BOROBUDUR has never been quiet. It was just 6am when a horde of visitors came rushing to the front yard of the temple which is located in Magelang regency, Central Java. They, along with a number of souvenir peddlers, were impatiently waiting for the attendant to open the gate to the temple.

The peak of the festivity happens on Waisak (Buddhist Holy Day) when hundreds of thousands of people crowd the 2,500-square-meter temple premises. It seems th