Camera House Borobudur was another activity in which I had a little more interest than Kyle. Our homestay was in a fairly isolated area in the countryside and this was the closest thing to us so I thought we should give it a go.

Camera House Borobudur

Our first venture out there was our first time using our hosts’ bicycles. We had just come from Siem Reap (before a quick stop in Kuala Lumpur) where we had ridden many miles on our bicycles in very hot weather so I thought it would be no problem. Well, Siem Reap is very flat. The Javan countryside is not so flat.

I mean, for plenty of people, including Kyle, it would not be a big deal, but I found the hills to be difficult to manage. Fortunately, the journey was not too long. On our way back it started raining which made me happy. It was very pleasant riding in the rain out in the countryside. Everything was so fresh and clean and beautiful.

Sometimes You’re The Novelty

Upon arriving at the Camera House we parked our bikes and tried to figure out what to do. We went to go stand in front of the camera-shaped building to take some pictures and several people started asking if they could have their picture with us.

They would take turns with us or one of us individually while their friends snapped some photos. They would usually get pretty excited when we said yes. I think (white?) foreigners are somewhat rare there. If you would like to feel like a celebrity, just go to Java – though maybe not Jakarta.

Ticketing

We looked around and found the ticketing area.

The options were:

• Kaca Magic Star Wars – a Star Wars themed mirror room, or so it appeared.
• Kaca Mirror Castle Infinity – mirror room.
• 3D Photo: Lantai 1 – room with various backgrounds, some examples shown, such as a space background.
• 3D Photo: Lantai 2 – put yourself in a snow globe, on the Great Wall of China, etc. and an Art Gallery with a rooftop with love locks.

We didn’t want to spend much due to having other priorities for our activity budget (like Borobudur) so I decided we would just choose one option. It was a pretty tough choice. I don’t remember my reasoning but I chose Kaca Mirror Castle Infinity. They told us the gallery was required so we got that as well – and were glad. The total for all of it was 40,000 Indonesian Rupiah ($2.93).

We took off our shoes and headed into the door down the path to the right of the ticketing office. There was a woman who was selling various props but we didn’t get any. There was some kind of camera set up just behind her but she told us to go upstairs.

The place was pretty neat! There were all kinds of fun little photos/paintings on the ground and on the walls, props, etc. There were quite a few other people there as well. I started by taking a photo of Kyle on a magic carpet before someone told us that we were in the wrong area and led us up more stairs and down a hall.

What A Light Show!

They showed us this tiny little room full of mirrors and told me to go inside. If you are claustrophobic I would not recommend it. I didn’t really understand what was going on but I had my phone so I tried taking a couple selfies but then I tried to get out and it was locked.

Yelling at them – Kyle and the woman – to let me out didn’t work, they were ignoring me and apparently trying to make our camera work to take pictures of me through a peephole. I said it is okay, we can just take pictures of Kyle.

Then we both went in and the woman took some pictures of both of us. She told us to move different ways and took a few pictures. It was honestly kind of a strange experience. I do think the photos look neat, though.

It Wasn’t Exactly What I Wanted

Upon leaving our room area, we saw another couple in another mirror room and they were doing really like over-the-top romantic pictures like laying down together and kissing and things. I don’t think I would have posed in this manner but I was just so taken by surprise by the whole thing (not really sure what I did expect) that I didn’t know how to pose or what to do so we just kind of stood and sat there. Well, now you know if you ever go there to prepare some poses.

I am not sure if we had the option of going into the other mirror room or not but I was just a little overwhelmed and decided we would just head over to the other area. To reach the art gallery, we needed to go downstairs, exit the building and go around the building.

Founded By An Artist

After reading a little more on the place (see this blog), I discovered that the Camera House was actually created by an artist named Tanggol Angien Jatikusumo. We actually saw him both times we visited which makes sense since he’s the owner. The place actually started as an art gallery and was designed as a camera because he had spent time working hard to buy a DSLR. He later expanded to the picture rooms. Allegedly he also teaches art to children.

The art was good quality. Many of paintings were revamps or copies of classic paintings, but there were also depictions of local areas and festivals, among others.

Top Floor Views

We looked around on the first floor before heading up to the other floors – which also contained art – and finally, the top. The top of the building had an amazing view of the countryside. We spent some time up there enjoying it and during our time it began to sprinkle which was lovely.

We also examined some of the love locks.

Yummy Cafe

After we went downstairs we looked around a little more and saw a menu on a table. The menu is full of lots of cute and fun options.

We were a little hungry so decided to order some food. We chose fries, Kriuk Jamoor (fried mushrooms), and the Selfie Paradise Marshmallow (I think). The total for what we did order was 41,000 Indonesian Rupiah (~$3). The fries were decent and the fried mushrooms, a local dish, were quite good. The ice cream tasted fairly artificial, but looking at it, what do you expect? It was still pretty good.

Another Visit

On another occasion, we visited just for the food, both because it was affordable and because it was the closest place to us. On that occasion, we ordered the fries (this time with cheese) and mushrooms again along with soup and an Affogato (coffee) float and it cost about the same. Pretty exciting. I preferred the fries without the powder but the float was delicious and Kyle liked the soup.

Anyway, if you’re heading to Borobudur, the Camera House is fairly close and is a good place to stop off to take some selfies, get some food, or even just to enjoy some art or a nice view of the area.

Details:

• Hours: 7am-7pm every day
• Address: Majaksingi 8, Borobudur Jawa Tengah Indonesia (in Magelang)