Central Java

9 months living in the most Muslim country in the world

Posted on by nico

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

Posted on by nico

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→