Yogyakarta, Indonesia Part 2

Today we toured Central Java.

In a hired van which costing us IDR 100,000 each, we went to see the beauty Java offers.

Our first stop is the ruins of the magnificent Borubudur temple. Borubudur is the single largest Buddhist in the world and one of  UNESCO heritage sites. Built in the 9th century the ruins were rediscovered  in 1814 by Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore. The temple has 6 square platforms, and three circular platforms on top.

Borubudur Temple

This is the most popular tourist spot near Yogyakarta. About 1.5 hours drive from the city, we arrived at 10am and the sun was scorching hot. Again, we got tickets as locals which saved us about 80% of the costs.

Visitors here are mostly locals (or maybe they pretend to be locals like us. Hmmm I doubt). There are some Western visitors, but Asians outnumber them. Outside the gates were vendors and hawkers selling water and souvenirs and renting umbrella. Upon entering, we got some sarong. Actually, the sarong are for those wearing shorts or sleeveless tops. (It's a holy place of worship, so decent clothing is required.)  But since everyone is getting, we got as well.

Then it's a whole lot of picture taking.

Elephants at Borubudur Temple

One of the 504 Buddhas

And more temple running.

We rode a kalesa on our way back from the temple to the van and headed for lunch in Sekar Kedhaton, a nearby restaurant behind a silver factory store.

Then we drove to View Deck wherein our view suppose to span from Mt. Kerapi, an active volcano to another mountain. It was a long drive up, and when we arrived it was raining and foggy. We weren't able to get out of the car and we didn't see the said spectacular view. We just bought some grilled corn and ate it in the car.

We went back to the city and headed to Marioboro Market which is lined up with Batik stores, souvenir shops, street vendors and more street vendors. It reminds me very much of Divisoria.

For dinner, we ate in an eatery which serves Gudeg. Gudeg is  young jackfruit stewed with palm sugar and eaten with rice, opor ayam (a sort of chicken curry or adobo), a hard-boiled egg, spicy buffalo skin (which is like soft chicharon), and tofu. 

Then, we had a quick stop in the only mall in Yogyarta for some Starbucks and we called it a night. An early trip tomorrow awaits.