Prambanan

Late breakfast and a lazy morning with cocktails by the pool. It's rough this jungle lifestyle.

After lunch we visited Prambanan - the tallest Hindu temples on Java. They were build about the same time as Borobudur - 1200 years ago. Like Borodudur they were also abandoned and lost shortly after they were built and recently rediscovered and restored.

There are three main temples, the tallest of which is 45m high. They are dedicated to Brahma the creator, Shiva the destroyer and Vishnu the protector. Each houses a large statue of the deity.

Opposite each is another temple for each of their steeds. This is Nandi, the ox mount of Shiva - people whisper their wishes into Nandi's ear. Just as long as Laura wasn't wishing for children...

The temples are impressive, but with the dark volcanic stone, jagged design and as the storm clouds gathered it had a sense of foreboding and an Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom feeling. Actually genuinely intimidating!

A short walk away is Candi Sewu. A Buddhist tomb complex. Legend says that a Prince wanted to marry a local Princess, but she did not like him so she set him the challenge of building 1000 temples in one night. When he had built 999 she scared the cockrels into crowing, tricking him into thinking he had failed.

Harsh. However he got his own back by turning her into a stone staute and putting her in the 1000th shrine.

Together with Prambanan, Sewu was badly damaged in the 2006 earthquake and is being restored, hence the scaffolding.

Handoko, our taxi driver, took us to a local viewpoint to see the sunset. Unfortunately it started to rain and the cloud came down so no sunset, but still a pretty view at dusk.

Dinner at the Pegoda Restaurant for a buffet of local dishes (plus chips).

Followed by a short performance of the Ramayana Hindu epic ballet (the traditional form is 8 hours long - this was the tourist friendly am-dram 90 min version.)

Javanese dance is a mixture of subtle hand and feet movements combined with martial arts and acrobatics.

The story is a classic tale of boy meets girl.

Boy runs off with golden deer who is actually a monkey.

Other boy cuts off his own genitals.

Girl is kidnapped by old man who is really a monkey.

It all gets a bit obscure and there is lots of monkey kung-fu.

Boy kills evil monkey and rescues girl.

Boy throws girl into a fire to see if she is still a virgin (no me neither)

Brahma saves girl and they all live happily ever after.

The end.