When you do a lot of your eating from food carts and hawker stalls in 3rd world countries you are constantly pulling a little bit of a Lita Ford and living on the edge of a broken heart. Prior to yesterday on this trip I had mostly lucked out. Just a little queasiness one day in Nepal and other than that all Ok. Something yesterday got me though. Not sure what...But something. Made today a little rough.
Started the day with a 3:45 am pickup to drive out to a viewpoint over the Borobodur temple to watch the sunrise. The day also began with me not sure I was looking forward to ever being not near a bathroom or bed. I did manage to survive the day, with a few close calls where some smells nearly ended me.
The sunrise was beautiful (but a little cloudy) with the jungle and mist in the valley with the top of the temple peaking i out. The two volcanoes in the area (one of which the most active in Indonesia) even got clear views for a few minutes.
After the sunrise the tour group went to visit and walk around the temple grounds. Borobodur is the largest Buddhist stupa in the world. It was very impressive.
I managed to get down a couple pieces of dry toast for breakfast (still all I have eaten so far today) and then we were off to the other temple comes in the area, Prambanan, a Hindu temple complex.
I had already partially seen the temples last night when I attended a traditional ballet show at an open air theater the used the temples as a backdrop for the stage. Seeing them in the daytime let me see the detail of each temple as well as the damage done to them over time from seismic events. There were about 8 or so temples still standing and a lot of work still going on to restore them and other partial temples that tumbled after an earthquake a few years ago. The most amazing thing about the restoration work to me was that over half of the workers were literally hammering rocks while sitting in the very hot sun and wearing long pants or jeans and sweatshirts.
After the visit to Prambanan I went back to my hotel room for a 3 hour nap to try sleep off the last of my stomach queasiness. I was mostly successful. Still not sure I'm excited about eating though. And really sure it will be a while before I insouciantly eat street food here.
Tomorrow I have a transportation day as I ride in a minivan pretty much all day to get close to mount bromo for some more sunrise action, this time from the crater rim of a smoking volcano.
Right now though...I need to go figure out how I can book my flight from Bali to Flores. And maybe find some more dry toast.
Pictures of the ballet last night, Borobodur this morning, and Prambanan as well.
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