Java

I'm not talking about coffee, although there was an optional tour to a coffee plantation.

Our port was not the capital city, Jakarta, but Semarang, a coastal port about 4 hours away.  This was a more prosperous city than the city we visited on Bali Island.  As we left the ship there was an Indonesian band and dancers to greet us.  They were not as good as the ones who came aboard, but then, we did not have time to stay and watch them.  As we entered the terminal we were greeted by a country western band playing "Achy Breaky Heart."  What a contrast!  After a bus ride we stopped at a protestant church built in 1753 and still in use, although the pipe organ with wooden pipes no longer works.  The sidewalk around the small park next to it was decorated with round balls about 2 feet in diameter, each painted with a different fancy design.  Our tour guide said he would explain them on the bus, but he never got around to it.

Sidewalk art?

I saw my first cats since Cuba!  They were in the shade of a pink bicycle which was used as a prop for tourists to have their pictures taken.

On our drive around town we saw many mosques since this part of Indonesia is now mainly Muslem.  There has been a lot of recent construction although we did not see all the cranes we saw in Australia.  The electrical power is till supplied by masses of overhead lines.

The Chinese have been trading in this part of the world for hundreds of years.  When one of their famous captains stopped here, he left behind one of the officers who was sick.  That man started the city.  Now there is a large Hindu temple at the site of his first settlement.  China recently donated a 30 foot high statue of the captain, so that now has been added to the temple.  The actual temple consisted of several buildings constructed in typical Chinese style.  At one time I knew the symbolism of the row of animals at the corners of the roof.  Our guide either did not know or could not explain it in English.  I do not think that he was used to leading a group of inquisitive Americans.

The last part of our tour was a visit to a mall.  This was not a souvenir mall, but a modern mall which would have fit right in in any American city.  the only thing different was the language and the fact that there was also a grocery store.  We had fun looking at all the different snacks.  I took pictures, but I do not know exactly what they were.

The price: 31,200 or about $2.30