Prambanan Temple Compounds and Sangiran Early Man Site

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Prambanan Temple Compounds

   Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple complex in Indonesia, a cluster of soaring stone towers on the plain between Yogyakarta and Solo, with the volcano Merapi brooding to the north. The central shrines were built in the ninth century and dedicated to the Trimurti: Shiva in the tallest tower, about forty-seven metres high, flanked by Brahma and Vishnu, with smaller temples for their mounts facing them. The walls are covered with reliefs of the Ramayana, carved so that you read the story as you walk clockwise around the galleries.

   Read the complete Prambanan Temple Compounds write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Prambanan Temple Compounds is where the day begins. Next is Mendut Temple.

2. 2. Mendut Temple

   Mendut is the small, elegant temple that most visitors pass on their way to Borobudur, and that is a mistake. Built in the early ninth century under the Sailendra dynasty, it stands about three kilometres east of the great monument, on a straight line that also passes through the tiny Pawon temple, and scholars believe the three were connected in a ritual sequence. Each year, at the Buddhist festival of Waisak, monks walk in procession from Mendut through Pawon to Borobudur, carrying candles and chanting.

   Read the complete Mendut Temple write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Mendut Temple comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sangiran Early Man Site.

3. 3. Sangiran Early Man Site

   Half of what we know about Homo erectus in Asia seems to have come out of the ground near this village in central Java. Sangiran is a dome of eroded earth, a few kilometres across, in which stream cuts have exposed layers of volcanic ash and river sediment that built up over about two million years, and in those layers the bones of early humans and extinct animals have turned up. The first finds were made in the 1930s, notably by the German palaeontologist Ralph von Koenigswald, and the site has since produced the remains of some fifty individuals, about half of all known fossils of its kind in the world. UNESCO listed it in 1996.

   Read the complete Sangiran Early Man Site write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 144 km into the recorded legs you reach Sangiran Early Man Site. Next is back through Mendut Temple.

4. 4. back through Mendut Temple

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Mendut Temple write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Mendut Temple, late in the day. Next is Prambanan Temple Compounds.

5. 5. Prambanan Temple Compounds

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Prambanan Temple Compounds write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Prambanan Temple Compounds. That is the ride.