Indonesia - central Java

Sat 2nd March

Sunny 30 degrees, humid, thunderstorms pm.

Today we headed off in to Semarang - a city of 2m occupants for a local tour. 

The welcome party as we walked from the ship

Again we drove through heavy traffic of motor scooter dodging ,although perhaps not quite as dense as we witnessed in Bali.

There are 2 children on this bike - 1 is wedged in front of the driver. Mum and Dad have helmets, youngest has hair and the eldest has extra protection of a bobble hat.

We visited a relatively newly built Mosque (finished in the early noughties) - we learnt that here in Java most muslims are moderate in their beliefs eg. women do not have to wear a hijab and are treated equally with men. They also embrace older traditional rituals and include Hindu and Buddist religious practices (well that’s what our guide told us and he seemed a reasonable chap)

The atmosphere around the area was pleasant and jovial. We did not go into the building itself. Apparently the spaceship looking pillars extend into canopies for cover.

We also visited an adjacent tower with views of Semarang to the sea and the mountains from the viewing platform on top and briefly visited a small museum of all things Muslim.

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The mosque from the tower, the city leading to the port beyond. 

Back in the minivan and on to our next stop - a church built by the Dutch in the 17th century. It has been restored with help from Dutch patrons and the government.

They even have an airconned organ! (we have been told it doesn’t actually work - the organ that is not the aircon)

Instead of benches or pews they have ratten chairs.

Outside a crowd of schoolgirls played with balloons - much jolarity - think it must be some sort of feast day?

The kids are quite charming, in fact lots of people we passed in the street smiled and waved hello. Graham even got a couple of high fives! We passed one group of older children and they giggled as they stroked their noses and pointed at ours - guess they’ve not seen many europeans with their funny long pointy noses. Some people asked for our photos with them. Apparently our cruise ship is the first one for 2 months, we think due to fear of extremist muslim militancy. (a  piece of gossip circulating talked of a kidnap plot !)

Java was a dutch owned from the 1600’s until after the 2nd World War. Initially owned by the Dutch East India Co which transfered to the Dutch government in a deal to bail out the Co’s debts. The city has an old town built in Dutch style including dykes and canals but sadly were not as successful as those in the Netherlands. Over the years the buildings have been left to fall into disrepair, but efforts are being made to restore the old buildings to their former glory. However looking at the rather crude building practices this could take a considerable amount of time , great chunks  of the city appeared to be being part demolished and re built with rubble, dust and debris all over the city. There appeared considerable amount of new build going on also - hotels, shops, appartments. Our guide had stated that Indonesia had been very corrupt but he hoped now the government would invest in the country to ease the state of the people who are poor when the country is rich in assets.

Next stop - a traditional local food market .... you can say that again.. Endless stalls of poultry - dead and alive, meat, fish (mostly heads), shellfish, fruit, veg and the occasional knicker stall. Graham declined the pink Bridget Jones style pants waved at him beguilingly by a stall holder. One woman told us the market opens at 2am and shuts at 11am. We think the 2am was a translation error. It was so hot the quicker you bought your meat the better. On one chicken store various bits of chicken were laid out, only the remnants when we got there at 10:30, but the reserve stock was below running around clucking wondering if they had another day left or not.

Imagine John Torode whispering in his Masterchef voice “let’s hope the contestants don’t ruin the ingredients from the invention test table of produce” ( there was not a dismembered human hand - just Carol’s poor photography!)

All modes of transport from rickshaws to bikes.

We caught many puzzled glances as us europeans passed through in crocodile formation.

Then on to the third and final temple - this time a Buddist one. 

Our guide says that the Javeans blend buddist practices with islamic - they use the drums like the ones in Buddist temples as a call for muslim prayer.

A beautiful pagoda with a budda and other deities ( Carol’s a sucker for a Buddist temple as the next pics will prove)

And some other fellas..

Graham being encouraged to rejoin the group - we could have stayed much longer.
We then were driven to a stunning old looking hotel which turned out to be just a few years old. We had a delicious lunch and then was taken around to look at the rooms and grounds ( ah that’s why the cost was so reasonable...) Fortunately for us the sales pitch was halted by a sharp heavy thunderstorm. Still if you ever find yourself in the middle of the countryside in central Java we would certainly recommend it!

The entrance to one of the rooms.

The place was full of we presume authentic art works.

A lizard on a day bed ( wooden - the lizard and the bed!)

