Borobudur Largest Buddhist Temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site

 Borobudur Temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991

We did visit CANDI: BOROBUDUR

Quite a walking distance away... you can see the huge stupa in the top of the photo, a bit to the left from center.

Weather is always tricky in the tropics, soon enough clouds cover it all and a tropical rain shower surprises you!

On December 14, 1986 we were walking towards this enormous Borobudur Temple and soon figured out why it is the largest in the world.

Notice my small foldable umbrella next to my hip?

Pardon my poor photo...  Pieter standing in front of these 9th Century carvings.

Standing with umbrella in hand...

This was still five years before it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site

One more time we went there, on June 1 of 2001, our final trip to work in Indonesia and we had our best friends tagging along with us.

We had nice weather and a good tour guide, she was very knowledgeable but we only have video from that time, no photos.

Hoping this still did give you some insight in one of the many wonders that can be seen within Indonesia.

Prambanan Hindu Temple in Yogyakarta, Indonesia a UNESCO World Heritage Site

 Close to Yogyakarta on the Island of Java, Indonesia... 
Prambanan Hindu Temple built in the 9th Century

This is a slide from December 1972, showing Pieter's adopted daughter Lizzy when we was almost 9... their first trip to Indonesia to advise the mushroom project.

On May 8 of 1983, when I got to see it for the first time, they were renovating it.

The Prambanan Temple is the largest Hindu Temple complex in Indonesia.

In the 16th Century it got completely knocked down and buried, due to a massive earthquake and only got rediscovered in 1811.

It took another 100 years before they finally started to restore it; after first lots of things had been looted or stones being used for foundation stones as building material...

From a post card as we were unable to make an undisturbed photo without scaffolds. 

In 1991 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Interesting facts about Prambanan click link

Pieter in his batik shirt, standing in the center left of this photo...

This one I took from above and you can see a bit more of the renovation going on

Our then super8 film camera, but from the 3 films we had, 2 cartridges got lost by Kodak...

Above me you clearly can see how the story of the Ramayana got carved out in stone.

Short YouTube video: Prambanan Temple Compounds (UNESCO/NHK)

Bogor, Indonesia Botanical Garden and Presidential Palace

Very short 1:52 min video from our visit with information and clickable point below if viewed on YouTube.ENJOY!

Pieter and me at the foot of a giant tropical tree on May 12, 1983 on my very 1st trip to Indonesia.

Visiting this Botanical Garden in Bogor, some 60 km south of Jakarta, was quite something!

The gardens cover more than 80 hectares.

Very difficult to make good slides under the canopy of tree branches that keep the sunlight away!

These giants do resemble the redwoods that we saw later in California...

A buttressed tree trunk!

Daylight does not have much chance to peak through such a canopy of green...

Pieter holding the leaf of a White Bauhinia Blakeana to show its kind of heart shape. 

By the time we reached the Bogor Presidential Palace, clouds darkened the sky...

We had to hurry to the car as we got treated by a tropical rain shower!

Yes, that is the Bogor Presidential Palace

Water lilies and Lotus flowers

Some with leaves as big as a huge pie plate!

Lotus flowers

Beautiful Water Lily...

~

We went back to the Mandarin hotel and got ready for our very special dinner seating right at the runway for a fashion show: {Yes; I was at an Yves Saint Laurent Prêt-À-Porter Show in Jakarta!}

What an experience for me, having studied 3 years of fashion...