Assalamualaikum,

The continuation of Day 3.

After checking in to our hotel, we went to Tebing Breksi. We decided impromptu to go here since there was a lot of time left to explore places. Here, we paid 10k rupiah for parking. No entrance fee.
Tebing Breksi is just a viewing place, although the view is amazing but for me, it's not that interesting. We did enjoy our time there albeit just normal and enjoyed the catchphrases we found atop the rock.

One of the things we found amusing in Indonesia is, the people are so creative that they're able to come up with witty catchphrases. Like the viral Om Telolet Om.

Assalamualaikum,

DAY 3

This day, we had new supir which is the one I contacted when I was in Malaysia, Agus. Agus is quite popular supir in Yogyakarta especially among foreigners. At first I thought Agus is much older than I am, but surprisingly he is younger! But, he has a lot of experience with foreigners already.

I told Agus to pick us up early. Our first destination is the Prambanan Complex. It opens at 6AM too, just like Borobudur. We arrived at Prambanan before 630 AM if I'm not mistaken. Already outside the complex we could see school children wandering around, waiting to go inside Prambanan. We immediately went inside, presented our tickets (the combo ticket that we bought at Borobudur), and walked straight in. The complex is big, the walk is...lumayan lah! But Alhamdulillah, slow and steady. Our target is Prambanan temple and Sewu temple.

What's interesting is Prambanan is a Hindu temple and Sewu is a Buddhist temple. It's situated not far from each other and it is believed that during the 8th century, the Syailendra and Medang Mataram dynasty co-existed wih one another and had intermarriages between Buddhism and Hinduism. However, the history between the two kingdoms are quite complicated, thus it's best for you to research and read on your own. I've yet to understand the co-existence and the history of these two kingdoms.

There was once two neigbouring kingdoms, Pengging and Boko. Each ruled by giants; Pengging by Prabu Damar Moyo who had a son Bandung Bondowoso and Boko ruled by a man-eating giant Prabu Boko who had a beautiful daughter named Rara Jonggrang (sometimes Roro, Loro or Lara). 

During a battle of land dispute, Prabu Boko was killed by Bandung Bondowoso's powers thus broke princess Rara Jonggrang's heart. Bandung Bondowoso fell in love with the princess' beauty when he beseige the palace and proposed marriage to her. As she is too heartbroken, she refused but the prince persisted. She then agrees but with two conditions:
1. The prince must build a well named Jalatunda
2. He must build 1000 temples in one night, before the sun rise.  

The Jalatunda was made and resided in Ratu Boko's palace.
For the second condition, the prince conjured up his magic and started to construct the temples. When 999 temples have finished and the prince started to build the last one, the princess urged her maids to light a fire in the east and begin pounding rice, a dawn morning activity. This tricked the spirits who worked for the prince into thinking it was the sun rising and they left the temple unfinished. 

The prince, when learned of this deception became furious and cursed princess Rara Jonggrang into a stone, thus making her the 1000th temple, which is the Sewu temple. "Sewu" in Javanese means "seribu" (a thousand).

Assalamualaikum,

Continuation from DAY 2 - BOROBUDUR's post.

Basically, we spent maybe less than 2 hours in Borobudur. Heads up, the exit to the parking lot is sooo long. You have to pass rows and rows of souvenir shops first before you're able to see food stalls and parking. We ate at one of the food stall before heading out to the Chicken Church.

Gereja Ayam, or in English, the Chicken Church; is named as such because of its shape. But in reality, the person who built it actually meant it to look like a dove. He had a vision to build a prayer house that is open to all religion and also to be a center for charitable causes. However, because of money constraints due to the costs, the construction was halted and thus the building was left abandoned. The official name for the center is actually Rumah Doa Bukit Rhema (Bukit Rhema's Prayer House), fitting to its purpose as a multi-faith prayer house. But because the person who inspired to build this place is a Christian, locals around implied it as a church.

Assalamualaikum,

DAY 2

We departed from the hotel as early as 530 AM because we want to get to Borobudur at their opening time. Borobudur opens to public at 6 AM. Although there is a sunrise ticket, that costs 450k per person! And that is just for Borobudur entry alone. Unfortunately, in Borobudur park, you can't try be a local because they will detect you straight away and ask you to present a KTP, which is equivalent of our IC. And also, the ticket for International is seriously far expensive than local. Nearly ten times the difference.

Anyhow, we bought the combination ticket of Borobudur+Prambanan, USD 32 but they will charge you using rupiah. Here, you can use credit card. Once you pay, there is a voucher you can claim for drinks. Coffee, tea or mineral. I saw some people taking mineral bottle and still take the coffee. Not a problem. They also offer guided services but it's 50k rupiah per person. We decided not to take the guide because we want to have our own sweet time exploring the temple. We rushed our way and went straight into Borobudur.

