Prambanan

Prambanan is a 10th century Hindu temple.

While Borobudur is about an hours’ drive north of Yogyakarta, Prambanan is just outside the city and therefore much closer. If visiting both temples in one day (which many people do) you need to drive out of Yogja to Borobudur then back through Yogjakarta (and past the airport) to get to Prambanan. It is much cheaper to buy a combination ticket to give you same day entry into both temples.

There was a number of groups of school children and as soon as we stepped inside we were continually approached by them asking if we could talk to them so they could improve their English. So we answered the following questions several times over:

What is your name?
Where do you come from?
Why are you here?
When did you get here?
What is your favourite food?
Do you like it here?

We didn’t get to see the temple in any real detail but that was fine as it was fun talking to the school children who seemed so pleased and excited (!) to talk to us. Their teachers explained that the children (and most Indonesians) never travel anywhere which was humbling and was a poke in the ribs to remind us how fortunate and priviledged we are to be taking this trip.

Local people work long hours to make just enough money to buy food for their families. While we were out in Indonesia we didn’t haggle much (for example when taking becak rides). We also both had a hair cut while in Yogja and were charged the equivalent of £5.50 for both of us! We gave the girl the equivalent of £7.50 and it was so lovely to see her face light up. An extra £2 here and there is very little to us but makes a big difference to local people.

As well as wanting to talk to us, the school children also continually asked for photographs of us. We since found that Indonesians believe it will bring them good luck if they take a photo of you.