Sri Lanka Trip - Day 3: A delightful gem

Day 3. 3rd May. Mihintale


Mihintale was the place where Buddhism began in Sri Lanka. Even though it had enormous significance, I thought it was a small place and we could probably finish visiting it in a couple of hours. Against my expectations, it turned out to be a very delightful place and we ended up spending more time there then we originally planned.

After a simple breakfast of rotis and (bad-tasting) coffee, we took a bus from near the clock tower at Anuradhapura to Mihintale (Rs24 per person). It's a short journey (about 30 mins), but strenuous when you don't have a seat (the driver's a bit crazy and you need to get a good grip as you sway in the bus).

Before going up the stairs up the hill, we first passed by the ruins of a hospital. The pilgrims did not seem interested in the hospital ruins and we were the only ones there. The main object of interest was the coffin-like medical bath.

There were lots of vendors selling lotus flowers (Rs10 each, about SGD $0.13 each) on the way up the hill. I bought 10 to make offerings.

The first flight of stairs were wide and nicely lined with flowering fragipani trees. On the way up, we were distracted by the ruins of the relic house, assembly hall and refectory.

When we finally reached the top, we found an active place of worship of delightful tropical charm. There was an entrance fee for foreigners, but I thought it was reasonable compared to other places (Rs250 at Mihintale, compared with Rs500 at Aukana Buddha and US$10 at Dambulla Cave Temple).

There were a lot of shady palm trees surronding the Ambatthala Dagoba. There were dogs and deers resting around the sandy grounds. White-clothed pilgrims sit around in quiet prayers. It had a lazy tropical feel, very peaceful and mediative.

Getting to the top of the Rock of Invitation, we get a nice view of the Mihintale. My friend Sheung was afraid of heights, but he managed to get to the top nonetheless. There was also a big Buddha statue overlooking the Ambatthala Dagoba.

We trekked (barefooted) to Mahinda's Cave which was now fenced up and infested with monkeys.

By the time we got up to big Mahaseya Stupa, it was past noon. The problem was that the stone floor was now baked blistering hot. On the way up, we basically had to run from one shaded spot to another. But at the top, there were no shaded spots and it was a big stupa with a big circumference....

I would like to say I circumambulated the stupa (walking clockwise round it), but it was really an undignified and unmindful running and hopping round the stupa.... (There were more of such dashful runs round stupas for the next few days and I got blisters under my right foot).

There was a temple at the base of the stupa with a statue of a standing Buddha and a reclining Buddha. I found that this seemed to be a standard feature in most big stupa/dagobas in Sri Lanka. The only thing I did not like was the way the monks or care-taker would demand a "donation".

On our way down we check out a few more ruins like the Sinha Pokuna (Lion's Pool).

Then we went down the old road and went to the Kaludiya Pokuna (Black Water Pool). We had not seen a single foreign tourist at Mihintale (In fact, we had not met any foreign tourist since we left Negombo), and at the Kaludiya Pokuna, there were not even local pilgrims. We basically had the whole place to ours. There was only a lady doing laundry and bathing by the pool. The sun and the heat was basically giving us an headache. The water really looked inviting, except that we did not have our sarongs with us. But that gave us the idea and we started to bring sarongs and bathing shorts with us as we move around the next few days.

Sheung decided to take a nap by the pool under the shade. I spied an interesting black bird which would dive into the water for minutes before surfacing again. We spent quite some time exploring the area, looking for old urinal stone as well as the meditation seat.

I suspect the Kaludiya Pokuna is rarely visited, but I would recommend exploring it if you have time.

Most people visit Mihintale as a day trip from Anuradhapura. The only sleeping place in the guidebook is Hotel Mihintale which is US$30 and above. However, I saw that there was a place next Wijaya Garden Hotel next to the bus stop which looked like a budget place. It would be nice to stay in Mihintale and it will give you a more leisurely visit as well as the possibility of visiting it at dawn or sunset.

We took another bus back to Anuradhapura. This time, we found out what it really meant by be in a crowded bus. The bus was packed like sardines. We have our bodies pressed against each other. Those sitting was similarly pressed by those standing and had to carry the bags for those standing (it is quite interesting to see that some times those standing would hand their bags to sitting strangers and those sitting would quite willingly carry take the bags too). In fact, the conductor asked one of those sitting to carry Sheung's bag.

