Borobodur

This morning Dessy and I took a class fieldtrip to Borobodur, which used to be one of the seven wonders of the world (although it is not longer on the list – trumped by Angkor Wat in Cambodia, I think). Borobodur is a Buddhist temple built in the 9^th century by Mahayana Buddhists, and later abandoned and covered by volcanic ash and tropical forest. The story of the temple’s existence was passed from generation to generation on Java, until an English governor in the early 1800s rediscovered and uncovered the monument.

Dessy, myself, and two guides from Realia arrived at the monument at about 9 am before there were many tourists in the area. Like many tourist traps, the grounds were crawling with vendors selling their wares, and I felt a bit like a mouse in an open field, vulnerable to the vulture-like vendors who followed our group until the official trail to the temple where they are not allowed to enter. After shaking the vendors, we were able to take our first look at the temple or chandi as they say in the Indonesian language.

My first impression? The temple is in great condition; it was renovated by UNESCO about 20 years ago and the renovation replaced the missing stones and contributed to the longevity of the structure. Compared to the temples I saw in Thailand last year (which were built in the same time period) this temple is in fabulous shape.

The chandi is covered with about 500 stupas that contain buddha figures (and traditionally also buddha relics), and consists of eight levels, representing the eight steps to enlightenment. The lower levels are richly decorated with narrative relief depicting stories such as the life of Buddha. The most interesting part of the temple is the main stupa, which is not decorated like the rest of the building. Some people think the lack of decoration represents the lack of worldly ties of the last level of enlightenment. Others think that construction was simply not yet complete when the chandi was covered by ash. I prefer to believe the former.

After lots of photos and laughing (four girls all with good senses of humor make for a fun morning) we left the temple and headed home. In theory this was supposed to be an Indonesian-learning experience, but in my mind it was tourism, which I’ve done very little of so far in Indonesia. I’m packing in the tourist experiences today – this evening we are leaving to climb Gunung Merapi (an active volcano in the region) to see sunrise from the summit. More soon!