Temples

Yogyakarta = temples galore.

Our first stop were the Buddhist temples of Borobodur. With over 2 million individual blocks of stone it is apparently the largest single temple in S.E. Asia (although it is pretty stunning it somehow doesn't quite rival Angkor Wat). With six levels leading up to a huge stupa at the top the temple represents the Buddhist idea of the cosmos leading up to Nirvana. The intricately carved stones show the story of Bhudda and took three generations to carve.

After the Buddhists left Java the temple was abandoned and was eventually covered with ash from nearby Mount Merapi. However, the Dutch found it again and it has been carefully restored - a couple of times- since someone tried to bomb it and earthquakes shook it's foundations.

From Borobodur we went to the Hindu temple Prambanan. This didn't fare so well after the 2006 earthquake but were still beautiful to see.

After a long day temple tramping it was time for an apple pie and camomile tea. Mmm.