Wednesday October 9

     We are at the Manohara Hotel in Borobudur.  It is a resort complex that borders on Borobudur so we have free access to the temple at all times.   I made another early morning visit (6 AM) to Borbudur and took pictures for the last time. There are several visitors to the temple at this hour, but it is still a quiet place.  Everybody is polite and all talk in hushed voices.

Recovered from a destroyed Village

                     

Removing the lava stones and dust

            We had arranged for a taxi driver to drive us all day.  The plan was to drive to Prambanan and then return to Jogjakarta.  We detoured on the way to visit     Mount Merapi.  This volcano erupts every 3 or 4 years and it last erupted in 2010.  It killed 300 people and did major damage to the area around it.  Work is underway to repair some of the damage.  There is a local industry to show tourists the sights and see the devastation.   We took a Jeep ride into the worst area and visited a small museum where they had melted television sets and frames of motor scooters that had been cremated by the lava flow.  The Jeep driver was slow and careful, but is still seemed like a circus ride as we careened around the makeshift roads.    

Joan and Barb on a Lava tour

                                          

            We did make it to Prambanan for a late afternoon visit.  It is a Hindu temple site but it also suffered damage during a 2006 earthquake.  Most of the site is open but some areas required a hard hat to enter.  We are now south of the equator.  The sun rises at 5:30 and sets at 5:30 so we are having trouble adjusting to the early evening and rapid sunsets.  However we did get some sunset shots of Prambanan.