The moment I found out where the
hotel was, after being lost right away from Tugu station to street after
street, to those small alleys, I was approached hastily by a travel-and-tours pitchman.
If you get to see him, you can't see him any air of credibility. Physically, he’s not typically someone who really means business, if you know
what I mean. But he was convincing enough that we negotiated anyway because the
sun was already up for hours, and it was almost 7AM, and he seemed to be seriously
with clean intentions. The minimum number of persons in a van was two. But there
was no one else at our agreed timing that fated morning, but me and my kicking
feet only. So the whole thing arranged would cost me 400,000 rupiahs for a
whole day trip to already three sites – Borobudur, Mount Merapi and Prambanan
(my personal itinerary). I thought a roughly 55 Singapore dollar equivalent
trip was fair enough since I was about to spread distances away from the city
for hours. Nevertheless, I told him to just wait for me outside of the alley
near Jalan Sosrowijan, as I needed to ‘semi-check-in’ first.
Merbabu is a 21-room 1-star
hotel, quite popular among backpackers, for it is just footsteps away from
Malioboro Street, Yogyakarta’s shopping district. So you get to feel the pulse
of the hustle and bustle of the city as you step out on the road.
I went to the receptionist,
introduced my name, yes, as the boy from Agoda, as on their whiteboard. Merbabu’s
check in time is 1PM, so I had to wait for a few hours. But the receptionist,
who looked more of an old grumpy owner (nah, he’s not really), suggested to
leave my belongings inside the reception area. Brilliant, I thought, so I could
tour lightly, leaving more than half of my pack. Then, I asked where I could
book for a trip to those three sites mentioned. He handed me over a Bromo Tour
& Travel leaflet and told me to wait for a while as if he’s looking for
someone outside. He came back with someone who’s going to arrange my tour
(later I would know he’s the owner of Bromo Tour & Travel). Finally, everything’s
on the go for the day, yes, exactly for 400,000 rupiahs, exclusive of entrance
fees. And I saw the pitchman scratching his head (seriously hoping he had a
fair share after that).
I was introduced to my driver Baim. What surprised me was that he spoke without a heavy accent and had a good
command of the English language, one of the good things about the tour.
At 7:20AM, we speeded our way to
our first stop – Borobodur temple. Excitement was painted all over my face, and
I just wanted to screech at that moment because I knew the temple was within my
reach. That same adrenalin actually stemmed a long time ago from when my uncle
gave us a Reader’s Digest book that features Borobudur. That was the first
time I got to know about the temple.
While listening to a local radio,
MYMP’s ‘Especially For You’ was suddenly played, which jolted me with surprise.
We arrived in the biggest Buddha temple
in the world, after exactly one hour and paid for a parking fee of 5,000 rupiahs. Entrance ticket for international visitors is
15 US dollars or 135,000 rupiahs. Everyone, save the locals, has to don
the sarong/sarung.
I left the temple 3 hours later,
forgetting my driver who told me he would wait for me for 2 hours. Ha ha. I was
just awestruck seeing what I thought I could only see on pages of books. Sure,
the sight of an 8th century temple was so commanding, as if lording
over the plains of Central Java.
I was on my way to accomplishing
the rest of my Second Sunshine mission!
|
the temple and its garden |
|
read the procedure in visiting the temple:
1. enter Borobudur temple park from east entrance.
2. go up to the temple from east gateway and walk around clockwise every stair (called pradaksina).
3. go down the temple from south, west or north gateway; exit Borobudur temple park to north gateway. |
|
foreigners donning the sarong/sarung |
Carved reliefs
Statues