The idea of seeing yet another set of ancient architectural wonders made me eventually decide to visit Indonesia, despite the very unfounded reasons I have enumerated in the immediately preceding entry. The pictures of these magnificent temples alone are so unreal that I could not miss it for the world.
Next thing I knew, I was on a plane to Yogyakarta.
Yogyakarta officially introduced us to the wonderful Indonesian culture. We came to this country with practically no knowledge of its culture and its people, albeit the mostly negative things we heard over the news and read on available articles. We were surprised to be totally smitten by its very warm people that made us somehow question why we Filipinos think we're the most hospitable people on earth.
But to avoid inciting any debate, enough said about that subject matter.
Instead, let me share with you the photographs of two of the most fascinating jewels of Yogyakarta and, without a doubt, the world.
Prambanan, the magnificent.
Borobudur, the majestic.
At that moment, I believed in my heart that Borobodur toppled Angkor Wat in grandeur, even predating the latter by 300 years. It is also widely believed that the descendants of the builders of Borobudur built its more renowned Cambodian counterpart. The only advantage the Khmers has is that most of its temples are within one expansive complex, as opposed to Yogyakarta's which are scattered all around.
But I have no problem with that, a rare jewel is supposed to be "hard to find".
Next thing I knew, I was on a plane to Yogyakarta.
Yogyakarta officially introduced us to the wonderful Indonesian culture. We came to this country with practically no knowledge of its culture and its people, albeit the mostly negative things we heard over the news and read on available articles. We were surprised to be totally smitten by its very warm people that made us somehow question why we Filipinos think we're the most hospitable people on earth.
But to avoid inciting any debate, enough said about that subject matter.
Instead, let me share with you the photographs of two of the most fascinating jewels of Yogyakarta and, without a doubt, the world.
Prambanan, the magnificent.
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| A 9th century Hindu temple, this somehow resembles the famed towers of Angkor Wat, but it has no base structure where one can actually go in. |
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| One of the great towers. The details are astonishing! |
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| They have successfully pieced the temple back together for us to marvel at ancient men's architectural superiority in the absence of technology. |
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| I was surprised how sexual the depictions in the carvings are... |
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| which shows how liberated their ancient culture was... |
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| and how tolerant their society now despite being a predominantly Muslim country. |
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| This on the other hand is a 9th century Buddhist temple. The photo does not give justice to how massive this temple is... |
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| that the tiny spikes that you see on top of the temple... |
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| are actually stupas which are approximately 12 feet tall (I am 5'10")! |
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| and they are all around the temple... |
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| housing a buddha statue each... |
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| which shows how devout the ancient men were to their religion, giving it all - materials and manpower resources - to build monuments to last over a thousand years! |
At that moment, I believed in my heart that Borobodur toppled Angkor Wat in grandeur, even predating the latter by 300 years. It is also widely believed that the descendants of the builders of Borobudur built its more renowned Cambodian counterpart. The only advantage the Khmers has is that most of its temples are within one expansive complex, as opposed to Yogyakarta's which are scattered all around.
But I have no problem with that, a rare jewel is supposed to be "hard to find".
