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Published: March 5th 2010
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Welcome to Java
Our welcome banner at the Semarang port. We arrived in the Semarang harbor at Tanjung Emas late in the night. It is about 1.5 miles from the city center. Semarang is nestled into a deep curve along Java’s northeastern coast. It has a population of approximately 1.5 million people and has a blend of intriguing historic sites: crumbling fortress walls, colorful Chinese temples, lattice-front cottages and gleaming mosques.
Chinese troops made a stop here in 1405, but an Arab mullah founded the original village in the late 15th century. It was officially switched to a Dutch trading outpost in 1705. Semarang is a large producer of herbal medicine, as well as general agriculture.
Unfortunately, we will not be seeing much of the city as we are booked to take an 8-½ hour tour to the mountain village of Borobudur to experience the Borobudur Temple, or stupa. It took nearly a century to build, from around 750 AD to 850 AD. It was built 200 years before Notre Dame and Chartres Cathedrals and also pre-dates the Temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It was nearly a millennium before it was discovered by foreign eyes. In 1814, Thomas Raffles stumbled on the site while on expedition as Lieutenant
Welcome to Borobudur
Stone monument sign created by the infamous President Soeharto. Governor of Java.
We had to depart the ship before 7:00am for our 2-1/2 hour coach ride. We stopped at a Java coffee house about half way for a short break and on to our destination. Once we arrived, we had about an hour to view the monument, have a very nice lunch and traditional music & dance before we hopped back on the bus for the return to the ship.
This colossal man-made mountain is one of the most imposing creations of mankind…nothing else like it exists. It was built with more than 2 million cubic feet of stone and is the largest stupa (dome-shaped temple) and ancient monument in the Southern Hemisphere. Its stone carvings consist of more than 1,300 panels depicting scenes from the life of Buddha and stories of his reincarnations. It is believed that by climbing this stupa, you will be making a spiritual journey to enlightenment.
The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage site and even after two restorations and millions of annual visitors, Borobudur still retains an ethereal ambience, a sense that you’re stepping back to an ancient world. Its layout is similar to a mandala, rising in cakelike layers
Borobudur Temple
A shot of the temple as we approach. of six concentric square terraces and three circular platforms. There are about 3 miles of walkways if you take the complete tour. On the lowest square there are slight variances in the 432 Buddahs and more than 1,500 images of Siddhartha’s life. The three circular levels are dotted with 72 Buddha statues, each tucked into an enormous latticework stupa. At the top, along with amazing views of lush green and smoky volcanoes, is a final stupa symbolizing the highest level of enlightenment.
We arrived to beautiful blue skies and warm temperatures…a perfect day. We started up the tall steps and experienced each level while looking at the intricate carvings and amazing stone work. Without all of the heavy equipment and technology that is available to our modern civilization, one has to really wonder how in the world something like this could be built so long ago. Because we were early, there weren’t too many people there so it was relatively easy to spend time viewing.
After about an hour, we headed down to have a very nice buffet lunch, music and dance. Then we loaded back onto the coach for our return, stopping again at the Java house
Buddahs and Stonework
Here are many of the Buddahs that line the temple. for a break midway.
Tonight we had very nice dinner with several shipmates at Prime 7 Restaurant. It is departing dinner for George and Duffy who are leaving us in Singapore.
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