Memoirs of Aleisha

Borobudur (the Buddhist temple) was then followed by a visit to Prambanan – a Hindu temple. It too, is a popular tourist destination in Indonesia. The city of Yogyakarta is the best place to base your stay for seeing Borobudur and Prambanan. We combined the tour into a single day tour, spending a couple of hours at each. It’s best to join a tour as they are not easily accessible by public transport. There are half day tours left, right and centre for Borobudur and Prambanan. We did the sunrise version which meant getting up at 3am to see the sunrise over Borobudur (more to come on that later). This meant that the tour was done by about 1:30-2pm. The last stop was Prambanan – a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the largest Hindu temple site in Indonesia, and one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. It was kind of Angkor Wat-esque.

Again upon entry, we had to don sarongs that were provided. Entry into both Borobudur and Prambanan require visitors to wear sarongs. We also went through the foreigner entrance. Both places include a light refreshment upon entry – tea, coffee, water.

From Prambanan

Very little information at these tourist attractions are provided in English save for a few notice boards. A lot of the museums were also in Indonesian only. And even though we went on a tour group, there was no guide. Just a driver.

Prambanan suffered some considerable damage during an earthquake. It was also closed to the public earlier this year after being affected by a recent volcanic eruption.

As usual, lots of pics (albeit not very good ones).

The main entrance:

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

The weather was insanely warm in Indonesia. All we did was sweat all day. So hot. The kind of place where you have the ac on all night at 18 degrees. And there seemed to be very little shade. I was just constantly hot and sweaty.

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

This was what was inside one of the temples:

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

Rock carvings:

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

Now, I’ll tell you what seemed to be all the rage in Indonesia. Brace yourself.
The selfie stick!
Yes, a stick in which you can attach your smartphone to take a selfie pic.
Short arms? No problem. The selfie stick is here to help.

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

I do believe it is someone’s birthday next week. (Nudge, nudge, hint, hint.)

My friend who I travelled with was mobbed everywhere we went. The worst was at the Yogyakarta Palace. But here at Prambanan, she got mobbed again by schoolchildren. They like foreigners. And be foreigners, they like Caucasian English-speaking foreigners. They all wanted photos with her. She was constantly being asked to have photos taken and even fill in homework questionnaires. The schoolkids were given questionnaires to ask various tourists.

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

From Prambanan

Borobudur: Check.
Prambanan: Check.
And it was only our second day there.