Alkesh and Navita's World Tour 2010: Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia

We decided to brave an 18 hour bus journey from Bali through to Yogyakarta, on the island of Java. This was to be a halfway-point to our final destination in Jakarta. Yogyakarta's biggest draw is the Buddhist Borobudur temple and the many Ramayana ballet performances which are a 'must-see'!

After hastily arranging transport to Borobudur, we travelled by car in the heavy monsoon rain to reach the temple. Our guide spent the next 90 minutes guiding us through the various levels and stupas of the magnificent Borobudur temple. Built in 9 A.D., the temple is home to 504 Buddha statues (representing each of Buddha's past incarnations). The temple has been made with 2 million stones of volcanic rock, taken from Gunung Merapi, 30 kms away. Just a few decades after it was completed, following the Muslim uprising in Java, the Buddhists fled to Sumatra. The temple was covered in volcanic ash, leaving it undiscovered and hidden underground until the early 1800s.

The temple is divided in to 9 levels, each with ornate stone carvings expressing aspects of Buddhism.

Level 1 described 'cause and effect' during one's life - a key principle of the Buddhist faith.
Level 2 depicted real life - the Buddha's many challenges throughout his lives (past and present).
Level 3 outlined possible candidates to attain eternal enlightenment and follow in Buddha's footsteps.
Level 4 hypothesised about who may be the next Buddha (some predictions suggest we will have to wait 1 billion years).
Level 5 depicted the life of 2 specific candidates.

Level 6-8 were the first stages of nirvana, represented by a series of bell-shaped domes (called stupas) - each with a small Buddha statue inside.
Level 9 represented the highest state of enlightenment, achieved by Buudha only.

It was great to spend time understanding the Buddhist faith, bearing similarities to Jainism and in contrast with the strong Hindu culture we had just observed in Bali.

For our evening's entertainment, Navi and I were thoroughly looking forward to the best performance of Ramayana's ballet, located at the Prambanan Hindu temple. This outdoor stage, had a beautiful backdrop of the temple and a cast of up to 200 dancers, supported with a great gamelan orchestra. As with the Kecak dancing, the costumes were beautifully coloured and detailed. The dances were slow, elegant and full of emotion. It was extremely interesting to see a well-known Hindu story performed so beautifully by an Indonesian cast - subtle differences and yet overwhelmingly familiar!