Yogyakarta, Java (Day 13, Saturday, 080809)

The cabbie who's taking us to Borobudur (eighth? ninth century? sources conflict), and later Mendut Temple, is extremely friendly, making fabulous attempts at conversation, especially with me, since I'm sitting in the front (left-hand) passenger seat with him.

Unfortunately for me, very little of what's pouring forth from his mouth approximates anything I've ever heard in the English language, so I get by with a series of grimaces, smiles, and affirmative squeaks.

We're trying to arrive before sunrise, and reach the ticket office before it even opens. Already, I'm slapping at hovering mosquitoes, and drench myself in repellent just before the forward thrust of the tourist hordes propels me into the building.

It's a bit of a hike to the monument--here it is from a distance--and while I'd thought it'd be lonely and deserted (stupid, stupid--it's a fuckin' World Heritage Site, fuckwit!), we're making the trek with others who've had the same brilliant idea of tryna see the temple at dawn.



It's immense, this massive shrine, punctuated with stupa after stupa, each enclosing its own Buddha.



I'm quickly separated from Eric and David, who are headed straight to the top, I think, and I give circumambulating the structure a shot. The stone is covered in reliefs, and I take my sweet time past them.



(There's a pair of dumb American boys, grunting, predictably enough, "this was a great society, man, look at all these tits!" I feel the urge to castigate them, but my mouth's presently occupied with chewing yet another Pepto Bismol tablet--mm, minty!)

When I finally reach the summit, I take a seat, try to drown out the chatter with my iPod shuffle (I know, I know) and ignore all the folks brandishing their SLRs.

The tippy-top:



The sun breaking through the clouds compensates for the culinary disaster that is Indonesian cuisine: