On our 3rd day, Novi, my aunt and uncle, Yu and I went to Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, and one of the 7 wonders of the world (on some lists of wonders of the world anyway.)  Each level represents a level of enlightenment.  It felt so old and somehow sacred, and the grounds were beautiful too.

Funny things happened there.  Admission was about $3.  My aunt got us tickets, and all of a sudden we were stopped.  They asked Yu and I for ID and on finding out that we have foreign passports, they charge us $18 instead.  And throw in 2 water bottles.  Novi and I couldn’t stop laughing at the ridiculous difference in charge and treatment.

It’s so famous so there are lots of little kids there on field trips.  Lots of them point at me, stare, and some even yell at me “Bule!” which basically like yelling out “Whitey!”.  Hilarious.  It’s particuarly hilarious because in Japan, I am always mistaken for Japanese, to the point where if I am using really bad grammar in a store (it’s often, my grammar is terrible) the clerk will look at me like I was raised in a cave, and then finally say “oh, you’re not Japanese are you!”  But yet in the country where I was born, I stick out like an American tourist on a Tokyo subway.

It gets better!  These little school kids keep whispering, around me, as I’m ascending the temple stairs with my cousin.  Finally my cousin talks to them and they shyly admit that their class wants their picture taken with me.  I look that foreign apparently.  I’m completely amused so of course I say sure.  After their teacher takes some snaps, I ask them, “Dari mana?”  “Where are you from?”  They’re a little surprised and say “Dari Pekalongan”  Haha.  That’s actually my dad’s home town.  I tell them that.  They gasp and then say “So we’re the same?”  Some of them tapped me on the shoulder later to ask for individual pictures with me.  And the same thing happened a few minutes later with a high school class.  These kids were so funny and so gorgeous.  Indonesians are SO gorgeous– their perfect, latte-colored skin, wavy black hair.  I can say that without vanity because I don’t look like one at all!

my outfi that day:
cheap used dress from kinji (i tore out the shoulderpads and slit the sleeves)
earring: spank!

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 27th, 2010 at 9:46 am and is filed under culture, exploring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.