Sunrise at Borobudur

There’s something about visiting a place early in the morning that makes it even more spectacular than it normally is. When Jonny and I were in Europe in 2005 our train happened to arrive in Venice at 5:30 AM, giving us a perfect opportunity to see the classic city without the crowds. Last summer at Petra I showed up early on my second day and literally got to see the place without any other tourists there. In Yogyakarta I noticed several travel agencies offering discount transportation to Borobudur at 5:00 in the morning, so it made sense to schedule that for today.

There will always be at least a few people at Borobudur no matter what time of day it is, but I felt really lucky to see it a second time early in the morning. With the sun just rising on the horizon the light was perfect for photographs, and the pictures I got today were much better than the ones I got on Saturday. I spent most of the time at the top of the temple snapping pictures of stone Buddha statues with dense fog-covered jungle in the distance. The views of Merapi Volcano were also incredible, and the combination of the ancient temple, thick green jungle, and volcanoes in the distance made the place feel like a completely different world.

I rode to and from Borobudur with four other travelers; a Dutch man named Coon, an Estonian named Tom, and two Swiss sisters named Bridget and Andrea. I talked for most of the time with Tom and was fascinated to hear about his experience living in Estonia when it was part of the Soviet Union. He said that despite the government propaganda and the biased education system, everyone was still very much aware of how life behind the iron curtain compared to life in the outside world. Everyone was forced to wear plain grey uniforms, which seriously inhibited individual expression. Tom, who has worked as an accountant for Deloitte for the past eight years, told me more about life in Estonia during the Soviet occupation and how it was much, much different than life there is now. It still amazes me that such terrible circumstances existed only twenty years ago. Then again, twenty years from now people may look back in disbelief on the situations in North Korea, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Zimbabwe as they exist today.

I finished off my time in Yogyakarta with a visit to the Kraton; a giant compound that has housed the sultan of Yogyakarta since 1755. I toured the palace grounds with an Indonesian guide and was surprised to learn that Yogyakarta still has a sultan, determined by birth into the royal family, who is very much in control of political decisions in the state. Previous sultans often had many wives, and one had 82 children. The current sultan appears to be more conventional; having only one wife and five daughters. The Kraton was an interesting insight in to Yogyakarta culture and politics, but to be honest I was surprised at how third-world the palace felt. During the tour we were shown a few nice possessions of the sultan; including several sets of china and lavish antique furniture, but overall the place felt very run-down and grungy. Most decent hotels in Yogyakarta must be nicer than the sultan’s palace.

Tomorrow I fly to the island of Papua, where I’ll visit tiny villages in the jungle that are home to wild Indonesian tribesmen. I don’t know quite what to expect, but it’ll be an adventure regardless. I’m excited to visit a place that is so unusual and isolated from the outside world, but it will definitely be a challenge traveling off the beaten path a bit. As long as I come back with a few good stories to tell and no terminal illnesses than I’m happy. I’ll cross my fingers and hope it turns out that way.