Beep*beep*beep*beep.
So sounded my seldom-used alarm clock at, wait, let me hit the indigo, yes, 4:43am. It was Saturday, February 5th, and I was going to another of Asia's sunrise-attractions. Perhaps they exist the world around, but I have not been aware of too many sunrise attractions in Canada. Maybe we're too lazy to organize these things?
If you organize a tour to any mountain in SE Asia you will probably run into problems if you do't want to start your climb at 2am. There is a fascination with seeing the sun rise over a monument or summit, one that is lost on me. Must be a religious thing.

A few moments after I had sat up in my bed, very confused-like, trying to figure out what I was doing, a knock sounded on my door. Ah, the Borobudur guide. I opened the door in my boxers. "Be ready in five minutes", and then he was gone.

The sun rose when we were about halfway to the massive monument, about an hour's drive away from Yogya. So much for waking up so darn early. Around 6:30 we pulled up to a huge complex of parking lots and vendor booths. Strangely there were lots of young kids running around, and many of the vendors were groggily setting up their booths. We hurridly paid the 90,000rupiah entrance fee (I learned later that the locals pay 7000rp) (PS. One rupiah is worth approximately 1.33 x 10^-4 Canadian dollars, or more plainly, 1 Canadian dollar is worth some 7500 Rupiah) and then wandered up the long path.
Borobudur is the largest Buddhist Temple complex in the world, located in the most populous Muslim country in the world.

Here are a few excerpts from Buddhanet.com:
"The structure, composed of 55,000 square meters of lava-rock is erected on a hill in the form of a stepped-pyramid of six rectangular storeys, three circular terraces and a central stupa forming the summit. The whole structure is in the form of a lotus, the sacred flower of Buddha."
"For each direction there are ninety-two Dhyani Buddha statues and 1,460 relief scenes. The lowest level has 160 reliefs depicting cause and effect; the middle level contains various stories of the Buddha's life from the Jataka Tales; the highest level has no reliefs or decorations whatsoever but has a balcony, square in shape with round walls: a circle without beginning or end. Here is the place of the ninety-two Vajrasattvas or Dhyani Buddhas tucked into small stupas. Each of these statues has a mudra (hand gesture) indicating one of the five directions: east, with the mudra of calling the earth to witness; south, with the hand position of blessing; west, with the gesture of meditation; north, the mudra of fearlessness; and the centre with the gesture of teaching."
Argued to be one of the seven wonders of the world, though not truly, it is simply amazing.
In the morning mist, though the amber-hues of predawn had long since evaporated, the massive stone monument loomed ahead. Luckily the tour minibus I had come on was the first, and we had the place to ourselves.
We were given 1 1/2 hours to explore the huge relic, barely enough time to appreciate the 2.5 kilometers of bas reliefs carved into the outer walls of each of the six stories. Each relief is different, and many are scenes from the Ramayana. Incredibly intricate, fabulously beautiful.

From the top, just as the sun's orange light was dying away, these stupas glow. A smoking volcano, which we drove past on the journey here, graces some of my photographs.
As I wandered around, taking photographs of the more interesting scenes (Here is a relief of Shiva; another glows in the moring light; magnificent stories are told on these numerous reliefs; a view of one walkway; a headless Buddha in the position of enlightenment; showing the seafaring ways; monkeys; a corner Buddha; Buddha and some stupas; A view of the central stupa) I became aware of the increasing number of school kids running around. I had already encountered several groups of local students who each asked very nicely to follow me around and talk to me in English, so as to improve their comprehension. I was grumpy and told each of them to try me again later. Soon, there seemed to be dozens of these annoying kids, and they sat themselves in big groups on the arterial staricases leading up to the main stupa. Impossible to avoid them. "No thank you" "Maybe later"
Soon, after a major influx of kids with school uniforms on (or at least school hats) I became the more photographed novelty. Borobudur seemed to be a secondary highlight to seeing very tall and strangelooking foreigners. Another Dutch guy on my tour was almost as tall, and his Dutch girl-friends were pretty and blonde; they were equally targetted. After about 15 minutes of being accosted at the summit of the monument I made an attempt at a retreat. Bands of girls stopped me and demanded (gleefully) photographs - each needed her own with me. As in Brunei, I noticed a lot of people feigning photographs of the monument, but their cameras were mis-aimed at me. *Click*Click*Flash*Flash* Almost like a paparazzi scene from hollywood, I retreated with hand over face (not really). Groups of girls cat called, boys approached wanting photographs. After a few dozen poses I had grown tired, and so I just smiled and kept walking. No understand Inglis.
A couple video cameras trained on me.
Too much.
I was the first out of the mayhem and took a seat at the Rambutan Resto, named after my favorite roadside fruit. I had my complimentary breakfast and ordered some eggs off the menu. Later a chinese guy fom Jakarta, studying in Australia (he had an aussie accent already) would order off the Indonesian menu and we would compare prices. The local-language menu was about 50% cheaper than the translated version. As the Western tourists found their way back, most shared similar stories of movie-star like fame among the locals.
We set off for a lesser temple nearby, which housed three large images of Buddha. These sculptures were unique in being very rare postures. Most images of Buddha show him in a number of postures evoking different meanings. Here in the Mendet Temple (entrance 3000rp) one main statue showed Buddha sitting with feet planted on the ground - very unusual. Two statues flanking him on the sides showed Buddha with one foot on the ground, the other tucked beneath his leg.
After a quick viewing we headed back into town to drop off the Dutch before heading to Prambanan, a massive Hindu temple about a half hours drive north. The traffic was thick and the heat of the day overwhelmed the idling minivan engine, so we rolled down our windows and suffered without AC. After about an hour and a half we arrived in Prambanan; the place was virtually empty of tourists during the midday heat. Seems this place is more popular in the evening for sunset...
We paid our 90,000rp entrance fee and went in. This protected area, on the World Heritage list, is actually a series of temples within a fenced area. Apparently there are some 50 temples of varying size, mostly small, withing a few kilometres of this site.
The largest temple complex, Lorojonggrang Temple, is dedicated to Shiva. The intricate carvings gracing the side panels also host images from the Ramayana, and thousands of stupa-like carvings cover the tall complexes.
From the UNESCO website:
"Built in the 10th century, this is the largest temple compound dedicated to Shiva in Indonesia. Rising above the centre of the last of these concentric squares are three temples decorated with reliefs illustrating the epic of the Ramayana, dedicated to the three great Hindu divinities (Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma) and three temples dedicated to the animals who serve them."
I have read that Prambanan was built in the 9th century, though, and other sources say it was built 50years before Borobudur (which was attributed to the 8th century by other sources). Prambanan was apparently mysteriously abandoned just after it was built...

I wandered around with two Austrian backpackers until the blistering heat was too much to bear. We took in the second largest temple complex at the far end of the huge Prambanan park, then headed to the exit. The hawkers were too hot to make trouble as we walked by; they sat fanning themselves quietly. We struggled for awhile to find our driver, then headed back to Yogya. Luckily the aircon was back up and running...

This trip would add two UNESCO World Heritage Sites to my list of 5 from Thailand and Malaysia.

PS. I have a few 'dead' links to photos, which I will fix from a faster computer. I have spent too long on the slow computer's of Jogja already, so will update from Bali.
I travel east to Gunung Bromo tomorrow morning, then climb over the next two days, then head to Denpansar.