It was an hour and a half to drive from our hotel at Borobudur to the Prambanan temple complex. On the way our taxi driver Fendi (the same guy that took us to Borobudur) stopped at a small supermarket where he purchased an energy drink, but despite that he still managed to fall asleep at some traffic lights just outside Yogyakarta. He didn’t seem to hear the cars behind him honking furiously and Keith had to wake him up!!
The temple complex is the largest Hindu temple complex in Java and was located in a beautiful park. Once again we had a view of Mount Merapi in the background. The complex contained three main temples surrounded by a series of smaller temples and shrines all dedicated to Hindu deities in various stages of repair. The complex suffered extensive damage during an earthquake in 2006 and some of the temples were fenced off. The temples were very different to the temple complex we had seen at Borobudur. These were towering vertical structures with a square base constructed from large porous stone blocks and decorated with reliefs depicting tales from the Ramayana. On each of the four sides of the temple were a set of stairs leading to a central chamber housing the deity to whom the temple was dedicated. We spent almost two hours walking around each temple on the site and climbing up the very steep stairs. In the main temple dedicated to Shiva we were issued with green hard hats despite notices saying that the temple was “relatively” stable.
After our visit our taxi driver took us to Yogyakarta. Our hotel was located in a tiny laneway off Jalan Sosrowijayan lined with cheap guesthouses, tiny Laundromats, hole in the wall money changers and dodgy looking travel agents offering tours to Borobudur, Prambanan, Mount Bromo and Mount Merapi. Outside most of the establishments along the laneway were hung wicker cages containing songbirds.
Parallel to our street was the main shopping street of Jalan Malioboro stretching from the train station to the Sultan’s Palace (Kraton). The sidewalks on both sides of the street were crowded with mobile food stalls and makeshift stalls selling batik clothing, bags and fans, t-shirts, sunglasses, motorcycle helmets and colourful rubber thongs. The streets were crowded with people, cars, becaks (pedal rickshaws), horse carts and a never ending stream of scooters.
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