When we finally got back to Anuradhapura, it was late to visit Issaramuni temple (which was our original plan). We loaded up on water at a grocery shop (we were getting pretty dehydrating). The shops were selling laterns for Vesak celebration and I bought some paper laterns from a bookstore. I walked into another shop and bought a sarong with a nice print for Rs500. The shops were all closed early. I was not into shopping -- but I did want to look for a wood-carved stupa to add to my collection. The strange thing was, I had not seen souvenir shops, nor have I encountered many vendors selling souvenirs/toys. My guess was that the tourist industry was probably quite badly hit by the civil war that was going on.

After a simple dinner, we headed back to the guesthouse. From the guesthouse, I could see the lit dagoba in the Mihintale as a small triangle of light in the distance. Mihintale was one of my favourite sites for this trip.

Pink Dot!

A few days ago, I had to specially go shop for a pink shirt so that I could go down to Hong Lim Park to support the Pink Dot event.

It was amazing to see so many GLBT people with family and supporters as well at an event. I thought was a history in the making. I was glad I was there.

Sri Lanka Trip - Day 2 : Looking to for the big Buddha

Day 2. 2nd May. Yapahuwa -> Kellawewa -> Aukana -> Kekiwera -> Anuradhapura



I woke up the next day to the sound of someone grating coconut and guessed that the host must be making our breakfast.

For our breakfast, we had rice served with a nice herbal (the host told us it's an "Ayuverdic" recipe) soup made from the various herbs that were picked from around the house as well as spicy coconut gratings.

Then we made an excursion to the granite outcrop that was just behind the house. From the top of the rock, we could see the Yapahuwa Rock Fortress about 1 km away.


The entrance fee to the Yapahuwa Rock Fortress was a "donation" of Rs500 per person. There was not very much left of the fortress except the stairways at the foot of the rock. To get to the top of the rock, we had to trek through forested trails and rocky paths barefooted (we have to take off our shoes as we enter the grounds of the fortress).

At the top, there is the ruins of a stupa, and you get a nice view of the surronding area.

Although nothing really spectacular, the Yapahuwa Rock Fortress was a nice build up to the later later visit to the Sigiriya Rock Fortress. If you had gone to Sigiriya first, you might find Yapahuwa a bit of a disappointment.

For lunch, we had the same rice and soup we had for breakfast again (we told them there is no need to cook more food) and bid farewell to the kind and friendly family. We were offered to stay another night so that we could catch the morning train to Aukana, but we politely declined (as much as it was exciting, it was just too rough for proper rest). For their kindness, we gave the family Rs2000 along with some gifts from our backpacks.

We caught the SLTB bus back to the Maho railway station. Our plan was to catch a train to Aukana to visit the Aukana Buddha. But the trains do not stop at Aukana. Someone at the railway station suggested we take the express train that goes to Kellawewa, which was the next major station closest to Aukana. That sounded like a good suggestion and so we bought the tickets to Kellawewa for Rs150 each. It was third class cabin, but this was the express train, and the cabins where in better conditions compared to the train we took the day before.

The train pulled into the station at 3pm and only left 30mins later. It 4:40pm when we reached Kellawewa. Kellawewa was not a big station. Only a few passengers got off the train and we were soon the only ones in the station. There was only 1 3-wheeler at the station. He quoted us Rs400 to bring us to the Aukana Buddha which was about 3-4km away. It was a reasonable price including 30 min waiting time and bringing us back to Kellawewa.

The entrance fee to the temple was a hefty Rs500 per person. I must admit that I had too much expectations of the Aukana Buddha and was a little disappointed. It was smaller than I thought it would be and was not as finely curved as I imagined it to be.


The Aukana Buddha was an active place of worship. Besides the Buddha statue, there was also a Bodhi tree and a stupa within the compound. Half an hour was adequate time to spend at the temple.

I have a picture here of me standing in front of the Aukana Buddha. I later found out that this is considered very rude and offensive by the Sri Lankans. It is alright to take photographs of Buddha images or statues. But it is considered offensive to pose with your back to the Buddha.

Here, I had my first encounter of begging children in Sri Lanka. I am not talking about beggars by the street (in fact I saw few beggars until I got to Kandy). These were children who came with their family and were well-dressed and looked well-fed. But they was asking money from us out right. The parents did nothing to stop them. I was shocked that they would beggar themselves like that. In days to come, I would encounter more of such cases. This was something that I really do not understand about the Sri Lankans.

