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Published: March 20th 2013
Early Monday morning, we boarded our flight from Denpasar to Central Java on Lion Air. Finally. The Borobudur. I could almost touch it. Our flight was fairly short and as we landed in Jogja and stepped into another world again. Java is another world so it seemed to me. With Mount Merapi hovering in the distance, the beautiful Call to Prayer sounding off in the background....Bali seemed so "far away" when we landed in Yogyakarta.
The humidity was extremely high (as usual) so we decided to check into to our hotel and relax the remainder of the afternoon. We stayed at a decent hotel near the Sultan's Palace. The accommodations were good for the price and the staff were extremely friendly. Apparently, there are lots of students in this city and it's apparent with all the activity during the evening hours. Many of the shops and restaurants do not open until dinner time and the streets are filled with pedestrians and motorbikes.
Early the next day, our tour guide picked us up and off we went to my main destination for this trip. Our itinerary was The Borobudur, Prambanan Temple, Sultan's Palace, lunch and finally an artisan village. Our
Our wonderful guide taking the time out to teach us about the temple's meaning.tour guide was short of fabulous. I will upload his information later so if anyone is interested in getting a very good guide - he's yours for the booking! Anyways, our guide gave us the best insight on who built the Borobudur and further information on Buddism and what each level of the temple meant. He took his time explaining the meaning of the symbols and even went so far as showing us the actual translations of some of the temple's drawings. He was thorough and did not rush into just showing us all the "tourist spots" and whatnot. He allowed us time for good photo ops as well as recommending some interesting views while in the temple. I learned a lot about Buddism and what each pose meant from this guide. I learned about the value of numbers in Buddism as well and what they mean in relation to reaching Nirvana.
Reaching the Borabudur takes about an hour outside of Jogja. You will pass villages along the way and you can see some of the after math of Mount Merapi's state of "restlessness"... the rivers are running and full of lava soil. Life just goes on as you
Belinda and Nyoman
...on the way up the road to the Borobudur... drive by with more motorbikes, trucks full of rice sacks, cows, chickens....women walking along the street with huge massive baskets on their heads as they gracefully dodge the passing motorists. It's normal for the Javanese to live alongside a restless volcano who loves to errupt every few years! I have a lot of respect for Mount Merapi and the people who live below it.
The Borabudur was built over a thousand years ago by the Buddist monks. For centuries, it was consummed by the jungle and now it has been restored by the Dutch and then by UNESCO. For the past decade or so, I have dreamt about seeing this beautiful temple that sits in a lush green jungle. I read books about it and saw pictures of it, but when you are actually there right in front of it...there are not enough adjectives to really describe it. It is just breathtaking!
We climbed all the steps of the temple and our guide educated us on each level we climbed. When you ascend the stairways of the temple and arrive at the level above Nirvana, you need to just stop and turn around and take it all in.
The temple itself is beautiful and there are stone carvings depicting Siddartha's life and on each side of the temple are Buddhas representing each cycle of life. Stories are carved everywhere on this temple and carved thousands of years ago and still they hold true to their stories.... etched in time forever and ever so we hope!
I got up to the last level before Nirvana. Our guide asked me to climb the final stairway to the biggest Stupa representing Nirvana. I hesistated and then politely declined. For some crazy reason, I did not want to reach the level of "perfection" yet - so I stood back and let Belinda and Nyoman climb the mere 10 steps left to reach that final stage. I had other reasons for not wanting to ascend to that state. It wasn't the humidity or the crowds of people swarming the last level before Nirvana. No, I had my own personal reasons and I have to admit, it had to do with how spiritual this place is and how humbling it was to be in this temple.....and maybe part of me wants to know I will come back and when I do, I will
Ascension
... one of the stairways up to the final level of a state of bliss called Nirvana. be ready to climb to that level.
Instead, I turned around and looked at the backdrop of this massive temple. I looked at the green jungle and saw so many different shades of green in the landscape. I must have seen 10 different shades of green in a misty light haze. I saw the tall mountain which may have been Merapi and I listened to "nothing" even though the temple was overrun with other tourists all laughing and taking pictures of themselves. I was perspiring as I had never perspired before because the humidity was so thick you could touch it. My hand was throbbing and itching with bug bites from the night before and my sarong felt like blanket on me - it was that heavy! The sun was beating down on my head and I just remember hearing the birds in the background and for a few moments, I did not care! I was here in Java and I was standing in the Borobudur just one level below Nirvana. How surreal was that! It was my "Wow!" moment and it was worth the bug bites and heat =)
Our trip back was very picturesque. I took
so many pictures of the villages and the rice fields. It was harvest time for some of the farmers and along the way we could see all the hard work it took to harvest that beloved grain. One of my favorite pictures is of four elderly ladies all planting seedlings in a row. As I took the picture, one of the ladies looked up and waved to me. I will never forget her smiling face. That was priceless in my book.
We ended up skipping on Prambanan but I know I will be back on day to see that temple. It's a given!
As we sat in our hotel lobby that evening waiting for our pick-up to the airport, the rain rolled in and for a few hours we had nothing but thunderstorm and intense tropical rain. I was getting worried about our flight being canceled due to this crazy beautiful downpour. So, I'm reclining in the lobby and I'm completely exhausted but enjoying the sounds of the weather when all of the sudden, I see this black creature come flying towards my head. It takes me a second to realize that what is coming at me is
Stupas
And they do go around and around the base of Nirvana... perfection of the highest order! NOT a bird nor a big butterfly. No, this creature is doing a quick "fly by" on it's way to chasing his evening meal which may have been a bug or large mosquito. So I sit up and ask Belinda ...."Hey, was that what I think that was? A bat?" Yikes!
Java....so far away from my "Everyday" - but what a great experience!
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Ellen Kessler
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Steps to Nirvana
L-Cakes...so cool...love reading about ALL you are seeing, hearing, feeling. LOVE LOVE LOVE the pic of the women in the rice field...touching. xoxo Ellen