Going to Indonesia? Prepare yourself for a challenge!

I originally wrote this blog post for my friends from TidakPedas, and since I am back to Europe for a little while now and intensively thinking back of my time as a Darmasiswa student in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, I re-post it, because every word I wrote is true!!! 🙂 hehe… from my experience of course! … unless you’ve traveled to Indonesia recently, and know what to expect, this country for sure is going to take you out of your comfort zone! And that is a good thing! Pay attention to the details and observe yourself: does it surprise you? Does it shock you? Does it annoy you? How do you usually do those things? How would you do them differently?… These are good questions to ask yourself in the beginning and you’ll be surprised to notice that while comparing Indonesia to your own culture, you face your own concealed judgments and … Continue reading

9 months living in the most Muslim country in the world

It’s exactly today my 9 months anniversary of living in Indonesia. Time flies by. I felt a bit afraid, afraid and excited, before first stepping foot here. I knew so little about Indonesia. My time was short to do any research on it and when I did have a little time I preferred to keep away form creating any prejudiced or stereotyped impressions from books or any media. Personal experience with an open heart and an open mind is always what I choose. Flying here I had a 6 hour layover in Abu Dhabi. That was actually my first real contact with an Islamic country. Sitting just in the airport, observing the people. Further on, reaching Indonesia, I could just feel that the Muslims of Indonesia are different than the Muslims of the United Arab Emirates. Later I found out that there are some actual formal differences in the Muslim … Continue reading

A visit at the Borobudur temple

When you come to Indonesia you shouldn’t miss visiting the largest Buddhist temple in the world, located in Central Java: Borobudur. It is impressive! It is actually the number one sightseeing site on the list of every tourist coming to the Java island. Borobudur is basically built in a hill, consists of six square platforms and three circular platforms at the top, being in a shape of a Buddhist mandala, as it can be seen from the photos below: The temple is decorated with 2 672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. On the top platform there is a main dome surrounded by 72 Buddha statues which are each placed inside a perforated stupa (a stupa is a hemispherical structure which contains Buddhist relics. Stupas all over the world have slightly different designs. However, one beautiful symbolism of the stupa that I’ve been told of is that of a water … Continue reading