The 3-wheeler took us back to Kellawewa where we caught a bus to Kekiwira (Rs15 per person). Kekiwira was along the North-bound road to Anuradhapura and it was easy to catch passing inter-city bus to Anuradhapura. (Rs50 per person from Kekiwira to Anuradhapura, 1.5 hours).

We checked into Lake View Guesthouse in Anuradhapura. According to the guidebook, this guesthouse overlook the lake (yes, a tiny little bit), and you can see Mihintale's Dagoba (yes, a small distant little lit triangle in the night and in the morning before the sun gets too bright, a small little white triangle). For Rs1000, we got a fan room with attached bath and hot shower. But I won't recommend this place simply because the room was so poorly lit that we could not read our guidebooks without using a torch light...

It was about 8pm when we got out to look for dinner. According to the guide books, most guesthouse served meals. However, we found that most guesthouses were not willing to open their kitchen because there had been a dearth of tourists. In the end we ate at the Cottage Take-away nearby. It had decent dhal and curries as well as fried noodles. We would go back for dinner again the next day.

Sri Lanka Trip - Day 1 : Starting with an adventure

The first day in Sri Lanka started out as quite an adventure, something not quite within my plans.

The night before, I meet Sheung at the airport to catch the 1 am flight on Air Emirates. I can't really complain about the timing of the flight because it's a really cheap full-service air ticket -- we paid SGD$249 per person, inclusive of all charges and taxes. The journey to Colombo was uneventful.

We arrived slightly after 2am and out of the gates before 3am. Since we were arriving at such unearthly hours, we had made arrangements with the Dephannie Guesthouse for a fan room (Rs1000 per night, about S$13) and airport pickup (for Rs1600). We were met by driver at the gate and the drive to the guesthouse at Negombo was only about 15 mins.

We tried too catch some sleep before the long journey ahead, but was not able to sleep well. About 9am we went for a nice slow walk along the Negombo beach before heading out to the ancient cities in the middle of the Sri Lanka island.

At the Negombo bus station, we a meal of string hoppers, dhal and curry. We were curious about the local fruit "wood apple" and ordered a juice of it. We decided one try was enough.

We caught a bus from Negombo to Kurunegela (Rs70 per person). It was a 3-hour bumpy ride. A little rough perhaps, but we were fresh and curious, so it didn't feel difficult.

As we got off the bus at Kurunegela, we were pleasantly greetly by a huge white Buddha statue overlooking the town atop a rocky outcrop. A 3-wheeler offered to take us to the train station about 1km away for Rs100 (about S$1.30). We decided to walk instead but ended taking the local government-run SLTB bus for Rs12 (Rs6 per person).

It was about 3pm when we reach the railway station and the next Northbound train was scheduled at 3:50pm. (Nice timing!) We bought a 3rd class ticket to Maho for Rs40 each (prices of railway ticket have gone up considerably compared to what's quoted in the guidebooks).

Again, it was an interesting experience to squeeze in with the locals in the rather tattered train cabins. It was full and we had to stand, which was quite difficult because the suspension of the train car was not good and it was rocking quite badly.

Halfway through the journey, army guys got up and started checking IDs and lugguage. To us, this was a reminder that there is a civil war still going on in the country. The army guys did not bother to check our documents or lugguage -- we were obviously just 2 harmless innocent tourists. In fact, they asked the local to gave up their seats for us!

The journey from Kurunegela to Maho was slightly more than 1 hour. It was getting late when we arrived at the town.

The idea of getting to Maho was to visit the Yapahuwa Rock Fortress the next morning. Yapahuwa was not originally on the itinerary and I added it in a flash of inspiration just the day before. There was a small problem though. Both the Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide had not information on accomodation in Maho or Yapahuwa.

I had figured that there should be some accomodation available. Along the bus journey from Negombo to Kurunegela, I was encouraged that even small one-street towns we passed through had "hotels" (more about that later). So, I had not been too worried.

But as we walked along the main street of Maho, we did not see any hotels. We asked around abit. It was difficult because the local really don't speak very much English and most of the time, I suspected they did not really understood the full question we were asking, responding only to certain words within the question. Basically, the only hotel people could recommend was Shanti Hotel, about 1km east from the railway station. Then someone suggested going to Yapahuwa instead. That's about 4km away from Maho and "nicer accommodation there"! A 3-wheeler should be able to bring us there for about Rs120.

