“Dua orang domestik.”, I remember it so vividly.
Our Javanese Couchsurfing host paid the ticket price for Indonesians for him and me. The lone person manning the booth looked up, met my gaze, and I nervously pretended to be busy with my iPod. A couple of minutes later, I was successfully (sorta) smuggled into the Borobudur Temple complex. It saved me more than twenty bucks. It’s embarrassing to admit now (I would have been proud of it then), but yah know, I was a dirt poor backpacker seven years ago.
Sans attraction entrance fees, twenty dollars was my daily beer travel allowance.
Tens of countries after, I found my way back to Yogyakarta. Ministry of Tourism of Indonesia’s Trip Of Wonders brought me to the same gate where my Couchsurfing host devised his plan. Where we cheated our way in.
This time around, I sashayed my way through the entrance. Guided by a torch in my grasp, and surrounded by sleepy laughter in the dark. I (along with 38 other bloggers/vloggers/social media influencers from 6 ASEAN countries) woke up at 2:30 AM to watch the sun pour its first golden rays on Borobudur temple. It was the toughest of all struggles, this trip. The 3:00 AM lobby assembly time terrified me more than the possibility of being chased by a komodo dragon in Flores.
But I managed to drag my arse outta my plush Royal Ambarrukmo Hotel bed even before the dreaded wake up call.
With great snapshots come great sacrifices. That I learned from years of travel. And the Borobudur Temple sunrise visit is certainly worth the sacrifice and money even with the horde of tourists you have to battle with for vantage points or secluded spots. It may not be as tranquil as one might expect, but Borobudur still very much exudes spirituality.
I squeezed my way through tripods and selfie sticks, in search of a good angle. Every frame had more than fifteen heads in it. So I resigned. I walked to the quieter western side, sat on the steps and stared at the fog-blanketed hills in the distance, until we were called for breakfast.
The Borobudur Sunrise Ticket IDR 400,000 for foreigners includes a souvenir and a light snack served by Manohara, the only hotel nearby — almost within the grounds of — the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our group didn’t stay long in Manohara because we were to have our breakfast at Stupa Restaurant by Plataran, a short ride away.
Stupa Restaurant served a plethora of dishes, buffet style. I stacked my plate high with different kids of carbs, expecting to burn all them calories on the bike after. I took a seat on a random table and started digging in. Stupa Restaurant sits by a rice field. Everywhere you plonk down, you get an unobstructed view of the field because the whole space is al fresco.
Sleep-deprived and full to the brim, I pushed myself to join the pre-biking “exercise” which turned out to be some kind of Simon Says. We felt like we fell victim to a joke, but we actually had fun. And the activity certainly woke us up. We then walked to the parking lot and chose our bikes. I couldn’t remember when was the last time I rode a bike for a tour (back home I ride a bike for errands), and I was ecstatic to do it with the fun Trip Of Wonders bunch.
Our bike route took us from Stupa Plataran to Karangrejo and back to Borobudur to Wanurejo (okay, maybe that’s not what exactly happened but that was what’s on the itinerary). It was sheer joy riding through the villages, waving hello to local kids who peered from behind their homes’ fences. And it was exhilarating racing against a girlfriend of mine, Carla, of Blissful Guro.
The bike tour’s finish line was at Warung kopi Borobudur. Where we had morning local Indonesian snacks (yes, we ate again) and where we tried our hands at pottery and batik-making. I only tried batik-painting and then spent the rest of the time watching a duo play traditional instruments.
Craft session concluded (we wondered when/where we will got our artworks — we still wonder now) and we were shuttled to Pendopo Onthel Tingal where we watched a performance of the Satrio Manunggal Singo Barong dance over lunch. We ate four times that morn (failed to mention about the packed breakie from Royal Ambarrukmo Hotel that was distributed in the bus at 4-ish AM), yet I grabbed a plate because on the buffet spread were some of my Indonesian faves: oseng jipang, oseng talas, mie goreng cabai hijau, mangut lele (catfish), and tempeh goreng! I also had two glasses of es dawet! Dammet!
Back at the hotel after lunch, we only had time for a quick wash up and then did a tour of Royal Ambarrukmo, which is a tourist destination in itself. Full hotel feature coming up in the next few days.
The hotel tour ended in a Royal Tea Ceremonial. Now that’s high(-society) tea! The servers deffo made us feel like royals.
To cap off the busiest of the 12 Trip Of Wonders days, we were transported to Ratu Boko archaeological site for sunset. Ratu Boko’s function is still unknown despite the remains found on site. It’s very popular to locals who come here to picnic and also to watch the sun go down (Ratu Boko Sunset admission fee IDR 110,000 foreigners).
For some time, I was amongst the people searching for the perfect spot to pitch a tripod to capture the sun sink in the horizon. But similar to what happened in Borobudur during sunrise, I walked off to an undisturbed part of the ruins and sat on the ledge. There I watched the daylight fade.
Whew. Whatta day!