We headed straight up to the stupas because I wanted to get the best pictures and views in the morning. The stairs going up is quite steep, for elders (especially Asian elderly) it could be quite a feat. As soon as we got up to the stupas, although I expected it would be beautiful, seeing the stupas in real life and the morning view...I was bewildered. One would wonder how did the people who built this did it? For Stamford Raffles, who founded this Borobudur, what must he have thought when he saw this temple?

And then, suddenly I saw it. The mountain opposite Borobudur had lenticular clouds perching on top of it. God is great! I was overwhelmed! My heart went to my throat. I am witnessing one of nature's most unique formation! (Wiki: Lenticular Cloud)

A clear state of mind

The Mandala is almost a symbolic representation of the cosmos itself. It mirrors the structure of the phenomenal world as understood by Buddhists at that time which consists on the basic level of the world of sensuality, and at Borobodur the base of the stupa represents the sensual world, the world of action, the world of trouble, the world of conflict.

As you rise up the various levels of this three-dimensional mandala you come to the next layer which is that of the realm of pure form, and the four main galleries around which you walk on the stupa at Borobodur represent this rather more purified formal realm where the life of the Buddha is depicted on the friezes.

But when you get to the upper level of the monument you suddenly find yourself without any forms at all, you just have the bare stonework and you have a dome, and then the central, uppermost crown of the monument has no image in it whatsoever. Whether that’s simply accidental, whether the image has been stolen, we just don’t know, but it conforms with the idea of moving as one rises in one’s spiritual practice from a kind of rooted-ness in the sensory confused world of passion and suffering and one rises through purer forms until one reaches a formless realm where one has somehow liberated one’s mind from all those things that have somehow caught it up in the messiness of life and has achieved a perspective. When you are at Borobodur you are standing on this great monument, you can see the entire world around you, beneath you, it’s an enormous experience of spaciousness, of freedom, and a far vaster perspective – a clear state of mind.

Assalamualaikum,

DAY 1

Our flight was at 630 AM (Malaysia time). Subuh at 615 AM, so once it's Subuh time, we prayed at a corner. People were queuing up to go inside the plane and we saw some jemaah forming a line to pray. We followed since both of us still had our wudhu'. You can choose to pray inside the plane, no worries.

We landed roughly at 8-830 AM (Yogyakarta time). Their time is ahead an hour from Malaysia's time. After settling the immigration and the custom declaration, we met our supir, Agung. As soon as we got in the car, the first destination is Taman Sari (Water Castle).

When buying the ticket, speak Indonesian. And make sure you have small change. The local ticket is 5k rupiah per person but for International, 15k per person. There will be people offering guided services, they costs usually around 20k-50k rupiah.

Taman Sari was once a royal garden of the Yogyakarta Sultanate perhaps during the era of 1760s. This complex is now surrounded with local settlements around and it is quite hard to navigate through without guide. The pools in the castle is thought to have been where concubines of the king bathe while waiting to be chosen.



So that's our 1st day. We checked in at our hotel after visiting the places.
After checking in and all, we were advised that there is a free shuttle departing to Malioboro every 2 hours and the last pickup is at 9 PM. So that night, we went out and did mostly window shopping at Malioboro.

We went back to our hotel by using GoCar because the 9PM pickup were already full.
The fare from Malioboro to our hotel (Hyatt Regency) was 36,000 rupiah.
For the Hutan Pinus, Puncak Becici, Jurang Tembelan and Mangunan, we paid for parking, which is about 2k-5k each.


Follow my other Yogyakarta entries:
IFTravels: YOGYAKARTA 29 Jan - 2 Feb 2017 (Planning Stage)
IFTravels: YOGYAKARTA 29 Jan - 2 Feb 2017 (Synopsis Itinerary)
IFTravels: YOGYAKARTA 29 Jan - 2 Feb 2017 (DAY 2 - BOROBUDUR)
IFTravels: YOGYAKARTA 29 Jan - 2 Feb 2017 (DAY 2 - GEREJA AYAM & MERAPI)
IFTravels: YOGYAKARTA 29 Jan - 2 Feb 2017 (DAY 3) - COMING SOON
IFTravels: YOGYAKARTA 29 Jan - 2 Feb 2017 (DAY 4) - COMING SOON
IFTravels: YOGYAKARTA 29 Jan - 2 Feb 2017 (DAY 5) - COMING SOON