Saturday's #smartphonephotography

Before anything else I would like to thank @juliank and @photocontests for choosing my long exposure photography entry as one of the bests. I am honored and humbled to be with the greatest here in steemit. Check out the results here: https://steemit.com/longexposurephotography/@photocontests/photocontests-selection-201802240900063682

Here is my Saturday's contribution to @juliank's @photocontests under the category #smartphonephotography.

The phone used to take this picture is Sony Xperia.

This was taken at Borobudur Temples located at Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. This is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. This dates back to 8th or 9th century making it to the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is made of platforms stacked together and topped with a dome. It's really amazing how such structures from long ago can still be standing.

This is my first visit of Indonesia and hoping to visit again. It was hot that time. We went in August. They made us wearing sarong before entering the vicinity. This is to protect the temple's dignity.

What I cannot forget is that me and partner were still forced to buy souvenir. I have read online about a warning from other tourists not to buy souvenirs from the peddlers because they will sell it to you at a steep price compared to those shops you will pass by when you get out of the temple. One guy was so persistent that in spite of our saying no over and over again, he still pushed his item to us. The thing is that people are already looking at us curious as to what is happening because our voices are starting to go loud the more we say no and this guy's voice will go one notch higher. I can see the in the eyes around me that they are helpless and/or curious as to what we will do next. To avoid attention to ourselves, we bought his goods and hurriedly went away from him. One other thing, I do not appreciate how the exit leads to a maze of souvenir shops.

That is one lesson learned. Don't talk to the peddlers, not even an eye contact and just ignore them ultimately. The souvenirs they sell can be bought in the shops outside the temple at a cheaper price.

Despite that experience, I would still go back and visit Indonesia again. I love Indonesian food. It's one thing of the things I appreciated most during our visit.

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You can read more about @photocontests here https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@photocontests/readme

The schedules for other categories for @juliank's photo contest are:

Monday: #foodphotography and #animalphotography
Tuesday: #landscapephotography and #cityscapephotography
Wednesday: #architecturalphotography and #vehiclephotography
Thursday: #macrophotography and #colourfulphotography
Friday: #streetphotography and #portraitphotography
Saturday: #sportsphotography and #smartphonephotography
Sunday: #goldenhourphotography and #longexposurephotography