Yogyakarta Trip - Prambanam Hindu Temple

We visited the ancient Buddhism complex of Borobudur in the morning.

That evening, we visited the Prambanam which is an ancient 

Hindusim Temple after a bumpy ride up the 

Mount Merapi Volcano.

If you have visited Angkor Wat, you might find Prambanam a bit small

but its profound existence in Indonesia since the 9th century is indeed

a great eye opener about their religious cultivation and way of life

since the ancient times.

 1. Candi Prambanam is an ancient Hindu complex of temples

located in Central Java, some 17km Northeast of Yogyakarta.

2. It was opened in 856AD during the 9th Century.

The earthquakes had destroyed them several times

but they were partially rebuilt again, as seen above.

 3. Hide and Seek time!

SPOT ME???

 4. I only climbed and walked a lot when I went overseas.

The gym preparations often geared my leg muscles to

get ready for all the coming trips otherwise I would

be dead meat.

5. AHOY! Here I took a good look at the whole area.

 6. I was often amazed how the folks built their temples by carving

the granite rocks and carried them up without machinery!

They were very strong and determined with good willpower

to build anything.

 7. Their ancient carvings on granite rocks are impressive and

illustrates the beautiful stories of history.

8. My wifey always challenged me to jump and climb mountains

across China. Being kiasu, I had to show my own competence!

 9. Lord Ganesha is the Deity with elephant head, is the most loved

and well recognized Hindu God of Success outside India.

 10. The statue of the Hinduism Mother Goddess Durga.

 11. My Jubilant Jump after my mission accomplished to visit another

world's famous temple of UNESCO's World Heritage List.

 12. The tallest temple here stands at 47 metres in height.

 13. Come and visit this place when you are in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

I thank my wifey for all the lovely photographs

for my blog sharing.

****

Yogyakarta Trip - Borobudur

This place is the most visited and popular site in the whole of Indonesia

besides the resort of Bali. It took us so long to gather our plans to visit this

ancient site where the Buddha was believed to have made his last cultivation

in Tibetan Buddhism inside the ancient complex.

 1. We got a tour guide driver to drive us to visit 3 places in

one day - Borobudur, Mount Merapi Volcano & Prambanan.

 2. I was excited like a child.

This place is very unique and nice!

 3. The whole layout of the Borobudur was

like the Tibetan Holy Mandala.

It has 4 entrances to enter & exit.

4. This ancient complex has been rebuilt many times after being

abandoned and further damaged by the earthquakes & volcanic

tremors.

 5. It has many layers of walking paths all the way up.

Oh boy, it was very sunny & hot that day. I was soaked in

my sweat and suffered from sun burns.

 6. This Buddhism complex was built too long ago and no one has records

on the historical date and persons who initiated. However, some other 

records believed that the Sakaymuni Buddha visited this place and built it.

It was interesting to note that Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles discovered

it under some thick undergrowth after being abandoned.

 7. Now listed under UNESCO as The World Heritage and 

it draws millions of visitors annually from all over the world.

It was so crowded on the 1st Day of CNY as we were not aware

that Indonesia also declared 2 days Public Holidays!

  8. Many visitors took less than 1 hour to cover the whole site but

we took almost 2.5 hours because my wifey followed the advice

from the bulletin board that we should walk 3 rounds in clockwise

for every level. She made it but I was half past six!

Muahahahaha

  9. It was very interesting to see all the stone carvings and statues

on every level.

10. Clear karma! Clear Karma!

 11. There were extensive damages caused by looters and fanatics

of the olden days.

 12. Can you spot me? I used my self timer camera phone.

 13. There are many beautiful stupas on this level.

14. Close of of the Stupa inside.

 15. A damaged Stupa which remains exposed till today.

 16. My wifey took great trouble to snap these photos with lesser

crowd. It was really packed like a supermarket having a sale.

 17. The highest peak! We arrived! Yay!

 18. Elsewhere, they stored all the ancient rubbles of stones & slabs

from the dismantled complex.

 19. On the way out, they cleverly lined over 1000 stalls

of souvenir shops to lure me to buy stuffs.

You cannot get out of their well barricaded paths

to reach the main entrance. Sounds like KLIA2.

20. They have mascots walking outside for free shots.

This Doraemon was looking for SK.

****

Yogyakarta Trip (Part 1)

We were away to Yogyakarta, Indonesia during the recent Chinese New Year

as I was not able to celebrate during the mourning period. We had a very good

time staying at the best Resort Hotel besides visiting the ancient Borobudur, 

Prambanan and Mount Merapi Volcano. 

The folks in Yogyakarta are very warm, polite, friendly 

& VERY FUNNY too!

I have to hurry up and post all the photos before we head off to Japan

next week. There will be 3 'quickie' postings starting from today.

Enjoy!

1. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Yogyakrta which is a blissful

5 Star Hotel.

2. The hotel sits on 22 acres of Golf Course land with lovely green

landscapes and view of Mount Merapi Volcano.

3. My sifu-wife loved to do her Tai Chi daily.

4. You will see beautiful water and landscapes everywhere

you walked & turn. It was like heavens to me.

 5. This is the entrance with ponds. Their service is fabulous and the PR staff

welcomed us on arrival. She guided us all the way to our room and 

explained all the details gracefully.

 6. This 5 Star hotel is worth staying and please check the price

online to see the surprise! It is very affordable for anyone.

 7. They have several swimming pools all over the place

with many private corners for you to relax on deck chairs.

8. The restaurant has the best chefs who prepare sumptuous 

& delicious long buffet spread for breakfast and dinner.

 9. The buffet tables line from indoor all the way to the pool side

in the outdoors! My waist line exploded of course!

10. There was a Dinner Show to watch the Ramayana On Ballet!

 11. The whole place was fully booked with so many foreign guests

and so much delicious Javanese Buffet Food was served.

RANDOM FUNNY SIGHTS!!

 12. All the bus stops are very high because the doors of the buses

are very high up too. That way, they can only pick up passengers 

up from the high platform of bus stops! How clever!

13. I saw funny youths pretending to cry and ask the statue for

forgiveness! Their friend took their photo at the Sultanate Museum.

Muahahaha..

 14. We went to eat at a famous and unique restaurant where the

past President, VIPs and movie stars dropped by.

It is called Warong Tempo Doelo.

  15. The chef stood behind the whole table full of 

mouthwatering dishes from Jawa!

It is so unique and traditional styled.

 16. Look at the men's toilet at the new Yogyakarta Airport.

If you zoom closer, you could see that they shielded the

urinary bowl with plastic to prevent spills. OMG!

They pasted a chart on the wall to check your

urine colour! Wakakakaka

17. This is the Urine Chart.

*****