For me this is another of the must-see places we’ve been to on our amazing world tour. We found out about this Buddhist temple a few years ago and, since then, we almost felt like we just had to add it to our bucket list of places to see!

We began our trip at 8am when our driver, along with Marta and Oscar (a Catalan couple who we met at the airport whilst waiting for our flight from Bali Jogyakarta), picked us up at The Phoenix Hotel.

First things first, we stopped off at the entrance to the Merapi Volcano but since we hadn’t originally planned on doing a jeep tour, we decided to miss out a full visit to the volcano. Even so, we decided to relax a little on the Gendol river bank which is a few meters away from the volcano entrance. It was quite funny to watch a group of Asian tourists circle up there in their jeeps!

Our driver bought us a fruit with a very unique texture that is typical of the region.

And so… Borobudur Temple

After driving for a while, we reached Borobudur Temple. What a view!

The temple is divided into three different levels, each representing a different layer of Buddhist philosophy. If you could see it from the air it would take the shape of a traditional Buddhist mandala.

We saw the whole temple, circling it from west to east. In the distance, you can see the grandeur and magnificence of the jungle that surrounds the temple.

Along the way we met Eduardo and Giacomo with whom we shared much of the walk to get to the top of the temple, where countless stupas jealously guard the different statues of Buddha in the lotus position.

Our trip to Borobudur Temple was an unbelievably rewarding and educational experience, even for Noah who already knows the different positions of Buddha’s arms.

After walking around the temple we wandered around the area a bit more and saw that the elephants were having a day off. Even so, Noah had a look around for different leaves he could feed one of them with.

We spent quite a while walking around the temple and the surrounding area, so we were already quite hungry. We therefore decided to go for lunch. A few minutes after we’d started eating, it began to rain heavily. That day was meant to be the first day of the rainy season, and it didn’t disappoint.

We finally said goodbye to our new friends in the hope that one day we would be lucky enough to see them again. Marta and Oscar were a delight to spend the day with, and it was a real pleasure to discover with them the beauty of the temple and other places we saw.