An early start this morning saw us arrive at this temple about an hour outside early in the morning. According to Buddist tradition you must walk 3 times clockwise around the base before assending to the top. We did our bit by walking around each of the levels admiring the carvings in the stone. While resting in the shade from the respite of the sun even at 9 am we over heard a guide describing the carvings to another Western couple. We had declined the services of a guide as sometimes they are so full of knowledge so after the first 30 minutes you are bored rigid as they explain every carving, and believe me there are zillions of stones each with different carvings. Finally we ascended to the top and admired the stupors and followed the directions my putting our hands in through the small windows and touching Buddahs feet. At the top the views were spectacular and reminded me very much of the park like setting at Sigiriya in SriLanka. I was also in awe of the magnificent job the volunteers did when Mt ??? Erupted and covered the whole UNSECO site with ash, to bring the temple back to its condition today.
We'd hired a driver for the day who was then to take us back into Yoga to visit the Hindhu Temple. Our driver took a 'short cut' without telling us and in doing so got horribly lost 32 kms out in the country side away from Yoga the signs said. We arrived at the Hindhu Temple at 1 pm hot, tired and with rather frayed tempers. In amongst the car park full of buses we declined the desire to explore this facility. Next trip maybe.
The car trip into the countryside wasn't a pleasant experience as we seemed to be travelling in amongst a convoy of hundreds of trucks. Like so many of the other Sth East Asian countries, drivers toot then pull out into the oncoming traffic. While acknowledging to the vehicle in front you are passing, you are able to safely do so because the oncoming traffic slow down or swerve to allow you back into your side of the road. At that point our driver was saying another 40 mins madam what seemed like every 40 mins. The man even got lost twice coming back into the city.
3 comments:
Those temples are something else. I don't think I would like to see too many of them though. The grounds look superb.
Those carvings are amazing. And the age of the temples! Just imagine the thousands of workers who must have toiled and the years it would have taken to build them.
I suppose they are all religious rather than political or defensive as are castles.
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