Borobudur: sunrise temple visit with my boys!

We hiked about 5 minutes in the dark from our Manohara Hotel to the Borobudur temple with flashlights. We were all pretty tired but it was worth watching the sunrise at this beautiful world Unesco site. After we had a delicious Indo breakfast at our hotel and came back to study the reliefs. We also watched a movie about Buddhism at our hotel to help us learn more about the story of Buddha. We were very grateful for these Unesco experiences.

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Borobudur, Yogyakarta...sunset visit!

A last minute cancellation allowed us to stay at Manohara Hotel, right on the grounds of the Unesco world heritage site of Borobudur temple. This meant that we could walk 5 minutes over to the temple from the hotel whenever we felt like visiting. It sure made getting up early for the 5 am sunrise a lot easier and we walked with flashlights instead of having to drive from some other hotel. Similarly, we stayed very close to the Prambanan temples at a hotel called Poeri Devata. We found both hotels to have really great and professional service but the best part was being so close to the action. The Mommy had a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a solo sunset viewing of Borobudur but was very excited to get everyone over there the following morning.

Our Manohara Hotel, a center for Borobodur studies, was a gorgeous, garden walk only 5 minutes from the temple. No traffic, complete pedestrian, car-free zone...a relief in SEA where traffic is often chaotically hectic and exhausting.

A moment alone for the Mommy to re-group. It has been a very hard month with the loss of a dear friend...batteries were definitely re-charged in Yogyakarta. Thanks, Papa, for always taking care of us so well.

Happy Thanksgiving from Yogyakarta!

 Prambanan Temple, Yogyakarta!

 Swimming breaks at our hotel near Prambanan called Poeri Devata. Excellent nasi goreng!

 A jeep ride to explore Merapi volcano which last erupted in 2010, killing 50 people. We paid our respects.

Early morning temple visits make naps in taxis a must! Great first day on our Yogyakarta Thanksgiving trip!

Beautiful Lanterns in Chinatown

After our art trip, we had a wonderful evening enjoying the lanterns in Chinatown with Cassandra and her family and then with Papa's colleague, Andrew and his wife, Amy. It was very pretty.

Lucky mommy!

Art trip to Silk-Screen exhibition in Chinatown

Part 1: a visit to learn about silkscreen painting. Part 2: in a few weeks we will make our own silk screen t-shirt, dish towel or pillow case.

 Deborah, an artist from South Africa, teaches us about the different techniques.

Our art group is very special to us. We hope they can come to Canada next year and visit. We would try to visit some native peoples' museums in Toronto to learn their style of art. In the meantime, we cannot wait to try silk screening next month.