We asked a 3-wheeler. Again, he could only recommend Shanti. Yes, there was accommodation at Yapahuwa and he wanted Rs200 to bring us there. Since the local said it should be about Rs120, we thought he was trying to rip us off (after I understood the "market conditions" better a few days later, I decided that it about the market price really). Anyway, before we could asked another 3-wheeler, a red SLTB came along and we flagged it down. Yes, we were lucky, it was heading to Yapahuwa! The bus fare was Rs28 for 2. (saved Rs182!)

It was getting dark when we got off the bus at a road junction in Yapahuwa.

This was not even a one-street town! There was nothing there! There was only a small mama shop at the junction. We had passed by a huge and grand looking Yapahuwa Paradise Resort as we got there. But there were no other hotels or guesthouse in sight (nor were there any signs). We walked for a while and found none. Asked around some more. It soon became clear that the only accommodation available in Yapahuwa was that expensive looking Paradise Resort. The cheaper option was the Shanti Hotel back in Maho...

We asked the 3-wheeler idling at the road junction for the fare to Shanti Hotel. He wanted Rs300. Now, that's a rip-off since the asking fare was Rs200 from Maho to Yapahuwa (frankly, in a demand-supply situation, he clearly had the upper hand...). No, we were not depesparate yet. We refuse to give that extra Rs100.

Sheung and I had a quick discussion. We decided to check the room rates at the Paradise Resort before deciding if we want to shuttle back and forth between Maho and Yapahuwa.

As we walked towards the Paradise Resort, we walked pass a village house and the man said hi to us. We tried once more to ask about accommodation. This time, we found someone who offered a new option. When we asked him if there were cheaper hotels besides the Paradise Resort, he offered a room in his house. No he did not have a big house with extra rooms. He was offerred his son's room.

Now, I had not planned on a homestay at all. It did cross my mind briefly the possibility that we could end up robbed/burglered or chopped up into peices and thrown into a curry pot...

We ended up taking the offer anyway and as we got to know the host better, I was more at ease. The host worked in a hotel in Trincomalee as a chef. Every month, he was given 5 days vacation when he came back to join his family in Yapahuwa. When he found out that we were from Singapore, he was very eager to know more about working in Singapore.

The house was a simple brick house. There were no bathrooms -- we bathed by a pond in the dark. There was rather clean toilet separate from the house. It was apparent that they were not a wealthy family, even by local standards. But they were not deprived either and looked quite comfortable in their simple humble ways.

They had a gas store in the kitchen, but were using wood fire to cook a dhal curry and make coconut chapati for us because the woodfire would made the food taste better. We had a good chat with the host and his wife in the kitchen. They were very interested in the job opportunities in Singapore.

We went to bed shortly after dinner because we did not want to continue to impose on the host. Besides we were tired after a long adventurous day.

This was only the first day in Sri Lanka.

Social consciousness is inter-connected

I have been following the AWARE saga closely. I am referring to the women civil organization has been hijacked by a group of Christian Right who are conservation and out to push their anti-gay agenda in AWARE.

In fact, a lot of gay men are fired up by what's happening at AWARE as well, and jumping in to support AWARE.

While that is good, what I suspect is that many gay men aren't really concerned about the women issues. The reason they are galvanizing behind AWARE is because the Christian Right is the number one group in Singapore that is propagating hatred and intolerance against the gay people.

I think gay people should be rightly concern about this. In fact, it should not just be the gay people -- everyone in the civil societies should be concerned. As much as we respect that there are always going to be people with different religious views, we cannot accept any religious group hijacking a non-sectarian organization to impose their religious views onto the multi-racial/multi-religious society in Singapore.

However, after dust is settled, I wonder if these gay men who jumped on the AWARE wagon would continue to care what about the issues women face. The truth is, many gay men speak and act as if women do not exists or do not matter (sometimes, not even their lesbian sisters). This is partly why there exists a gap between the gay men and gay women community which needs to be bridged. This is an issue that is somewhat recognized within the community and I know there are both gay men and women sincerely trying to bridge the gap. But I think the community needs to have a greater self-consciousness about this.

In fact, the indifference and apathy is restricted to the women issues. I have seen many gay people mock or ridicule other civic movements or civil societies as well. I am not saying gay people are more so that way than the general population. But I think it's more a case of gay people need to be more sensitive to the civic movement because we have a greater stake in it.

You see, I do believe that social consciousness is inter-connected.

A person with an awakened social consciousness is more likely to socially active, with a genuine care about what's going on and to the people around him/her, and more likely to be empathetic towards others regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, disability, class, or sexual identity.

