Yesterday I took the city bus to Prambanan. Prambanam consists of the largest Hindu temple in the world, built in the 9th century, with temples devoted to Krishna, Ganish, and the various Hindu Gods. There are also many Buddhist temples on the same site.
Taking the city bus was nice because (A) it was cheap-only about $.20, and also (B) It would allow me to spend more time at the park. But of course, there we're downsides. Like in many countries, the bus trip wasn't pleasant. I was told the bus would take 1/2 an hour-it took closer to 1 1/2 hours. And for most of the way I had to stand.
Anyway, eventually I arrived at the Prambanan bus stop, where folks on bikes with attached seats tried to give me a ride to the park. They told me it was a long distance. I didn't think it was and I just walked myself. This time-I made the correct decision. It wasn't a very long walk.
Upon arriving there and paying the roughly $20.00 to see the park, I walked to the three large main temples, which are huge and imposing. They had frescos on them, and you can walk steps up right into the temples, and saw the busts of various Gods. The steps we're steep. And the place was crowded. As usual, I was stopped for pictures with a lot of the people, but they we're gracious and said thank you.
After about 20 minutes, I bought a book on the complex, and walked a bit to the Buddhist temples, which aren't too far way. The guidebook mentioned that the Hindu and Buddhist temples being in such close proximity signaled the tolerence between such religions. The first two Buddist temples we're mostly in disrepair, but the one furtherest away was in quite good shape, and it was easy to see the structures. And because it was far from the main Hindu temple at Prambanan, it wasn't very crowded-Many may have not known about it-but Laura, the owner of the hostel, told me about it.
After that, I walked back to the main temple, and looked around again, inspecting some of the relefs mentioned in the book. Again, the beauty of public tranposrtation- I could spend all day there looking around at my own pace.
After that-I went to a small museum on premisis with exhibits on the restoration of the temples, and a movie showing the story of the reliefs on the Hindu temples, how the God's had avatar's which we're displayed. (Avatar isn't a new word!). The film also mentioned that the construction back then was in sympathy with nature, vs. consturction today which seems to destroy nature.
The park also had a small petting zoo, with some type of animal that looks like deer, and an Indonesian dance exhibition, which I watched.
I left the park at 4:00, and took the public bus back home-The bus arrived close to 6:30. The stop I got off of is at the Garuda Hotel, and you could actually see the hotel for the final 45 minutes of the ride (it's only about 5 stories tall-but traffic was horrible).
At night, a group of us sat around talking. Laura, the owner of the hostel, mentioned that she used to work for the government in Jarkata, setting up officials with prostitutes at times. The conversation turned to other topics, such as an orangatang prostitute and that the only synagogue in town was burnt down 5 years ago, in sympaty with the Palastinians , (Which she said she thought was stupid).
