Oct 17 2009

A Break in Borobudur, Part 2

Published by Toe at 10:23 am under Foreign Service, Travel, Work

Con’t from A Break in Borobudur, Part 1

Put ten lawyers in one room.  Chaos.  Now, make those ten lawyers of different nationalities.  And each of them has one to three evil assistants each.  Mayhem. Bloodshed. Well, not really.  But you know what I mean.  So although we had a lot of work to do and we couldn’t afford to waste each precious minute, we decided to go to Borobudur to take a break from the heat and spend more evening sessions instead.  So we huffed and puffed climbing up the crazy steep stone steps to the very top terrace of the ten terraces.

Well, some people were more agile on their feet than me, klutz that I am.

But finally, nirvana.

Next thing we had to do was to go around the last terrace seven times.  As I said, I never listen to the guide.  But I think it’s for luck… which our meeting needed very much.

Aaaah… the batik girls needed to take a rest.

Whaaaat?  We’re going back dowwwwwn?

True to form, as I stepped down one particular steep step, I supined my left foot and fell down on all fours.  The whole group gasped with panic. I can see the Indonesian headlines now… “Diplomat falls down.  Meeting breaks to a halt!”

“It hurts! it hurts!” I cried out.

“Are you okay Toe?!  What hurts?!” they all asked, very worried.

“My pride”, I replied. “My pride hurts.”

We all got back down quite safely. And that evening, back to the Meeting room. Back to earth… or lower. And that was our break in Borobudur.

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27 responses so far

27 Responses to “A Break in Borobudur, Part 2”

  1. # Ping-ion 17 Oct 2009 at 1:09 pm

    Did you really say your pride hurt when you fell, Toe? haha. You’re so silly. :D

  2. # carlottaon 17 Oct 2009 at 2:45 pm

    ahh, misadventures. don’t you just love them? hehe. nice adventure though! :)

  3. # bwon 17 Oct 2009 at 10:01 pm

    Did you forget to leave your high heels at the hotel? hehe. the place is quite large actually. what an awesome place to take pictures :)

  4. # Toeon 18 Oct 2009 at 11:59 am

    Ping-i, hehe… napakasakit talaga! :)

  5. # Toeon 18 Oct 2009 at 12:00 pm

    carlotta, actually masakit talaga… but I tried not to let it show. :)

  6. # Toeon 18 Oct 2009 at 12:01 pm

    bw, I don’t need heels to fall down. Actually, I’m such an awful klutz that I could fall down in walking shoes on flat land. :(

  7. # Linguist-in-Waitingon 18 Oct 2009 at 12:15 pm

    Natawa naman ako dito sa travelogue mo. I love the hurting part, especially. Anyway, I love the fact that the stupas have been preserved quite well, they still look impressive!

  8. # Major Tomon 18 Oct 2009 at 3:26 pm

    Truly majestic scenery. Even just seeing them on still pictures, I can sense a great feel of magic and mysticism surrounding the place.

    Like old spirits of old Sri Vijayan warriors still habiattes the place. :-)

  9. # snglguyon 18 Oct 2009 at 5:51 pm

    Teka, aren’t all of you lawyers? bakit nakatungtong na kayo ng Nirvana? :-D Oi! Just kidding ha? Seriously though, hope your pride, I mean… left foot, is ok na.

  10. # Pandoraon 18 Oct 2009 at 9:33 pm

    So, did you reach into the stupa to hold the Buddha’s hand?

  11. # fortuitous faeryon 18 Oct 2009 at 9:41 pm

    two consecutive posts! way to go, toe! :)

    overcoming physical pain to get a view such as this makes the experience even more rewarding. :)

  12. # Toeon 19 Oct 2009 at 11:01 am

    Linguist-in-Waiting, yes… very good preservation. I think it’s an operative temple and buddhist pilgrims still come here. A lot of the buddha heads have been stolen though.

  13. # Toeon 19 Oct 2009 at 11:04 am

    Major Tom, true… there is indeed a mystic feeling about the place.

  14. # Toeon 19 Oct 2009 at 11:07 am

    Snglguy, we lied and cheated and bought our way through. ;) Foot is doing better than pride. :)

  15. # Toeon 19 Oct 2009 at 11:09 am

    Pandora, I tried… my arm was too short. :( Maybe that was why I fell… unlucky. :)

  16. # Toeon 19 Oct 2009 at 11:11 am

    Fortuitous Faery, I’m on a roll, huh? ;) I hope I can pick it up. :) It wasn’t so difficult actually with the railings and all. And we didn’t go around all the terraces… only the top one. :)

  17. # Ewokon 19 Oct 2009 at 1:26 pm

    Ay naku naka high heels kasi eh, (joke).

    Ang ganda naman ng views ano?

  18. # luna mirandaon 20 Oct 2009 at 2:06 am

    aww, you forgot the beauty-queen walk, yong pa-side view pag bumababa sa hagdan.:P

    this is an amazing place…it looks well-maintained.

  19. # Ellaon 20 Oct 2009 at 8:05 pm

    WOW! superWOW! i wanna go there someday.

  20. # Crescenton 21 Oct 2009 at 11:00 am

    Imagine if you were trapped inside one of those bell-like things and no one ever knew you’re there. hehe

  21. # Charles Ravndalon 22 Oct 2009 at 6:18 pm

    Lovely set of photos! The place just looks awesome and of course mystical!

  22. # JKon 22 Oct 2009 at 9:53 pm

    Hi TOE!

    Just a segue, been following this blog since 2008, when I was groping in the dark about the FSE. Thanks to you, I am one of the 19 passers this year! c,”) See you around soon…

  23. # Toeon 24 Oct 2009 at 2:34 pm

    Ewok, haha… actually, I’m always the girl in comfortable shoes… high heels bully me. But I’m such a klutz that I don’t need high heels to trip over my feet. :(

  24. # Toeon 24 Oct 2009 at 2:37 pm

    luna miranda, LOL at the beauty queen walk. :)

  25. # Toeon 24 Oct 2009 at 2:38 pm

    Ella, you’re still very young… you have your whole life to travel. :)

  26. # Toeon 24 Oct 2009 at 2:38 pm

    Crescent, and then you turn into stone… :)

  27. # Toeon 24 Oct 2009 at 2:39 pm

    Hi Charles! :) It is a very magical place!

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