I believe a person who cares about women issues, welfare of the foreign workers, disabled, animal cruelty, environmental issues, etc, are more like to be empathetic towards gay people.

Likewise, the really anti-gay people who are out to deprive any dignity and living space for the gay people are the same dogmatic people holding a moral high ground and trying to impose their views on other people, from issues ranging from anti-abortion and anti-gambling. (I recognise that there are many people who still can't accept homosexuality. But it's a different matter not accepting, versus going all out to demonise and propagate hatred and discrimiantion against the gay people.)

I am not an expert in this, but when I was living in USA, it was pointed out to me that the gay movement gained the most traction at the same time the feminist movement and the black movement was gaining traction as well. The biggest progress was made when these movements worked together.

At the end of the day, they are inter-related.

So I think gay people do need to be more supportive or concerned about the civic movement and various social issues. I am convinced that something like supporting a movement to promote kindness towards, say, a foreign worker, will come back as bringing more kindness and empathy for the gay people.

What I hope is that the AWARE saga will awake the social consciousness in many people and arouse a genuine concern of the issues affecting the society.

A blind massage

I am not particularly fond of massage.

The reasons:
1. I'm too cheapskate to pamper myself with a massage.
2. I didn't really like the idea of strangers feeling all over me.
3. What for?

But I did have a massage in Yogyakarta the day before flying back. I wasn't keen initially. However, later I decided that I could support a little social enterprise.

You see, the masseurs were blind people.

One of my friend were looking for a massage and there were actually a few spas around where we stayed. Then we saw a interesting tour offered by the Via Via Cafe. It was a tour to the local markets with explanation on how to make traditional jamu & face mask and ends with a massage by a few blind masseurs. (http://www.viaviacafe.com/) We weren't really keen on the jamu stuff. But my friend Sheung thought we could support the blind masseurs.

The staff at Via Via Cafe were kind enough to give us the directions to the massage house even though we did not sign up with them for the package. The girl explained that the massage was run by a old blind lady who taught the other blind people how to massage so that they can be independent and earn an honest living.

So after exploring the Kraton (the Sultan's palace), the bird market and Tamansari (the water palace), we started to look for the massage house.

When finally found the place, it was not quite what I expected. I mean, I am not expecting a nice spa. But it turned out to be just a village house. There were no signage. We had to asked around before someone guided us to the house. Facilities inside was basic. (There was only one toilet/shower room. Someone was showering. So we had to pee in the bushes behind the house)

There were four blind masseurs. They spoke minimal English, but enough for you to know if they want you to turn of sit up.

The rooms where small and a little stuffy. There was only a fan. I was perspiring at first but once I relaxed and settled enough, it was ok.

I don't know much about massage. So I can't comment much except that it was painful alright, but my tired and sore legs did feel good after it.

After my massage, while waiting for my friend, I explored the area around the house a little. There was church behind the house. A bit of farm land and a pond. A cow was grazing lazily in the evening cool. A man was prodding around the pond with a strange gadget. It went zap, zap. I thought he was stunning fishes with electric shocks. As we approached him, he showed us what he was catching: frogs.

In any case, I found it a nice side trip -- wandering into a village area of Yogya looking for the massage house. I did not initially wanted a massage. But I decided it was nice to support these blind people who are trying to make an honest living.

The price for the full body massage which was about 45 mins cost Rp35,000 per person. We added a little tip and gave Rp40,000. (It's only about SGD$6 only!).

I felt good not only because it was an interesting experience in itself, but also we also supported in a small way a social enterprise for some disadvantaged people.

It is something I learned from Sheung. When travelling, I do watch out for little things like this. If I could, I would support some of these local projects and enterprises that benefit the local people more directly, especially the the disadvantaged people.

Here's the directions to the massage house for those who might be interested. Be warned, this is no spa. There is no nice air conditioned rooms with candles burning and nice scent of essential oils in the air. Definitely not a place for tai tai's.

The massage house is called Pisat Ibu Wiji (it simply means Mother Wiji's massage). But that's immaterial because there are no signs pointing to it any way.

It's only a little south of the city walls. From Taman Sari (water castle), it's about 15 mins walk (provided you find your way out of the city walls. It can be frustrating walk around the alleys and not able to find your way out). It's in a side road called Jalan Pugeran Barat which runs parallel to the main road Jalan Bantul.

