Borobudur... the real thing. and Prambanan

My first experience of the great threes of southeast asia's ruins: Angkor Wat, Bagan, and Borobudur. Can say with a fair amount of certainty that the world's largest momument to the Buddhist inclination is subpar compared to the colossal Angkor, and uncertain as to how it measures up to Bagan. From what I've seen of photos of the stupas in Myanmar, I'd say the Buddhas in repose within the concentrical lotus blossons of Borobudur are less impressive at first glance. What's supposed to set Borobudur apart from its contemporaries are the details etched into the stone walls. For this one, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. Though somewhat compact, the fine attention to the Buddhist scriptures, carved out to a decent portion of its entirety along the circular walls of these restored ruins, are pretty exquisite.

Prambanan

For once in our Indonesian travel experience, we decided to try going the guided route to view both Borobudur and its Hindu equivalent, Prambanan, in one day. At 75,000 rp for a day's transport, including breakfast, it could hardly have been done more cheaply by our own independent selves. We'd had our reservations at the estimated allotted time of 2 hrs for Borobudur and 1.5 for Prambanan, but these slots turned out to be perfectly sufficient. Couldn't have made a better decision than to do both of these ruins in one day. The question that remains now is: how else to kill our remaining 9 days in Java? Superficially speaking, Yogyakarta holds minimal promise. The claim that Jakarta charms few I think will prove to be an overstatement... and how much time can one while away on a tea plantation along the Puncak Pass? The few extra days we could have spent in the Gilis or exploring the beauty of north Lombok are starting to be somewhat missed...

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