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Why Java
is special
 This large island is the home of Borobudur, one of my Top 100 Wonders of the World. It is the world's largest
Buddhist temple. (See below picture.)
Near Borobudur is Prambanan, a Hillman Top 200
Wonder of the World.
Java
is also known for its high-quality batik weaving
-- and for being the home of Indonesia's capital city, Jakarta.
Borobudur
history in brief
This massive Buddhist temple was built around the 8th century and, centuries later, was abandoned. Eventually, it accumulated dirt and volcanic ash.
This half buried Borobudur -- and wild vegetation covered the rest.
A British colonial officer came upon the virtually
hidden Borobudur in 1814. A minor restoration was made in the early 1900s. However, it was never repaired to a respectable degree until 1984, the year UNESCO finished its decade-long project. Borobudur was literarily taken apart and reassembled stone block by stone block.
Borobudur's
master design
The ancient temple is ten stories high and measures over 120 meters (400 feet) per side. The structure has nine concentric terraces. The six bottom ones are square, the three top ones are round. The square terraces are trimmed with over 1000 Buddhist relief panels. They depict
Buddhist scenes and are the greatest treasure of Borobudur.
The round terraces are garnished with over 70
large bell shaped stupas (see photo). Originally, each housed a statue of Buddha (as some still do).
Prambanan Temple
About a 1000 years ago Hindu religious devotees built a majestic 240-temple complex. The tallest individual
temple is as high as a 15 story building. It still stands, as do a number of other high temples, all
sharing a similar design (see photo). Today, the temple complex is collectively known in the tourism
world as the Prambanan Temple but its correct name is the Lara Longgrang Temple.
Getting to
Borobudur and
Prambanan from Bali
Take a non-stop flight from Bali to Yogyakarta, which is near to those two travel wonders.
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learn why the Bali
attraction is popular 
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