“Mandala”. A personal discovery of the great Borobudur Temple (Jogjakarta, Indonesia)

It took me between 18-20 hours bus & a ferry trip over Safari Dharma Raya Transport service from Denpasar Bali to Yogyakarta (Jogjakarta, a city capital of Jogja Region in Java, Indonesia). It is renowned as a centre of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. Yogyakarta was the Indonesian capital during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to 1949. One of the districts in Yogyakarta, Kotagede, was the capital of Mataram Sultanate between 1575 and 1640. The city is named after the Indian city of Ayodhya from the Ramayana epic. Yogya means ‘suitable, fit, proper’, and karta, ‘prosperous, flourishing’ (i.e., ‘a city that is fit to prosper. ( Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogyakarta_(city))

I don’t know what I was thinking back then… to hop in on such a long exhausting ride. Maybe because it is my very first time to do such thing~ I had some adventurous feeling to kill, and of course to see more of the country side. Anyway, Pieter (My host in Bali) gave me a ride going to the terminal and advised me some hint and useful tips on how can I have a great time discovering the some parts of Java Island which is bigger than I thought . It’s been a nice experience going to the great city of Yogyakarta. The people are very nice and really accommodating. Sadly, I can only afford to roam the place for just a day because I needed to go back in Bali soon (to catch up my flight for my next adventure). It is  a quick trip. Nevertheless, my adventure over the place is unforgettable and extra amazing.I know that I’ll be coming back soon.

TAKING THE ROAD…. LESS TRAVELED.

During my stay in Bali, I’ve consulted and asked some foreign and local travelers if they’ve been around Java Island and what they think is the best route to take if they would go to such place like Jogjakarta. A couple of locals uniformly suggested that I’ve to take the easiest, fastest way. Some jolted out on me “Well if you have money Sir go take a plane!” The locals are lucid to give me such a clear choice, fair enough. Then, I met a couple of old travelers who just flocked outside a café, carrying big camp packs. One great suggestion practically changed the whole course of my trip going to Jogja. A kind old lady simply said, “Take your time…”

I don’t know whats with those words but… Voila! Like a candid bulb of light on top of head just appeared, that made my mind to google up some information and got some swift advice from my host (That’s Pieter) that I’d be leaving that very next day going to Java. Decided to take that long bus ride!!! So….. I saved a substantial amount of my pocket money, BONUS are the scenery of those wonderful green hills and mountains, valleys and sea sides, short and long bridges and lakes, small temples and mounds, huts and shops that sits beside the road, water buffalos, cows and goats rallying~ ETC ETC. Unforgettable.

MY NEVER ENDING ASIA TRIP CONUTINUES.

 Jogjakarta. Like Manila, where you can clearly see the riotous long queue of people along bus stops and terminals, the squeezed-in malls beside the towering heights of hotels and inns , the endless and busy sidewalk vendors and cramped up streets, etc (got too much to say) . Jogja for me, is simply a wonderful place, both silent and busy, flourishing, a not-too-populated-city. This experience is so new to me. And since it is my very first backpacking experience, I really had no idea what to do next. Though, I already had it at the back of my mind, swore to jump around, be out and about the place isn’t a wild idea after all. After hopping out of the bus, I quickly rushed over to the nearest “tuktuk” (a local term for a tricycle) station.

Unfortunately, I was too early that time. So to cut the long story short, I nailed a motorcycle driver to give me a ride going to Borobudur Temples. It just cost me about 10usd from that point to the location. It’s as if I was riding a scooter in a park. The day is so brilliant, happy, hot, humid. hmmm but I was quite lethargic and drowsy for that morning. The city landscape is beautiful and green, the road going to the location is easy too because the highways and streets are all well paved. Not to mentioned the scenery of the busy rice farmers alongside the boulevard. I can’t quite recall the details of that entirety, but as far as I can remember~ I MET and have SEEN ALL THE WONDERFUL LOCALS AND TRAVELLERS ALIKE. INDEED A VERY BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO BEGIN WITH…That is I think the 2 very reason why a place would be such a magnificent place to conquer, discover and eventually….enjoy.

