Do you have a special place that, for whatever reason, keeps calling you to return even though you’ve been there many times?
I do. Those who have been following my blog for years wouldn’t be surprised if I tell you that such a place for me personally happens to be an ancient Hindu temple – Indonesia’s ninth century Prambanan temples, to be precise.
This view never gets old
Candi Nandi sitting directly opposite of Candi Siwa (Shiva)
A closer look at Candi Nandi’s decorative reliefs
I didn’t have to wait for too long to return to Prambanan, as two years after the Spice Odyssey I found myself setting foot again in the temple compound’s courtyard on a company outing. This time I didn’t bring my camera which allowed me to observe how tourists behave when they’re visiting places like this ancient site. In general, the people who joined the outing were divided into two groups. The first is those who followed the official guide who explained the history of the temple compound, as well as how experts reconstructed each structure as close as possible to its original look using techniques as stipulated in UNESCO’s guidelines. The second group is everyone else who wasn’t interested at all in the history of this place and chose to take as many selfies as they could, relegating the temples to merely a backdrop. Well, people are free to do whatever they want as long as no ancient structure is harmed and the rules are respected.
Visiting Prambanan this time was meant to be the beginning of a half-day temple-hopping excursion across this area. As the biggest Hindu temple compound ever constructed on Java, it is no surprise to find smaller shrines in its vicinity. Some are still in a ruined state, but the others have fortunately been restored to how they looked in the distant past. And that’s where we were headed next, just a short walk away from Prambanan’s central courtyard.
Candi Siwa (center) and Candi Brahma (left) in the central courtyard