We found Yogyakarta or Jogya as everyone seems to call it a great place to spend a few days. Whilst the traffic was as chaotic and slow moving as anywhere else, it had a great feel to it and with “only” 400,000 inhabitants seemed to retain a soul that can be lacking in much larger cities.
The main reason for visiting Jogya was to visit the 9th century Hindu temple complex of Prambanan. It wasn’t entirely lost on me that the two main sights we came to view in Java, which is part of the much larger Muslim country of Indonesia, were of Buddhist and Hindu origins.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), half the family weren’t feeling particularly well, so we decided that I’d visit the temples on my own whilst the rest of the family had some R&R back at the hotel pool. As part of the compromise it also meant I wouldn’t visit during the best viewing time of sunset, but the option of being able to roam the temple grounds on my own for three hours was simply too good to pass up.
The temples really are amazing and well worth visiting. As another UNESCO World Heritage sight, the temples also attract a large number of tourists, and on the day I visited was inundated by hoardes school children all looking to get photo’s with me. I’m not quite sure why I’d turned into a popstar overnight, and unfortunately due to the limited amount of time I had I had to turn down what felt like hundreds of requests.
Within easy walking distance (less than a kilometre) of the main temple complex are the almost deserted Sewu and Plaosan temples, which also are well worth visiting even if simply to enjoy a bit of solitude and take the whole experience in.
All up I could have easily spent four to five hours at Prambanan marvelling at the grandeur of the temples themselves, the wonderful bas-reliefs and generally just people watching but unfortunately with some under the weather family members to attend to, my visit came to an end and it was time to look for some transport back to the hotel.
Tribe Travelling 