There are only a few moments in my life that have taken my breath
away. The moment I held my new born
daughter in my arms, my first real kiss, standing at the top of a run preparing
to board down freshly fallen powder snow and when my daughter does something
that truly astounds me. These moments
that are not easily forgotten, they are etched in my memory forever. I experienced another of these breath taking
moments in Yogyakarta, it took me totally by surprise and I was unprepared for
the impact of it.
The alarm woke us at 3am (Princess Pants was less than
impressed), and we prepared ourselves for the arrival of our driver, our
destination Borobudur Temple. Borobudur
is a huge mandala and is the world’s biggest Buddhist monument. It was built sometime between 778 – 856AD but
was abandoned within less than a century.
Not long after it was abandoned, the huge volcano that shadows Borobudur
erupted and covered it in volcanic ash, hiding it for centuries. It was rediscovered in 1908 but not fully
excavated or restored until 1975.
Okay enough with the history lesson, you get the idea – this
place has been through its share of adventure – abandoned, buried, excavated
and restored. Friends had told me this
place was amazing and not to be missed, so I knew it was going to be a good trip. We drove for an hour through villages as they
slowly came to life. Rice paddies and traditional markets were beginning to
stir as our driver weaved through the early morning traffic and ox carts.
Tickets were brought and sarongs were wrapped
around our waists by the temple custodians.
We followed the path through a beautiful garden and there in front of us
was this incredible mandala. There was fog
around us and even though there were other tourists if felt quite eerie,
everyone was remarkably quiet, I think we were all struck by the beauty of the
site. We climbed level after level of
crudely cut stone stairs and finally stood at the top of the 31.5 metre temple. We turned and stared out over this amazing
island of Java. The temple and path fell
away and below us a misty fog shrouded the palm trees that lined the path and
Gunung Merapi (volcano) stood proudly in front of us. The sun crept up the path and hit the temple,
I was in awe. I know it sounds cliché but
I am lost for words at how to describe the moment. Princess Pants wrapped me in a hug and we
both stood appreciating the spectacle we were seeing.
I know I wasn’t the only one who felt in awe,
the other tourists around us were all glued to where they stood taking in the
moment. I don’t know if it was this
place steeped in so much history, the calm meditative aura of the Buddhists or
the fact that Princess Pants and I were experiencing something amazing together
but I was blown away. We stood there for
a while appreciating the beauty and mystique of this place, before we resorted
back to being tourists.
We posed for photos amongst the 432 stone Buddha and 72
stupas, walked around each terrace as we wound our way down the 10 levels and
oohed and arghhed over the reliefs carved into the
rocks. When we made it to the bottom we stood back
and once again appreciated the incredible achievement of the men who built this
place. Our feeling of peace and tranquillity
was not long lived and was quickly shattered as we made our way down the exit
path. We were swarmed by men selling all
manner of trinkets and souvenirs. When I
say swarmed I mean it, they circled us and moved in thrusting postcards,
statues and all manner of things at us.
At the pleading of Princess Pants we parted with way too much rupiah and
left with postcards, batik painted cards, books and a stone temple. I am sure the totes were laughing at my
terrible bartering skills, as I handed over their asking price rather than
battle
with them for a discount. Perhaps
it was the calmness that I felt from that moment at the temple or the fact that
I was hungry for breakfast but I didn’t care and wished them a good day of
sales before heading back to find our driver. I will never forget that moment on top of Borobudur and am
glad that Princess Pants got to experience it also. The crazy instabilities of this world and the busy
chaos of Yogyakarta were left far from our minds as we glimpsed a truly magical
moment.