September 29, 2006
Recovery day in Yogyakarta: Sightseeing Prambanan temple
We are both slowly getting better, Patrick a day behind Rachel. In the morning we don't do much except eat a banana pancake at the new Superman restaurant and book a trip this afternoon for a sunset at Prambanan temples.
We also throw out some feelers about a minibus ride to Bogor and it does not take long before we negotiate a decent fare for five seats for 750,000Rp. Sounds like a lot of money, but it's almost a 14-hour night ride. We need to keep moving while recovering before our visas will run out.
We are picked up at the hotel at 2pm for the 40-minute drive to the temples at Prambanan. The visit is disappointing to Patrick since he cycled here in 1993. He remembers walking among the towering stupas and looking at all the beautiful carvings thirteen years ago. After the earthquake three months ago some of the temples are badly damaged, pieces have fallen or broken off and the tops of one is leaning precariously. Because of the danger we are only allowed on a narrow section at the front of the court where at sunset we can only look at the silhouettes of the temples straight into the setting sun.
Despite being disappointed, we are happy we came to see this together. Tourism here has totally collapsed, hundreds of small wooden shacks that are souvenir and food vendors are now empty. We decide not to hire a guide, but as soon as we enter the compound, we meet two schoolgirls who study tourism and ask to be our (free) guide in order to test their knowledge of the temples and practice their English. We enjoy walking around with them, seeing the temples, museum and some plants and trees that they point out.
We decide not to wait for the sunset instead drive back to Yogyakarta early and go to the pizza hut. Big mistake! The meat lover's pizza does not set well with Patrick, and he spends another night visiting the bathroom. We'd probably be better with Indonesian food, but when sick we want familiar food.
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