The Sangiran Early Man Site may not be as popular a destination as its neighboring W.H.Sites Prambanan and Borobudur. Nevertheless, to be fair, it is a well-maintained museum of great importance worthy of a visit.

From Solo, my friends drove me to the site on a motorbike. Despite summer heat, the 45 minute journey over the countryside is pleasant, providing a good survey of beautiful traditional Central Javanese houses. Upon approaching Sangiran, one can notice the plethora of billboards and signage promoting the "Homeland of the Java Man". Such local efforts are truly commendable.

The site is divided into areas: the museum and the view-deck on top of a nearby hill. I managed to see both, but the latter was a bit disappointing as it fails to pinpoint the perimeter of the site - aside from endless trees, you can actually see the dome of the museum and that's just it.

The three exhibition halls are presented in a way that would make visitors really get hooked on what is being highlighted by Sangiran. I enjoyed the bones a lot (in the second hall, you are even allowed to touch the fossils of an old mastodon)! The main problem, however, is that most descriptions and verbiages are only in Bahasa Indonesia, which was a bit sad on my part as I really read stuff. For a site/tourist destination of worldwide importance, I think it is imperative to provide English texts/translations for other nationalities to understand what those stored inside the museum are. I'm not quite sure if the management has plans to open some of the dig sites for ocular visits, but it should be one feature worth considering for Sangiran (In fact, Lenggong Valley, another WHS in Malaysia, is looking at highlighting their in situ sites for tourism as well).

Also, to my surprise, the present museum building is actually designed by the grandfather of a friend of mine in Jogjakarta - which is, of course, another reason to celebrate the visit.