We first got to know Borobodur in 2010. Although our visit was brief, this monument instantly climbed into my Five Most Impressive Places Ever list. Sometimes I even think it tops that list.

I've been waiting for a chance to go back, and do more than we had time to do last time. This weekend was that chance.

We biked there on lovely back roads, the scenery growing more beautiful as we went along: big, wooded, sharp-topped escarpments; broad, brown, fast-flowing rivers set deep in their valleys; and little bridges made just for motorbikes. And Java's plenty is always in evidence. Rambutan trees; papaya groves; and every few kilometres, durian stalls, with knots of people standing knowledgeably by, discussing the merits of the individual fruit. (The way to get a durian home on a motorbike, by the way, is to hang it from the back foot-peg...)

We stayed at the Manohara. From their dining terrace you can watch the day roll over the monument, and spot the odd elephant sauntering by. And their room rate includes unlimited access to the temple and the beautifully landscaped park around it.

The Manohara is also very informative. It regularly screens a helpful documentary, which explains many of the stories in the Borobodur panels, and equips every room with a big picture book that fills in yet more of the details. When we came to do our early morning tour the next day, we did feel a lot more clued in.

Here, for example, is the story of the quail (a previous incarnation of the Buddha), putting out the fire and saving all the animals. A brave and helpful quail.



Borobodur is magical at dawn and sunrise. It is so worth, once in a lifetime, paying the extra money to get in at 4.30. The changing light is wonderful, the surroundings amazingly atmospheric, and -- best of all -- there is none of the huge crush of people that you get just a little later.







The two museums are also well worth a visit. One covers the history of Borobodur and its restoration, and the other the sailing ship that was modelled on a Borobodur frieze, and sailed to Ghana via Madagascar and South Africa in 2003.

This morning we returned to the temple at 6 am, to soak in some more.



The sobering backdrop to our lovely weekend is the loss of a Malaysian airliner on the way to China. It looks like it's come down in the sea off Viet Nam, but no-one is yet sure what happened. The Buddha is eternal and indestructible; we humans, on the other hand, are so very, very fragile...