Tag Archives: Yogyakarta

Travel

Travelogue: Borobudur

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Borobudur, a Buddhist temple built a bit more than a millenia ago in central Java near Yogyakarta, is a UNESCO world heritage site and a massive tourist attraction, so of course I had to go take a look.
Borobudur - landscape portrait 2 Borobudur - stupas portrait

Much like Prambanan, Borobudur was forgotten and “lost” from records a couple of centuries after it was built, and remained hidden in the jungle growth for centuries, until it was re-discovered along with Prambanan by an explorer commissioned by Sir Raffles (is there anything he can’t do?). And now, like Prambanan, archaeologists are working to restore the temple.

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Travel

Travelogue: Prambanan

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Prambanan, a Hindu temple built a bit more than a millennium ago in central Java, is a UNESCO world heritage site near Yogyakarta and a massive tourist attraction, so of course I had to go take a look.
Prambanan - landscape 1

In a weird twist of history, a couple of centuries after it was built, Candi (temple) Prambanan was forgotten and “lost” from records. Since the temple was not very sturdy (it’s basically a large pile of rocks), it was also flattened by a nearby earthquake. And so, the temple remained hidden and unknown for many years until rediscovered by an explorer commissioned by Sir Raffles (the founder of Singapore). Since then, archaeologists have been working on rebuilding the temples, to mixed success.

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Travel

Travelogue: Jogja (Yogyakarta)

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Yogyakarta (Jogjakarta / Jogja) is a town that can’t seem to decide what to call itself, so I’ll go with Jogja.  It’s the cultural capital of Java, so I decided to visit for a couple of days, and see what the fuss is all about.
Jogja - city view

Unlike Bali and Lombok, which are flooded with western tourists, Jogja is more of a vacation place for local Indonesians.  While you would occasionally see some western tourists around, especially on Jalan (road) Sosrowijayan, the main strip for hotels and homestays, it’s primarily locals that you see.  And as a result, the streets aren’t filled with people trying to prey on western tourists.  Which I really appreciated.

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