VOLCANO GUIDE

The team started to walk from Plono market around 9.30 am. The first thing we saw were vanilla seeds. Some people who live near the market dry the vanilla by the help of sun heat in front of their house. From the first time we started to walk, the path we passed was stepping up. We observed many villagers doing their activity. About 90% of the villager works as a farmer. They plants rice, cassava, corn, and peanut. Many farmer also plant tea, clove, and coffee on the slope of the hills. It was in the past that people here ate cassava as their primary food. But now it is substituted by rice. There are also herb trees such as turmeric and mahkota dewa (God Crown tree). Turmeric is usually used to cure stomachache, such as diaries. Mahkota dewa is usually used to cure hypertension, diabetes, etc. Both are also can become beverages. Some beverage industries in Jogjakarta produce tea made from the fruits of Mahkota dewa.
We walked up and down through the lines of Menoreh hills. Sometimes we were on the top of hills and sometimes on the bottom. The sceneries were very beautiful. Above the hill, our eyes saw the blue sky and green forest met. The slopes of the hills looked so green. Surrounded by various kinds of trees, some of Menoreh hills have unique shape top. The magnificent scenery was perfected by the beautiful terrace farmland system and tea plantation.

Somewhere in the middle of our journey, we stopped for a while. There, we can see Borobudur temple from far away distance. For me, this is the best place to enjoy the beautiful of Borobudur. The temple looked so small, like a little stone mountain in the middle of a green forest. We continued to follow a small path. Here, the path begun downhill. The team stopped to take a rest and eat some snacks at Gayam market.
Around 30 minutes walking, the team arrived at lower ground, the downhill, means that Borobudur was not far anymore. In some points, we could see the top of the temple, the main stupa. The team arrived near the entrance of the temple at 2.00 pm. The temple is one of the world miracle built in the ninth century. It is a Buddhist monument as the symbol of Buddha Mahayana religion. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. The main stupa is located at the center of the top platform, and is surrounded by seventy-two Buddha statues seated inside perforated stupa. Once a year, during the full moon in May or June, Buddhists in Indonesia observe Vesak (Indonesian: Waisak) day commemorating the birth, death, and the time when Siddhārtha Gautama attained the highest wisdom to become the Buddha Shakyamuni. Vesak is an official national holiday in Indonesia and the ceremony is centered at the three Buddhist temples by walking from Mendut to Pawon and ending at Borobudur.