We ate our breakfast at this cozy Javanese restaurant, just 10 minutes away from the airport. They served fantastic warm ginger-lemongrass tea.
A peaceful stone Buddha in fountain at the entrance
This is Prambanan Hindu Temple built in the 9th century, the largest Hindu temple (candi) in Indonesia and an UNESCO World Heritage site. There were three main temples built to dedicate to the Hindu Gods: Brama, Vishnu and Shiva, and the entire structures was constructed with interlocking volcanic stone from Gunung Merapi (scroll down, you will see the gunung), no cement, no nails!
We were so honored to view Prambanan at night during full moon. The view is majestic, mysterious and left us all in awe of the power of the Devine.
We stayed in Manohara Hotel in Magelang, the place where Borubudur is located. It was really dark when we arrived. The suns sets as early as 6.30pm.
We heard about Borobudur before, namely the largest Budddhist Temple in the world and one of the Seven Wonders, we saw pictures of it in internet and magazines, yet nothing can prepare us for the actual view the next morning. Borobudur, is just behind the hotel! We walked to Borobudur at 6 am in the morning, it was peaceful, surreal and awesome all in one.
Borobudur was built using the same volcanic stone from Gunung Merapi too. Again, all interlocked, no nails, no cement. According to our tourist guide, there are a total of 550 Stupa (= dome-shaped shrine built by Budhhist) in Borobubur and in each sits a meditating Budhha.
The top of this stupa was removed to show one of them. So beautiful.
I promise you the view of Gunung Merapi (Merapi = on fire) earlier and here it is.
We stayed at Beng View Hotel in Magelang. It is a queer charming hotel and it has only three rooms, but the compound is really spacious with a huge swimming pool overlooking Gunung Merapi and lush green padi fields.
Overall a really really enriching trip.
