04/12/2013 - Cycling SE Asia. Day 28 - Early Morning Glory at Borobudur

Distance cycled: 44.1km from Borobudur to Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Average speed: 23.5km/h
Moving time: 1h52m
Total distance: 2967km
Border X'ings: 3
Money spent: $13

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I'm not going to go on about the difficulties of getting up at 4 am to see the sunrise over Borobudur on Punthuk Setumbu hill but what I am going to mention was that it was simply stunning, well worth the effort of getting up at such a god forsaken time to cycle there; that's ironic because 4am is the time when Islamic followers bow down to their god while their prayers are projected through loudspeakers on top of the mosques waking up anyone and anything still asleep.  The pictures below will show the magic of Borobudur at first light.  40km is all it is and in fact was to go from Borobudur to Yogyakarta and as my bicycle was in better shape than it has been in a while I wanted to gun it. In a little over an hour and a half I made it into the city keeping up with most traffic on the highway to get there. It was hot and sweaty but having a bicycle that is no longer half broken I wanted to see how much life I could bring out of her; like Borobudur this morning she didn't disappoint.  Arriving in Yogyakarta I was immediately struck by heavy and relentless traffic but like all big cities it is manageable by bicycle by weaving in and out of the traffic, albeit today I was a little too aggressive cutting off traffic and hitting many vehicles when they would do something stupid.  ... But I eventually made it to the hostel where I'd be spending the night. Right now it is rainy season (although I haven't seen rain in a while) meaning also low season for backpackers and tourists alike so the hostel was dead with just a French couple and a girl representing America who instantly started talking about life energy and how to store it within you - how much i dont want to be stuck in that conversation so I simply walked away.  On the street corner by the hostel I had an incredibly spicy meal, it was delicious albeit painfully delicious but I managed to get it into my stomach where after I would have flurries of hot sweats as the food digested. 

It is incredibly worth it to get up early to see this sunrise!