BOROBUDUR TEMPLE:MAGELANG’S TRUE GEMBorobudur temple is the world’s largest Buddhist monument and the only centerpiece of its ancient pilgrimage activities as well as a living shrine of Mahayana Buddhism. This temple is actually the largest Buddhist monument in the world! Cant actually believe that I’ve just seen it in its flesh. Wonderful. And it just so happened that Ive read some facts about Borobudur. Its astounding feat is meant to be climbed, therefore a pilgrimage itself as you mount the heights of the temple. It is very trivial for me that a visitor SHOULD and MUST really reach the tops of the temple as a spiritual and physical experience. And, as you are trying to walk that temple up, religious carvings are seen to mean some guidance and serves as reminder of the glorious stories, wisdom and one’s journey starting from their conscious mind to subconscious enlightenment, or for me I may label it as a “Personal Eternity”. I mean, Wow! Right? That there is really some serious stuff in there that meets every visitor’s eye~ something more profound and heavenly. How lucky I am to be able to do that stunt without a sweat while carrying a heavy-sized backpack. I almost thought I will undergo some severe physical exhaustion. But no, I was actually relieved and renewed.

Some amazing facts about Borobudur Temple:

1. The temple was built between 8^th and 9^th century. Some 300 years before Angkot Wat and some 400 years before the dawn of European Cathedrals.

2. From 9^th til 11^th century. Borobudur became the pilgrimage destination of people from China, Cambodia, India and Tibet.

3. It is built some 75 years under the supervision of an architect named Gunadharma (Without the help of Computers).

4. Since there are no methods of measurement that time, did you know that builders used the length measurement by extending a thumb and middle finger OR by measuring their hair length from the forehead to the their chin… (quite odd! Right? )

5. That it is actually a giant puzzle composed of 2 million volcanic stone cubes which are carved and made to interlocked each other.

6. The temple has an actual 100 water gutters in the form of Makara (Elephant headed fish statue) that serves as drainage channels & some subtle decoration.

7. The temple comprises 2672 relief panels, about a 6 kilometer stretched mural painting!

8. UNESCO recognizes the Temple as the biggest and most complete Buddhist relief ensemble in the whole world!

9. Borobudur occupies 123×123 m2 and is decorated with with 504 Buddha statues and 1 main Stupa.

10. Each carving is unique, every carvings around the temple was considered a prolific, perfectly done and considered as an unit of masterpiece.

11. It took 8 long years and millions of stone fragments before the whole temple were restored and reassembled.

12. Borobudur was abandoned by 1500s primarily because of the shifting of Javanese people.

Well, I should say that every part of our adventure brought us to the realization that we can never outrun the wonders of this world. Indonesia is just one country to visit yet it comprise of 17,000 islands and numerous features and else. Whenever I hear the name of the country~ “Indonesia”, my mind was capped with just Jakarta and Bali. But this venture made a lot of difference; it kept me aware that there are more into things. That there are so much more to see, and there would always be so much place to conquer. To add, there’s this belief circulating around the city of Jogkarkarta, that if you touch the feet of that cross-legged Buddha, any wish you are preciously holding will come true. I never touched it though. (Sadly~)

Back to my story, I felt proud and tall to reach such glorious place like this temple. I’ve met many local people and tourist rallying their way up. The feeling is just too weird for me. I’ve never taken any liquids since that drop of morning but I felt so charged up and going. My eyes were smothered with so many beautiful things. Seeing many stupas, Buddha’s, stone hieroglyphs, people cheering their peers, elderly people trying to be so familiar with their younger enthusiasm, students, and backpackers and travelers like me who are just too intrigue by the magnitude of Borobudur.

The hike-up experience seemed like ahidden song playing and piercing those every individual, a very lesson which we should not stop aiming for the good, for the enlightenment. Well, to me that’s how I summarize my personal experience. The terraces felt endless, and the difficulty of each and every higher level though is never compromising, the magnifying carvings on the wall seemed like wailing of a great olden times and the renaissance of their past. That at each glance, you will feel that those were talking to you… I felt I was transported back to the history of its era. An incredible and indescribable personal experience.