Yogyakarta

I'm now in Yogyakarta. We arrived in this central Java city on Sunday and tried to get to Borobudur, but by 4:30 all the buses already left. So we took a "Trans," a municipal bus with fixed stops that operates more like a metro than a bus, to the suburb of Prambanan.

Prambanan is a bit of a hole. Our hotel offered rooms by the hour as well as by the night, but it was reasonably clean and had friendly staff. And it was only for one night. On Monday morning, we got up at the crack of dawn to see the eponymous Hindu temple complex which was amazing. Some of the temples had been damaged by the 2006 earthquake and thus did not allow entry, but they were still very beautiful and really cool looking. We visited two more nearby temples, and by noon we returned to Yogya and left for Borobudur.

Borobudur is a much nicer town, and our hotel was a lot nicer, too. This morning, we again woke up at the crack of dawn and visited the eponymous Buddhist temple, which is gigantic spire built around a big hill. Again, it was really cool. Both Prambanan and Borobudur were built in the 9th or 10th century and had been restored.

Yogya is a friendly, mid-size city. We aren't doing anything today. Tomorrow we will visit the sultan's palace and maybe see a Javanese dance performance.