Java

We are finishing up with three days on Java. We had a nice flight over from Bali and hired a car to take us to the Manohara "resort". We had booked a room there for two nights and arrived just at twilight. We checked in and walked to the edge of the hotel grounds, where we could just see Borobudur in the fading light.
The main reason for staying at the Manohara is that it is located within the grounds of the park surrounding Borobudur. Guests at the hotel are given passes good for multiple entries to the temple/monument and they get a substantial discount on tickets for entry before sunrise.

We got up very early the next morning, bought our sunrise tickets and walked the ten minutes to the monument. We started up the stairs to the top and I stopped to take a picture of a statue silhouetted against a light. It was pitch dark and I turned off my flashlight to take the photo.

I then turned back to the steps, but neglected to turn my light back on. Since I can't see in the dark, I didn't notice there was a drop off to the step I was heading for. There was a bit of a crashing sound as I hit the steps, but nothing was broken, especially not my camera and tripod. I scraped my shin pretty well and my ankle is swollen, but I've walked a couple of miles on each of the two days since then, so it seems that I'll be fine. I am lucky to be traveling with a wonderful healthcare provider.

Borobudur was astonishing. It is a huge mandala, meant to be an aid to meditation. You can look it up to get details, but it has several levels of walkways containing reliefs detailing aspects of the Buddha's life and teachings. The top three levels are circular and consist of terraces containing stupas with Buddha statues in them.

We stayed two nights at Borobudur then came to Yogyakarta yesterday. We were too early to check in, so we left our bags at the hotel and paid 40 cents apiece to ride a local bus to Prambanan.

Prambanan is a Hindu temple built around 850 on what now are the outskirts of Yogyakarta. It is a really popular attraction and was swarming with school kids on field trips. Laurie and I were like rock stars, with group after group of kids asking if they could pose with us for photos. I have a feeling we'll be in more than one Facebook post.

We are now, where else, at the Yogyakarta airport waiting for our flight back to Bali. We'll go to Padangbai for two nights, then it's on to Gili Air for three nights at the beach.