The climb was tough - not modern day steps of uniform size and a nice hand rail. Supposedly it signifies that reaching transcendence is effortful, as one moves through the pull of materialistic cravings! I was glad for my anti-inflammatories and walking pole!

Buddha Statue Inside Each Stupa

The 'bell' has been removed from two of the stupas, to reveal the Buddha statue that is within each of them. In total there are 504 Buddha statues within the temple complex.

Sunrise Opportunity?

When sunrise access was permitted, this was one of the uncovered Buddhas that was favored for photos. Notice that in both of the photos above, there is a big insect on Buddha's top knot.

A Rather Pretty Beetle Likes Buddha's Head!

 The insect that enjoyed Buddha's head was this rather large beetle with slightly iridescent wings. When one looks up the totemic meaning of beetles, it is pretty much about positive energy, clear thinking, compassion ......so it makes sense that he's settled here!

Grasshopper Among the Andesite

The rock that makes up the temple is a hard, black volcanic rock called andesite. It is primarily a very fine-grained quartz with feldspars and other minerals - sort of a cross between basalt and granite chemically. As a result, the color scheme of the temple is very black - so glimpsing this delightful grasshopper to brighten it up was also a treat!

Bas Relief Depicting Buddha's Life

It is not my intention to minimize this consequential structure by going on about insects. Perhaps, like life, finding small blessings of a scale you can relate to within its enormity, is sufficient! The reason the structure here is so high, is that it is made up of nine levels of terraces. The lowest four levels have many intricate galleries of carvings depicting Buddha's life, and daily scenes of life in 8th Century Java. It is regarded as one of the finest works of art in the Buddhist world.

Geometric Carvings

The nine levels correspond with three realms of Buddhist cosmology according to Wikipedia - the bottom three represent the world of desires, the next three the world of form and the final three, the formless world of nirvana. All together they create the shape of one enormous stupa.

Steps Leading to the Very Top Stupa

Our Indonesian guide mentioned that there had been a statue within the very top stupa, which was incomplete - one arm is longer than the other, the hands are not finished along with other details. The statue has been removed and is now stored in a museum nearby. There is speculation as to whether it was hidden in the stupa because it was imperfect due to it being a mistake they couldn't throw away, or if it was designed that way to represent the nature of a transcendent spiritual state - the notion that upon transcendence, physical form is not relevant - or even present. I thought it was an interesting notion to contemplate - I go for the imperfect sculpture having been quite intentional to symbolize the nature of transcendence!

Prambanan, Yogyakarta

Now, as if one consequential temple is not enough for the day, we had lunch and headed back to Yogyakarta to visit a second temple complex, called Prambanan. This is another UNESCO World Heritage site, and the largest Hindu Temple site in Indonesia. The complex originally consisted of 16 temples surrounded by 224 other structures. It was built in the 9th Century by the King at the time who was Hindu. You can see that the rock is similar to Borobudur - along with basalt - creating a similar dark structure. It is also spiky, but is much more vertical in style than Borobudur.

Candi Sewu - at Prambanan, Yogyakarta

As if to demonstrate again the complexity of Indonesian history, within Prambanan there are a number of smaller Buddhist temples in the surrounds. They were built at the end of the 8th Century before the bigger Hindu temple. The Hindu king who built Prambanan was married to a Buddhist princess and  even though the King had become Hindu, many of his subjects retained their old beliefs and it was a period of time where both were tolerated - hence the proximity of significant structures from both religions. Candi Sewu is the second largest Buddhist complex in Indonesia.

Earthquake Rubble at Candi Sewu

Sadly, the impact of earthquake activity has placed a significant toll on the integrity of the buildings. A significant earthquake in 2006 interrupted re-construction efforts. 

Carvings at Candi Sewu, Yogyakarta

Nevertheless, it was fun getting 'up close and personal' with some of the rubble. I rather liked the face on this block.

Prambanan, Yogyakarta

 The sun was getting low in the sky, so it was time to head back to Prambanan to set up tripods for sunset. We walked around the enormous towers to find the right spot.

Sunset at Prambanan, Yogyakarta

And so, as the sun sank slowly in the west.........

I was hoping to continue with our exploits on Wednesday, but I think we've done enough for one day. It was most remarkable in my opinion. Sleep well!