Five of us from the hostel left at 5 am to begin our tour of two of the most famous and astonishing temples in all of Asia. The first stop was Borobudur temple at which we arrived around 6 am to beat the crowds. The complex itself was absolutely massive with acres of beautifully kept gardens surrounding the temple, in pristine condition and so green and pretty.

Walking up the steps to the temple all I could think was wow! I could tell this would be be most impressive temple I had ever seen. Borobudur is the largest Buddhist monument on earth and dates back to the ancient 8th century, taking around 75 years to complete construction. It was believed to have been abandoned due to a volcanic eruption that left it covered in ash and volcanic dust, but was rediscovered by the British in the 1800's and named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1991 after full restoration of the temple complex. Borobudur was affected by the 2010 eruption of the Mount Merapi volcano, shaking the structures and causing more cracks and also covering the entire complex in volcanic ash once again.

When viewed from above the temple takes the form of a Buddhist Mandala and displays a huge amount of symbolism with its pyramid structure. It was absolutely astonishing not only viewing the temple as a whole from a distance but looking close up at all the statues and sculptures, not forgetting to mention the stupas (bell-shaped sculptures each containing a Buddha). The views from the top were unbelievable, with volcanoes on either side and beautiful green mountains and hills, all beyond the complex of perfectly kept gardens. The weather was incredible and after a couple of hours of being totally awestruck and feeling very cultural it was time to see the next temple.

We arrived at Prambanan which was not as grand as Borobudur but still incredible especially after the amount of damage this site sustained after the 2006 earthquake. An enormous number of the individual temples had crumbled in the disaster and today only a few were standing due to rebuilding efforts. It was every seeing the temple sites that had fully collapsed and not been restored yet and so sad to think that a natural disaster had essentially ruined this historic religious complex. In contrast to Borobudur Prambanan is a Hindu temple and is thought to have been erected as a response to the building of Borobudur, and as a symbol of the return of the Hindu dynasty to power in Java. April, Michael, Emily and I spent ages walking around each temple imagining what it must have looked like before collapsing and it was easy to recognise how incredible Prambanan must have looked when in use.

Back at the hostel, after an educational culture filled morning, I relaxed, had a swim and chilled out. Emily and I went for a wander around Yogyakarta, stopping to look in some shops and have a Bintang (Indonesian beer). Seven of us from the hostel went for such a lovely dinner at a restaurant called Via Via, which involved some really interesting conversations with such a well travelled group of people, and wonderful food. I think I'm going to love Indonesia.