We exited from the West gate of the old city walls, walked south along the main road. Turn east into Haryono road at the busy junction between Haryono and Bantul. Keep to the south side of the road. About 200m to 300m from the junction, turn right into the road Jalan Pugeran Barat (there is road sign with its name). Walk down the lane until you reach the cemetry. Pisat Ibu Wiji is the house on the right.

Jalan Purgeran Barat is an interesting walk itself because turning into it, you will suddenly find yourself in a kampong within the city.

If you are coming from Prawirotaman (one of the backpackers area in Yogya, and Via Via is located there), just keep walking west from Prawirotaman I. From Prawirotaman, the street name changes to Tirtodipuran after you cross the N-S running Parangtritis road. The street name changed to Suryodiningratan after you cross Panjaitan. Watch out for the small Pugeran Barat street on your right as you approach Bantul street. Just follow the Pugeran Barat street until you get past the cemetry.

Have a good massage!

Buddhist Temples Ruins around Yogyakarta

I had not known that there were other interesting Buddhist ruins around Yogyakarta besides Borobudur temple.

It was only after I had booked the trip and began to do some research that I discovered that there were quite a number of other ancient Buddhist temples ruins around Yogyakarta.

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Candi Pawon

Pawon is a small temple about 1 km away from Borobudur. There is nothing particularly interesting about it. But it's a worth a short visit on the way to Mendut temple.

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Candi Mendut

The Mendut temple is quite a large temple. It supposedly has the largest Buddha statue in the whole of Indonesia. What I like about Mendut temple is the very elegant and beautiful statues in the shrine hall. The 3 statues in the shrine hall are very well preserved. The Sakyamuni statue is the center. The other is Avalokiteshvara (Guan Yin). As for the third statue, it seems that there are some arguments over whether it is Vajrapani or Maitreya. What I found unusual was that the statue of the Buddha had what appeared to abdominal muscles and genital bulge. While not unheard of, it is entirely quite rare to see statues depicted with musculature or genital bulge. (Over at museum in Danang Vietnam, I saw a Hindu statue with abs muscles. It was pointed out that it is quite rare to find that.)

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Candi Sewu


Candi Sewu is within the Prambanan complex. It is north of the Prambanan temples.

It seems that most visitors visiting Prambanan temple missed the Sewu temple. While Prambanan was very crowded, Sewu was quite deserted.

Sewu is not a single structure. Rather, it is a temple complex. It's a big temple surrounded by many small shrines. However, most of the shrines are in ruins. I think it would have been very impressive if the shrines are intact.

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Candi Plaosan



The Plaoson Temples are also known as the twin temples because there are 2 almost identical temple next to each other. It is about 3km away from the Prambanan temples. However, most people do not know about it. Most tour itinerary to Prambanan do not include Candi Plaosan.

I could only enter the south temple as the north temple was barricaded. There are 3 shrine halls in the temple. The statues in the temple are beautiful as well. Unfortunately, they are not as well preserved as those at Mendut temple.



What I really like about Plaoson temple are the lotus motifs found on the temple walls. On the temple walls, there are many reliefs of devas holding lotus flowers. The lotus flower motifs are varied and beautiful. Some are in bud form. Some open like a sun flower. Some are like the usual lotus seat. Some are in half bloosom.

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Candi Kalasan



The Kalasan temple is dedicated to Tara, hence it is also known as Candi Tara. (Apparently Candi Kalasan is a misnomer. When the temple was discovered, people thought it was the Kalasan temple found in some record. It was only later that people realize this was a different temple from the Kalasan temple in the records.)

It is a relatively big temple but quite badly damaged. Most of the wall reliefs are gone except for the southern face. Some reliefs of Tara can still be found.

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There were a few more temples ruins which I did not visit, such as Candi Sari.

The website Yogyes has quite a comprehensive list of the ruins around Yogyakarta. http://www.yogyes.com/

Most tours going to Prambanan do not go to these other temples. So you do need to book your own vehicle. And since most tours do not go to these temples, you do pretty much have the place to yourself.

I do recommend booking your own vehicle. Candi Kalasan, Sari, Parambanan, Sewu, Plaoson are all along the Yogya - Solo road. The rate of a car booking was about Rp 400,000 (Apr 2009).
If you are alone, I would recommend booking a tour with Via Via Cafe (http://www.viaviacafe.com) on a motorcycle. It's about Rp100,000 per person.

It's well worth the money if you have an keen interest in the Buddhist ruins.