Semarang, Indonesia

We docked at the port in Semarang, but the major attraction on the island of Java, is Borobudur, a large temple about 2 1/2 hrs away. There were 8 bus loads of passengers going to that site. Semarang is Indonesia's 5th largest city with approx 1.5 million inhabitants. It's history is complicated with kings and the Dutch, so I'm not even going to touch on it. We exited the ship at about 9 and immediately boarded a bus headed south for Borobudur. Indonesia's capital and largest city Jakarta is also on the island of Java.

The HAL buses had a police escort which was good with the awful traffic on the island. There were 3 buses traveling together and at times cars or SUV's would get between them to take advantage of the escort. People seemed to heed the police car's siren, as they would pull over or even stop when our caravan drove on the wrong side of the road to pass others going in our same direction. We were sitting in the 2nd row on the bus so I have pictures of the bus in front of us driving down the middle of a 2 lane road with cars and trucks having to use the shoulders on each side. It was quite an amazing journey. What was really amazing about it is that no one was hurt and no accidents.

We arrived at the entrance to Borobudur at about 11:30. We'd made one stop for coffee and the rest room which had the usual vendors. I purchased some nice batik pictures.

Borobudur is the world's largest Buddhist temple. It was built in the 8th and 9th centuries. According to records, tens of thousands of workers (more than 5 generations) were involved. Unless suggestions of extraterrestrial aid are true, the builders used only human effort. (Just copying from our literature!)

Our guide took us around to the opposite side of the temple, then started to lead us up. It is possible to get to the top by following the "ramp" walking around and around until you reach the top. There are 6 square levels, then 3 round ones at the top. On every corridor are relief carvings telling a story. There were also large steps to reach the top, which we used. We were expecting a lot of steps, so were surprised when we reached the top quickly. It was interesting I guess. It seemed similar to the pyramids in Guatemala, a lot of large stones piled on top of each other. Worth seeing ?!

We descended to some steps which led to a nice hotel on the premises. We had a buffet lunch there, then shopped the vendor area. Things were so inexpensive that it was hard to say no to anything! Back on the bus we could see a very black cloud in front of us. It soon started to rain. We were taken to an old train depot to board a train that was built in the early 1900's. The cars were totally open, so it was nice that it was raining, cooled it down a lot. A number of boys jumped on to enjoy the ride while others ran along side for miles. It was very picturesque with clouds in the mountains and lush green rice paddies along side of the train. We ended up at a train museum, which was nice, but were again accosted by vendors. Some got in my face so much that I just hauled out my camera for a picture. Made them stand back a bit. More bus ride, then we arrived at the port at about 6. There were vendors there also, so instead of boarding the ship we headed to the market.

The market itself was set up for the Indonesians, with many small booths cooking native food. It was cramped, dirty, and very unappetizing. We just took pictures. The vendors were outside that place. By the time we were done, we had a batik duffel and back pack all filled with our purchases. A lot of fun. We had dinner upstairs at the Lido since we'd missed our 5:30 time in the dining room. It was another good day in Indonesia.

---