Discovery of the Borobudur temple, Buddhist jewel of Java

At the start of our 4th day, after a previous one that was a bit depressing because of the capricious weather, we got up around 5am to open the Borobudur temple, an imposing Buddhist monument (fortunately the Indonesians don't have the mentality of a Taliban...) which is worth stopping for a few hours (for our part, we stayed there for about 4 hours in total).

In fact, it is imposing, neither more nor less than the largest Buddhist monument in the world… Built about 40km from Mount Merapi, the most active and dangerous volcano in Indonesia (sic!), it forms a square at its base of about 123m on each side and 35m high. It is composed of no less than 1 blocks of volcanic stone which gives it its dark color (imagine the meticulous work of renovation).

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is a must-see in Indonesia. Regularly covered in ash due to the eruptions of Merapi, this temple requires a lot of maintenance from the top of its 1200 years. The previous one was last October (2011) as a reminder…

When we arrive, we will be just the second to show up in front of the still closed reception. Shortly after, the first busloads of tourists will disembark in groups, and there the word "queue" does not exist... As soon as the doors open, everyone rushes in to be the first to have "THE" photo without anyone in it... We are given a small bottle of water included in the ticket and we are made to put on a sarong, a fabric to wrap around the waist like a skirt. And there, we let the herds move forward, because we want peace and quiet... And too bad for "THE" photo.

You should know that it is possible to see a real sunrise at the temple which costs more than the entrance ticket, normal given that it is done before the official opening, so you have to "bribe" the guards, but this is only possible with a guide accompanying you. I would have my share of sunrises afterwards anyway and in the end, I would have the "bad" surprise of seeing that in any case, the top of the temple is inaccessible due to renovation.

As an introduction, here is the very first photo taken of the monument in 1873 just after it was cleared of the vegetation that had invaded the temple.

5:53 a.m., we arrive on site (after a journey of what? 3 mins…)

I imagine the people at the back saying to themselves "yeah we're the first", 1 hour later most of them were leaving somewhere else... I don't have exactly the same idea of tourism...

One detail, we can clearly recognize the Buddhist style but it is a different architecture from what we have seen up until now.

The Merapi volcano in the background is imposing.

Each floor is composed of frescoes with careful detail, the temple built more than 100 years before complexes like Angkor Wat (whose frescoes are much less in relief) is remarkably well preserved.

The morning light was perfect for the visit.

Another mountain/volcano “watches over” the temple.

The ground has not always been so flat, before renovation it was in really bad condition, the work was really remarkable.

Another "corridor", up until now there was no crowd and it was nice (the herds had already more or less left because they rush upstairs to take their photos and that's enough for them)

After 7am, groups of students suddenly invaded the place, groups who systematically approached me to ask for a photo with me (and not just young ladies)

This doesn't stop you from enjoying the scenery.

Taken 20 minutes after the previous group, it was already the third to take a picture of me.

Later one of their teachers explained to me that their goal is to take a photo with foreigners, the goal being to push them to speak in English. Later it will not be just a simple photo but a whole questionnaire about our stay in Indonesia.

We will not go any further... the summit with these famous "bells" each enclosing a statue of Buddha will not be accessible to us.

I appreciate the mischievous smile but I appreciate less the disrespect of the place…

This family will also ask for a photo with me (but this is for fun)

From then on, you had to be patient because you were almost constantly asked for photos and their questionnaire (which they didn't all fill out diligently...)

I don't know how many students there were, a lot of them, luckily we were in the descent phase.

In Thailand it is officially forbidden to do this kind of pose which is an insult to religion.

Fortunately Jitima also had his share of photos and questionnaires (but less than me all the same…)

To get an idea of the size of these trees, look at the person with the red umbrella.

An overview of the state of the premises before renovation.

Here we are at the bottom, I realize that we have just spent an hour actually taking photos and answering questionnaires, partly due to the fact that we were among the last foreign tourists still present at that time.

Right near the exit are all the stones that could not be put back in their place either because they were too fragile or because they could not find the location...

Then there are the inevitable souvenir shops.

Clarification concerning these shops, when I say inevitable, it means that we really have no choice, the route forces us to go through there and the sellers are therefore all there to solicit us to look (and obviously buy) it is one of the black spots of Indonesia, because in addition to not leaving the choice to avoid the places and giving false hopes to the sellers when we are not interested.

The shops in question are in undeniable excess, which means that there is far too much supply compared to demand (even if once again it is low season so in this case there was simply no one else there but us when we went by…) But while there is this marked “path” of shops leading to the exit, there are also a whole bunch of other stalls and street vendors in the car park…