November 14, 2012 – Temple Tour
*take Transjogja bus – Malioboro to Jombor
– 3,000
*Jombor bus to Borobudur – 20,000
*Borobudur – entrance: 200,000 (20usd)
*Borobudur to Jombor bus station – 20,000
*Jombor to Transjogja Maioboro-3,000
*transjogja malioboro to Prambanan – 20,000
*Prambanan – entrance: 165,000 (18usd)
*Prambanan Transjogja to Malioboro –
(20,000)
That’s a
copy of my detailed itinerary for my supposed DIY temple tour in Central Java.
Total expense for transportation only for the DIY tour is around 86,000IDR.
Some travel agencies offer transport tour for only 65,000 to 75,000IDR. As
always, the downside of joining group tours is that you cannot own the time of your
tour.
So I decided
to scratch that part of my iti, because I accepted the offer of the kind family
I met in the railway station (obvious bang nakalimutan ko ang name nila. Tsk.
Tsk.) Free transport tour to Borobudur and Prambanan temple – means saving
86,000IDR. Saving 86,000IDR means more KFC. Haha!
The night
before, I texted the travel tour owner to confirm my stay in Anda Losmen. They
told they’ll pick me up at around 430 in the morning. But it was almost 530
when they arrive. (Borobudur temple opens at 6am.)
Borobudur Temple
Entrance
fee:
180,000 IDR/20USD
(foreign visitors)
90,000 IDR/10USD
(foreign students with ID)
30,000 IDR (local visitors)
I never get
tired to exploring temples. I must admit I vaguely remember all the details of the history of
Angkor Wat temple, but I cannot forget how beautiful and magnificent the temple
was. Now another Buddhist temple in central Java left me with so much awe-wow
moment.
Entrance fee
in Borobudur temple can be very hefty. This is after all one of
the country’s tourist hotspots, so expect a double even triple charge for
foreigners. But there’s always a way for a kuripot
traveller like me. I first plan to act like a local in order to avail the
cheapest entry fee. But since, I accepted the free transport offer of a travel
agency, I had to join other foreign visitors, and be one with them.
The next
thing I did was to pretend to be a legitimate student of a university. I know,
what I did was a crime, but it’s one of those days that you have to make a
crazy ‘diskarte’ to save a big bucks
when travelling. Haha. Besides, I didn’t come up with this idea all by myself.
I got this from research. Haha. And I didn’t make such claims without any
document to support it – my Recto-made ID. (sabi nga, wag tularan!)
Right after
securing my student pass, one of the attendants assisted me on how to wear the
sarong. It’s their way of showing respect to the holy temple especially from
visitors who will be wearing shorts and short-shorts. There’s a different
sarong for foreign and local visitors.
I then took
advantage of the free coffee being served in the office. We were oriented for a
minute then we proceeded to the tour – all by ourselves. It was a weekday, yet,
there were a lot of visitors in the area most of them were local students from
Surabaya and Bandung.
But these
students aren't there just for the tour, but to learn and practice their
English – by talking to foreigners visiting the temple.
So while
being in awe at the grand temple in front of me, students started to flock the
view. Mobbing most of the white-skinned tourists entering the temple. Oh well,
I thought they won’t notice me, being tanned and dark skinned and all – before
I knew it – I was there, talking to them, after all, I was wearing the sarong
for foreign visitors. So there I was, answering all their scripted and much
memorized questions – what’s your name, where you from, when did you arrive in
Jakarta, what do you think of the Borobudur temple etc. They’d better do it
right because their respective teachers were documenting the whole thing.
Haha. They also shared bits of
Indonesian culture – food, dance and few local words which I can no longer
remember. And to end the discussion, you have to grade them how do you think
the whole conversation exercise went.
brown sarong for locals, white for foreigners
It was fun
at first, really. I was just amazed how eager they were to learn English. But
after having three different batches of students – it began to sound a little annoying.
They asked almost same questions over and over, except the last one, where I talked to college students. But the interview basically ate up my tour
time – c’mon as much as I wanted to tell them my story, I still have a temple
to explore and I was running out of time. When I saw new visitors coming up the
stairs in the temple, I started to beg off interviews from the kids and started
my tour. This time, I was in a hurry because I only had few minutes left from our
allotted tour time. But still, it was a wonderful experience talking to them.
Borobudur
temple is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. It is also one of the most
complex I’ve ever seen. From afar, it may look similar to a pyramid. But when
you take a closer look in it – you’ll see magnificent features and intricate
designs that made this temple into the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Site.
History dictates it was once buried into volcanic ash and was abandoned for
hundreds of years until it was rediscovered.
On the top
floor, you will see the most photographed stupa of the temple. There are 72
stupa (bell-like designed monument) surrounding the main dome that is located
at the heart of the temple. Inside these stupas are 72 Buddha statues, sitting
in different meditating position, protected and covered. They say the Buddha
statue inside the stupa symbolizes the holiness of the spirit of the monks.
But there
are some special stupa that is open for prayers and pilgrimage, like this one.
They say it’s best to visit the temple for the
sunrise, at around 4-5am, but it’ll cost you more. The price you have to pay if
you want to see the beautiful transformation of the temple once the first ray
of sunlight kisses it and displays the various color of volcanic stones the
temple is made of from. (Regular operating hours in the temple is 6am to 5pm.)
Some facts
on Borobudur temple:
The largest
stupa, right at the heart of the temple has a lightning arrester to protect it
from bad weather.
It has a
total of 1,460 reliefs that illustrates a story and more than a thousand panels
for decoration.
A total of
32 lion guards surrounded the temple.
There are
504 Buddha statues in the entire temple.
Persistent
souvenir vendors will mob you at the exit of the temple.
Note: Don’t
be surprised, it’s a long walk from the exit of the temple to parking area
where the tour vans and your tour mates will be waiting for you.
