Yogyakarta | Prambanan Temple | Borobudur

CONTINUED FROM HERE: Tumpak Sewu Waterfall | Malang

Backpacking Indonesia: Day 012 and Day013 (25,26-April-2025)

Blank Panels

I left hostel at around 7AM and walked towards Malang railway station. On my way, I passed by Blue and rainbow villages.  Arema blue village is a locality where all houses are painted blue. On the other side of the bridge/road, is the Rainbow village where the houses are painted in various colours. But overall, it looked more like a slum with narrow streets and hundreds of tiny houses tightly hugging each other, without a breathing space between them. 

Outside the railway station, I stopped at a small stall run by an old lady. I had recently read about Nasi Pecel. This peanut sauce based dish served along with rice and vegetables is a common breakfast item. She prepared me Nasi Pecel and I think since she had no vegetables, she added an omelette with it. The peanut sauce was brilliant and with rice, it tasted so good that I ate with not even a speck remaining on the plate when I was done. 

At a local store outside the railway station, I packed some food for my journey - Kaya bread and a tasty pack of Ampyang - Roasted peanut, ginger and coconut palm sugar. 

The railway stations here are extremely well maintained and modern. Most importantly, they are clean and everyone follows the rules. Trains and buses are always on time. My train journey from Malang to Yogyakarta was a long - around 7 hours. The train passed through fertile land filled with paddy fields. Some fields were dedicated to Colocasia and sugar cane. 

The hostel I had booked was about a kilometre away from the railway station. The path I took was a narrow lane packed with houses on either sides.

The Packer lodge is a descent place, very close to Malioboro street - The main street in Yogyakarta. The staff at the reception were very friendly and gave me all the necessary details. The man enquired about Indian culture and caste system. The girl helped me book the temple visit through a website. She also got my booking for the scooter rental and informed the concerned person to deliver it. 

On the main street, I came across some local artists who wanted to show me their Batik art. After that, I took a Grab bike to Alun Alun Kidul. At this plaza, a night market is setup and the locals gather. I stopped to eat Tahu Gejrot - Fried tofu dipped in a spicy sauce made of baby onions, chilly and palm sugar syrup. I also met a boy who spoke fluent english and he made me fresh Pisang Goreng (banana fritters). 

I walked back to town centre. By now Malioboro street was packed with people. Many musicians had picked a spot along the pavement and were performing - mostly indonesian pop music. The crowd cheered and captured videos of the singers on their cell phones as they swayed to the tune, sometimes humming along.  

I had some Rujak Es Karim  - ice cream served with raw fruits. This is the first ice cream I have had that is spicy. Es Dawet drink I had at the same place was made of Cendol - green jelly made of rice. 

Next morning, I got up and left to Prambanan temple. The entry ticket to this temple is 400K IDR for foreigners. That is extremely high. But it is one of the two main attractions here which cannot be missed. 

There are 6 main shrines here - 3 main large ones dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. Three smaller ones for their vahanas (Transport) - Nandi, Garuda and Hamsa. There were few other smaller shrines too dedicated to Durga, Agastya muni and others. I spent a lot of time observing the intricate carvings. Stories from Ramayana and purana were depicted on the stone panels. It was also interesting to see a Shiva idol instead of Shiva linga. The idea of worshipping Linga had not reached the island. I wondered why it was so. 

These temples are believed to have been built in the 9th century by Rakai Pikatan, a Hindu prince from Sanjaya Dyansty who had married into ruling Buddhist Sailendra monarchy. The temple complex is said to have had 250 large and small temples. The region was subsequently taken over by Mataram kings who added more temples to the complex. When the Mataram dynasty moved to east Java in the 10th century, the temples were abandoned. I wonder how people could abandon a flourishing town and move to another and start afresh. Well indivduals do that often, even today, but to move a kingdom and establish everything again is a difficult decision to make. 

Here, I met a lot of school children who had an assignment during their visit. They had to interview foreigners in English and click a picutre with them. So, I helped a few students by answering their questions. I then walked to Sewu temple. This is mostly in ruins and is being rennovated.

I had booked a 11:30 AM slot at Borobudur temple. As I was getting late, I quickly finished my visit at Prambanan temple and rode to Borobudur. At Borobudur, I missed the 11:30 AM slot but that did not seem like an issue. They just moved me to the 12:30 slot. The ticket price again was 400K IDR. We were given a new pair of sandals made of cane and a bag to put our sandals in. Then we were grouped under one guide. In my group there were only foreign toursits and the guide spoke English. Thus, our guided tour of Borobudur temple began. 

Borobudur is a Mahayana buddhist temple built during the reign of Shailendra dynasty. The temple consists of nine stacked platforms - six square and three circular, topped by a central dome. There are about 2672 panels and 504 buddha statutes. The central dome is surrounded by 72 perforated stupas inside which there are Buddha statues. 

Our guide divided the entire structure into three levels - Karma, Dharma and Nirvana. The panels of each level accordingly depicted worldy affairs, then mythological stories of Gods and the final level with blank panels. One’s path to peace therefore resides in eliminating all the noises that surrounds him and attaining a state of detatchement.

Prince Siddhartha sees a beggar and a monk during his first trip outside his palace.

I returned back to town. On my way, I tried to find a descent place to eat soemthing vegetarian, but failed to do so. Instead, I stopped at a small road side stall where an old woman was selling some of the things from her farm and kitchen. I bought 4 bananas for just 1000 IDR (Rs5). I was surprised how inexpensive this place was if I were to pay local prices. 

Back at the hostel, the girl at the reeption insisted that I try Pecel with Peyek. I found  a good restaurant nearby called Pecel 57. It was a neat little place run by an old couple. They got me a delcious plate of Nasi Pecel along wiht steamed vegetables and sprouts. A fried tempeh that I ordered extra was absolutely delicious. I devoured it all. 

After dinner, I returned back to Malioboro street which had a lovely ambiance with live music and huge crowd. I also bought some local snacks - Bakpia Pathok. These are baked sweet dishes made of soft dough stuffed with sweetened moong dal paste. 

To Be Continued...