Around 7am, we left the hotel towards Borobudur, but it was already fairly light outside. A friend who had visited Borobudur before told me that you should see it at sunrise, so I was a bit disappointed that we were leaving so late. In hindsight, I really shouldn’t have been worried, as the instant I saw the “World’s Largest Buddhist Temple” I was in awe.

After paying the entry fee, and being handed the compulsory Sorong to wear while within the Temple compound, we made a slow walk around the area and then began to ascend to the first of five levels, each relating to a state of mind – from the World of Desire to the World of Forms and eventually the World of the Formless – Enlightenment.

All along the labyrinth walkway of the lower levels, the walls were inscribed with stone reliefs depicting the life and teachings of the Buddha. As our tour guide point out, Borobudur had undergone two major renovations, once by the Dutch and then again by UNESCO. While these were done with the best of intentions, they had left their mark on the structure – namely on its irrigation system.

As we arrived at the top Level, the structure broke away from the enclosed labyrinth into an open top full of small Buddhist Stupa’s surrounding the main central one. After the arduous journey to this point, the openness was definitely welcome.

The tour guide informed me that the numerological precision in this temple was astounding. There were 505 statues of the Buddha, as well as 505 Stupa’s. This is because 505 or more precisely, 5 + 0 + 5 = 10, which is the sign of Perfection.

It was here, while taking some photos that I was approached by a gaggle of school children no older than 12 or 13.  It turns out that along with their usual assignments about the site, they had to survey foreigners arriving there, and so I was asked 10 quick personal questions and posed for a group photo before eventually being left alone.

On our way down from the compound the souvenir Hawkers selling all kinds of goods ranging from the very nice to the generic ambushed us. I resisted for most of the journey by my friend was not so lucky. Having met up with him later, he informed me that he had spent 400,000 Rupiah (£25) on statues and key chains. After seeing what he bought, another friend bought something similar for a lot less. This only prompted me to try my luck and I bested both of them in the haggling range and got what I thought was a bargain. It was only later on that we realized another shop selling the same stuff for pennies.

By midday we were exhausted and mostly sunburnt so we decided to head back to Yogyakarta city for some more shopping before tackling the Hindu Temple of Prambanan in the afternoon.

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