After the awe inspiring tour at Borobudur we were off to see temples Pawon and Mundut which were part of the same compound as Borobudur. We arrived at Pawon, Jonny our driver asked if we'd like to try some Luwak Coffee and Joy and I happily obliged. Outside the tiny temple there was a Luwak coffee shop and a few people selling souvenirs out of their homes. Jonny recommended for us to try some Luwak coffee and we happily obliged. There was a Luwak chained to a post high up near the ceiling, who looked pretty comfortable. This Luwak coffee is apparently the most expensive type of coffee in the world, that is, if it's the real deal. It tasted strong and smooth, but not tasty enough for us to want to buy a bag home.
Joy wanted to buy a Borobudur pagoda souvenir and consulted Jonny on how much we should pay. He thinks we shouldn't pay more than 50,000 IDR, and with that in mind, Joy set off on our first negotiation. The seller asked for 150,000 IDR initially, and Joy returned with 50,000, the seller than asked for 70,000, and we folded right after that. Johnny shook his head and laughed at how quickly we had given up, but we were pretty stoked with our souvenir and thought we got a good deal, that is, until we later met other sellers who were willing to sell to us for 25,000 IDR.
We went to Mundut temple that was next to a gigantic bodhi tree, Joy seemed really interested in the tree. The next place we went to was the Sultan Palace, and there were free English tour guides there. Our guide was very thorough but the palace was no comparison to Borobudur.
I was starting to feel pretty hungry as we haven't eaten anything since 3:00 am (the deep fried bananas don't count much as a meal), but Johnny seems pretty enthusiastic about taking us to the water palace so we continued our tour.
The water palace was interesting, apparently it was the swimming pool for the Sultan and his family a long time ago, but now it's just a tourist attraction. We quickly took some pictures and hurried Jonny to take us to our lunch. Fortunately, it was only 5 minutes away and it was an Indonesia style buffet. I've never been happier to see food and gobbled down as much as I can fit in an hour.
The last place we went to visit was Prambanan, which was a beautiful site. The sky was clear and sun was scorching, and we were excited to see the famous Hindu temples. Prambanan is also a UNESCO heritage site and was undergoing major restoration. There were over 200 temples that made up Prambanan, but many of the temples were in ruins as a result of centuries of looting. So many of the temples looked like piles of rubble, waiting to be restored. Jonny told us over the past decade UNESCO has only been able to restore less than ten temples, due to many missing stones.
We ended our day and headed back to the hotel. What a wonderful day, absolutely amazing.
To be continued...
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| Luwak |
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| Bodhi Tree |
We went to Mundut temple that was next to a gigantic bodhi tree, Joy seemed really interested in the tree. The next place we went to was the Sultan Palace, and there were free English tour guides there. Our guide was very thorough but the palace was no comparison to Borobudur.
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| Sultan Palace |
I was starting to feel pretty hungry as we haven't eaten anything since 3:00 am (the deep fried bananas don't count much as a meal), but Johnny seems pretty enthusiastic about taking us to the water palace so we continued our tour.
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| Water Palace |
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| Prambanan |
The last place we went to visit was Prambanan, which was a beautiful site. The sky was clear and sun was scorching, and we were excited to see the famous Hindu temples. Prambanan is also a UNESCO heritage site and was undergoing major restoration. There were over 200 temples that made up Prambanan, but many of the temples were in ruins as a result of centuries of looting. So many of the temples looked like piles of rubble, waiting to be restored. Jonny told us over the past decade UNESCO has only been able to restore less than ten temples, due to many missing stones.
We ended our day and headed back to the hotel. What a wonderful day, absolutely amazing.
To be continued...
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