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Published: September 10th 2006
Borobudur
9th century Buddhist temple near Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia. Takes half a day to see all seven levels.Just a brief entry with some photos. Aside from trekking, there was some cultural exposure in the form of touring two 9th century Buddhist temples in Java near Yogyakarta. Prambanan was kind of a letdown because the May 2006 earthquake damaged the main temple so it was closed to the public. Borobudur was stunning and I'm pretty sure it is the largest Buddhist temple outside of Angkor Wat, Cambodia. It is set in a valley and was scorching hot the day I toured the temple. Did not take a guide because my attention span was about 10 seconds which I solely attribute to the heat. Still got a lot out of walking around on my own.
The second set of photos is from Gunung Mulu National Park in East Malaysia, a.k.a. Borneo. The attraction is twofold: huge caves carved out of the limestone (but access to the biggest cave found in the world to date called the Sarawak Chamber is restricted to qualified spelunkers) and the Pinnacles - a limestone forest 45 meters high that requires a stout 2-3 hour hike to view. The hike followed: 1) a 2 hour longboat ride where we had to get out and push
Borobudur and Buddha statues
Over 400 Buddhas carved from volcanic rock. many times (I lost count after 13) because it was the dry season and the river was low yet we still somehow managed to endure a 30 minute tropical deluge of biblical proportions; 2) a 2 hour hike in the rain where only 5 or 6 leeches latched onto my sandal bearing feet.
There were also 4 show caves near the park entrance where rangers lead daily guided tours suitable for everyone. The caves are formed by water flowing through the soft limestone over millions of years. The stalactites and stalagmites are later formed by numerous geological actions the names of which I've long since forgotten since I visited the caves in early August. There's something about the limestone and the climate that make Borneo a very favorable environment for large cave formation. I do remember that the limestone in that part of the world is very dense so it maintains its integrity as it is eroding leading to big caves that don't collapse on themselves.
Deer Cave is home to literally millions of bats and their associated bodily functions euphamistically called guano. I'm sure Batman never had to deal with guano and they seemed to gloss over
that fact in the TV show and movies. In some places the guano is collected and used as fertilizer. So next time any of us has a "moment" at work, think how much worse it could be. Anyway, the bats come flying out of the cave to look for food every evening and most people staying in the park walk the hour to the cave to witness it. To tell the truth I thought it was going to be kind of lame but it turned out to be cool mostly because it seemed like the bats were never going to stop flying out of the cave. There was also the appropriately named bat hawk who frequently swooped into the swarm to try to snatch an unsuspecting bat. Never could tell if the hawk got one or not.
Spent the last couple of weeks in Sumatra, Indonesia where I'd hoped to do a bit of trekking. Wasn't planning on the rainy season starting so soon but managed a 2 day jungle trek where we saw wild orang-utans. Left Indonesia several weeks early and arrived in Singapore today where it is naturally raining. The first thing I noticed here is the
Stupas at the top of Borobudur
There are 72 of these, most with at least a partially intact Buddha. cleanliness especially after 5 months in Malaysia and Indonesia where litter is a huge problem. And public smoking is definitely not cool here, another major contrast to my previous travels. Off to the Chinese embassy tomorrow to request a 2 month visa. Flying to Macau on Thursday then ferry to Hong Kong from where I'll cross into the People's Republic of China.
Ciao, comrades!
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