Semarang.  Borobudur Jan 6, 2012
    Our last stop in Indonesia. Semarang is a large industrial port on the island of Java. there is not much of anything to see here other than some remnants of when the Dutch ruled for 350 years. This island which is quite large also has a myriad of volcanoes. they are the mountains I used to draw as a kid when I was drawing a scenic vista. In other words they have pointy tops, perfect cones. There are clouds swirling around them and they look mystical. 
   We have a 2 and a half hour ride each way to the temple of Borobudur. There seems to be no such thing as a highway in this country. there is a short toll road but it corresponds to what we see as rte 1 in the states., and it only lasted 10 km. Mostly we passed small towns and villages, markets with fruit piled high, rambutan, bananas, mango, durian. do you know about durian? It smells like stinky feet and is banned from all indoor public places. It is said to taste divine but I haven't  been able to taste any as no one would let it on the bus. We did love the snake fruits. Anyway the time passed quickly as I watched the traffic and the lives of the javans from the bus window. 
     Borobudur is a Hindu temple stupa. Shaped more or less as a pyramid with carvings telling the story of Buddha and the gods along the side in fantastic stone reliefs. It is again that kind of blend of Buddhism and Hinduism. There were many people there though all Asian except for our crowds from the ship. To get to the top and nirvana I climbed the hundred or so steps. these steps though we're over 2feet tall each so, rather than climb you kind of haul yourself up. Nearly all of our group made it to the top. From there we could see the volcanoes in the distance, notably Mt Merapi  which exploded last year and nearly obliterated Borobudur. Apparently the lava stopped just short of the foundation of the temple. Our guide, Hasta,  told us there were huge boulders which flowed with the lave along the streets and we saw the men still hauling away trucks filled with the ash.   After a lovely lunch at an outdoor restaurant we commenced the long ride back to the ship. the weather which had been warm and cloudy turned dark and huge buckets of rain commenced as we got back to Semarang. we have been very fortunate with the weather so far as this is the rainy season and we are in the tropics after all. this is our last day in Indonesia and it has been quite interesting. Of course you don,t really get that much into the culture when traveling by ship as opposed to when you are staying night after night but still you get the flavor.   Next we disembark in Singapore. From then on we are are on our own. Looking forward to it. Have enjoyed our fellow passengers very much. Few Americans, mostly Australians with a few Canadians. Still it will be nice to be Captains of our own ship and destiny- for better or worse!