Prambanan Candi Sewu. This photo only courtesy of wikipedia's burmese days. Prambanan - This was gonna be my D.I.Y. day, and quite a hectic one as I'd planned it. I was up as early as 6 AM. I was gonna join Tom for his "goodbye-breakfast". He was taking the train back to Jakarta for a wild time at the Stadium, before flying to KL to meet up with some friends. What a life!
After the early breakfast, I walked him to the main road and begged off from staying longer than necessary. I will see you, mate - in Manila! For now, I had to take a local bus to Giwangan Station, Yogya's main bus terminal 30 minutes from the city.
I asked some guys from the sidewalk who readily told me to stay put while he hailed me a bus. Heck, I didn't even know which bus it was but these days, it pays to trust the kindness of strangers. Indonesia is very satisfying in this aspect. Upon arrival at Giwangan, I paid a ticket (2,000 Rp just to get inside the terminal where I was to find the platform for Prambanan). I was pointed to the Transjogja Lines, which was terrific as it was clean, new and with AC. I bought a ticket (3,000 Rp) that would have me change 2 buses along the way: Take 3A, then change to 1A. This route eventually took me right in front of Prambanan which is 17 kilometers from Yogya.
It was a walk under the harsh sun, but I was smug knowing I did it with commuter transport. I passed through a local park, crossed the street, then walked 500 meters further to the east entrance of the temple grounds. After paying 117,000 Rp, I made my way towards the Shiva Temple. There were several other temples flanking around Shiva (Vishnu's, Brahma's).
It was fun climbing up the stairs and checking out the hundreds of frescoes and bas-relief that adorned each of the temples. In fact, plenty of them told stories: some weird, some hilarious, others brutal, while some were sexual. This was obvioulsy more impressive than Borobodur, and I love the way they seemed to reach towards heavens.
There were several other temples dotting the complex further north - 4 or 5 temples in several states of neglect or destruction. In fact, a couple of them were mere mounds on the ground. Constructed 50 years after the rise of Borobodur in the 9th century, this Hindu complex is an intriguing entity. For why would one construct such grandiosity; and once done, they all abandoned it altogether! These emperors were impulsive spoiled brats, weren't they? LOL
The last temple at the northern-most portion was shut, but I was happy seeing its facade. There were elephant-like structures guarding the temple right up front. I took shelter at the nearby shed while a Czech guy approached me to ask for the time. I stood up and started playing Tina Arena's version of "So Far Away." This song plays out wistfully like a sad lullaby to travelers. "So far away, doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore? It would be so nice to see your face at my door. Doesn't help to know that you're so far away." Perfectly romanticizing the solitary nature of travels.
Before walking back to the Transjogja Terminal, I found a restaurant near the mosque. It was my chance to taste another local culinary called Nasi Liwet. Yummy! Tell me, what more could a guy ask for?
This is the Eye in the Sky!
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