Bat Poop and Ballet: The Prambanan Experience

After rising with the sun at Borobudur, Martha and I headed to Prambanan (which you might remember from my travels with Meghan and Liz-  check out that link for more background on the temples and some of the local stories about their construction), a series of Hindu temples built around the same time period, for the sunset.

Here's me and Martha, sporting the layered look, in front of the main temples at Prambanan:

Martha in front of one of the complex's hundreds of small temples:

Some of Prambanan's cool carvings:

Martha and I got to rock some hard hats in order to enter the main temple, which was closed to the public when I went last year with Meghan and Liz due to structural issues stemming from recent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.  Now it's open, but only to a limited number of people and you have to wear the hard hats for safety.   

The main temple is dedicated to Shiva, the destroyer, and is encircled by carvings depicting the Ramayana, the Hindu epic.  Below is the Shiva statue inside the temple.  She's looking quite, um, arm-y:

Here's Rama, hunting the golden deer:

Me and Martha on the steep and uneven steps up the temple.  These steps, and all of the uneven, unstable, handrail-less steps and sidewalks across Indonesia, were the bane of her existence:

Tiny Martha, big Shiva temple:

After checking out the main temples at Prambanan, we rode around to a few other temples in the area, including the Buddhist Plaosan temple complex, set in the middle of the rice paddies:

This group is comprised of 2 main temples surrounded by hundreds of shrines, statues and stupas, many of which are currently just piles of rubble.  Inside the temples are three rooms, each with two Bodhisattva statues,(below).  I only noticed the statues by using my camera's flash, because, much to my dismay, these temples were also pitch black and full of bats that had just woken up (since it was dusk).  Creepy and very Indiana Jones-y feeling to be in there by myself (Martha opted not to climb the steep and uneven stairs, see above):

She did, however, pose for some shots in front of the many (headless) Buddha statues on the temple grounds:

Here we are with guardians of the temple, the Dvarapala, fearsome giants with a mace as a weapon:

After we were done with the temples, we had quick dinner and then headed back to Prambanan, specifically to the massive outdoor theater, the Tri Murti, for the Ramayana dance show (when I went with Meghan and Liz we also saw the dance performed, but at the indoor theater).  Lucky for us, some of the dancers were available for photo opps pre-show.  Martha was able to put some of her signature awkward hand poses into action!:

There was a small group of gamelan performers ushering us into the theater with some hot jams:

Ah, the beautiful temple at night:

The outdoor theater spectacle was pretty amazing...  with the temples as the backdrop, the full gamelan accompaniment, and over 200 dancers?  Pretty impressive.  My only complaint: the bats circling overhead.  Normally I wouldn't find them to be an issue, but that particular night I got pooped on by said bats not once, but twice.  Is bat poop considered good luck?  

Lost Footage: Tim Goes to Nepal

Tim just discovered these forgotten photos on his camera from his work trip to Nepal back in November of 2011.  He was laid up with intestinal issues for much of the trip (don't eat the lettuce!), but was able to get out and about in Kathmandu a bit.  Here are some of the highlights...

First, he checked out the Boudhanath stupa, one of the holiest Buddhist sites in Nepal and a UNESCO Heritage site, built in the 14th century.  The stupa is shaped like a giant mandala, has Buddha's eyes painted on all four sides, and is topped by a pyramid composed of the 13 steps to enlightenment. 

You're supposed to walk clockwise around the stupa, as these people below are doing.  The are around the stupa has become home to a large, bustling Tibetan population since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet.  Tibetans walk around the stupa a certain number of times and spin each prayer wheel (imbedded in the outer walls of the stupa) clockwise a specified number of times based on numerology:

Tibetan pilgrims express devotion through a ritual of repetitive prostration, particularly at or leading up to holy sites:

The prayer flags draped up the sides of the stupa are meant to send mantras, prayers, goodwill and compassion outwards on the wind.  These flags are mainly used in the Himalayas and actually pre-date Buddhism in Tibet:  

Tim also hit up Durbar Square, which houses a whole lot of ancients temples, palaces, courtyards and statues.  The details are a little hazy for Tim, maybe because it was so long ago, maybe because he may have had giardia:

These brightly dressed fellows are actually construction workers working on the old royal palace:

Cool palace door:

Ganesha statue covered in red powder and garlands of flowers:

Tim wandered through Thamel area, which is the jumping off point for many trekkers and is also a bustling market full of knickknacks, hiking gear... pretty much anything a tourist could want (including some cool jewelry that Tim got me):

Tim had an epic journey back from Nepal to Jakarta, spending approximately 20 hours in the Kathmandu airport due to the notoriously foggy/polluted air, which doesn't allow planes to land or take off.  He also says the inversion layer contributed to him not being able to see the mountains surrounding the city the whole time he was there, except for when he saw them out the window of the plane on the way in.  Even then he had to contend with an unwashed and, thus, stinky backpacker/trekker guy leaning over him to take photos out the plane window.