Awakenings

Not many things in this world will motivate me to wake up at 3am, overhead crowd less glassy surf in the Outer Banks at first light falls in the probably category. However watching the sunrise beside an ancient volcanic mountain is in the definite. Mt Bromo is in east Java and from the view point a cross the valley I saw one of the most beautiful sites I have seen so far in my trip. We were on the top of this look out by about 4:45 it was about 40degrees and I was wearing 4 layers of shirts to stay warm ( I packed no jacket, other than a wind breaking/ rain jacket which I had on as well.) The sun came up around 5:30 emitting the most gorgeous palette of blues, purples, yellows and oranges. I gawked and took pictures amidst the other 100 plus sleepy eyes freezing spectators. On the other side of the view point you could see two active volcanoes, one of which was billowing big puffy white smoke and the other which released every 20 minutes or so a big plume of black smoke which drifted 100’s maybe 1000’s of feet high. After the sun came up, my group and I were taken to Bromo ( the white smoking one.)

You can walk up or take a horse, I walked up until it got steep and then hopped on a horse the rest of way. It was a pretty big crater that billowed white sulphuric smoke which made you cough your lungs out if you got a big whiff. The view of the surrounding valley was majestic, huge area of sand like volcanic debris lay in a valley between lush green plateaus. I would have stayed awake the entire night, to have been rewarded that breath taking vista.

The few days before Bromo I was in Yogyakarta. It is a sprawling city with no tall buildings, just endless short concrete and wooden structures, but all and all pleasant. While there I visited the large Buddhist temple Borbudor it is an amazing structure to behold, it is over 1000 years old, a pyramid like temple with many tiers, depicting in order the life of Siddhartha (Buddha) from birth to Enlightenment and on. The carvings etched into the stones are astonishingly detailed and still very visible. I watched a subdued sunset through clouds and behind a mountain. The feeling you get while walking amongst the walls is one of connection with something so holy, ancient and so revered by so many Buddhist and non Buddhists alike. You feel so at peace looking at the literal hundreds of Buddha figures and carvings. The only problem is like with all the other temples and attractions in Asia, it is a mad house of people trying to sell you everything imaginable that you would never want.

The day after the Buddhist temple I went to Prambanon a huge multi- temple complex built to honor the Hindu Gods ( not all of the countless ones, but the 7 main ones) It too was an amazing site, However it received sever damage due to a big earthquake that hit in 2006. You can walk up some of the temples and into the chamber (one in each) that housed holy sculptures of the god they honored. They are also several Buddhist temples in an outlying area nearby the Hindu complex, mostly in ruins with one being rebuilt Pranbanon too with it’s elaborate carvings is just a marvel of human devotion both to construct and to carving the first place but also to take the time to restore it.

That week was a truly unique look into the other religions of Indonesia, seeing mostly the Muslim side of day to day life, now as I move east the pattern is changing to more ancient religions. Sorry to say that pictures won’t be up for another week or so. The computer time in Bali (Where I am now) is not cheap, and I need lots to get through all these photos, but you’ll know when I do. Thanks for reading.