The gardeners just about to make a run for it 

Then off to our final stop. The house with a thousand doors. This used to be the rail headquarters for the Dutch administration - don’t think there were actually a thousand doors but if you count the window shutters it looks to have an awful lot.

Actually there were several buildings - again many older school children around.

Some of the rooms contained railway memorabilia, others photos and posters from the post war move to independence.

We love a good propaganda poster.

Sadly nearby is also a memorial for all the young people killed by the Japanese in their bid for freedom. Java was occupied in the war by Japan.

So that was an interesting full day. We left feeling very warm towards the Javaens - we felt very welcome here in Semerang.

Tomorrow another sea day and then we arrive at our destination - Singapore.

Indonesia - Bali

Weds 27th Feb

Sunny, humid, 34 degrees +

We anchor off Benoa, Bali, overlooking long beaches with a multitude of paragliders, waterskiers and banana-boaters criss crossing the sea at high speed.

We have a long touring day today. The usual wait for a tender to shore - happily made easier by our tour being superbly arranged by Kent Kretzler, a Platinum member from Florida, allowing us to catch one of the first tenders just after 11am. (not too keen on this pushing in priviledge thing but it does have it’s advantages...) We’re off to the port of Benoa on the island of Bali. Landing at the port everyone is inundated with a seemingly unending line of taxi drivers trying to sell their services. “Mister mister, good price, you want taxi, good price”. It was a wall of taxi drivers offering rides in return for US dollars.

There are 9 of us on the tour, 6 Brits and 3 Americans (makes a change to have a Brit positive balance!). We cram in to a small minibus and head out through the extensive Benoan suburbs to the Luhur Tanah Lot Temple. It turns out we have booked a tour with a driver but no guide. The driver initially tried to offer some sort of commentary, but after being loudly berated by the Lancastrian contingency in the back who couldn’t hear we think he gave up. Two hours later through extremely congested traffic, observing suicidal scooter drivers - it seems there is now a law for motorcyclists to wear helmets, however this did not seem to apply to children and babies! We observed many families with the Dad driving with a child in front of him and the wife holding a baby on the back - often with a pile of belongings also!

It was quite an experience watching the weaving and speedy under and overtaking between fingers held over eyes. This is a very built up area and very very congested.  It was interesting peering into the shops and buildings as we passed by - everything from fashion, traditional cane work, basket work, fruit and veg stalls...

The Hindu temple is famous for being on the edge of the sea, it seemed to spread over a large area of land with various buildings - all appeared in the open and not as ornate as say a Buddist temple.

To reach it we had to travel along streets filled with stallholders selling their wares - after the entrance to the temple - in the grounds!

Have to say the prices were extremely cheap and we succumbed to buying an essential toy boat, a nodding head wooden turtle and a large holdall to take all our swag home! All for about £14. Nothing was labelled - the price was what you haggled it down to, rule of thumb seemed to be 60% to 70% of the original asking price.

Although the temple was a busy attraction we still were able to get some decent photos.

Part of the temple can only be accessed at low tide - typical we arrived at the wrong time!

The extensive temple gardens ran along a cliff edge



Back in the bus and another 2+ hour drive through some countryside with rice paddy fields with workers wearing the traditional trangular looking straw hats, cows on the roadside but mainly more congestion. The amount of traffic was staggering especially the tides of motor scooters. The driver said this amount of traffic was unusual, they must all be going our way he said.

We arrived at the Uluwata Hindu Temple with just half an hour for a quick reccy before the main attraction, an open air traditional fire dance show - called Kecak an old ritual  “ Sanghyang” trance dance.It told a tale of a princess being tricked into being kidnapped by a nasty piece of work before being rescued by a white monkey.( Carol’s interpretation -  it was much much more complicated than that).The show was accompanied by a choir of men singing in trance-like chants which sounded like continuous tonal grunts. The finale involved a ring of fire from which the white monkey was reborn. Afterwards there was much merriement with members of the audience drawn in to the fun. Sadly many people were leaving towards the end of the performance to be first out of the car park... how rude!

We all had to wear either sashes or sarongs depending on our dress - the written info stated this was a requirement to enter the temple but as all the obvious places of worship appeared closed it seemed more a ruse to add to the show atmosphere. The men had to wear one  also if their shorts were considered too sexy, which obviously applied to us.( think all with clothing above the knee - he flatters himself - C)

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Graham and George model their sarongs.

The chorus arrives

The baddy monkey with the princess’s friends

The mischievous white monkey hero

The reincarnation of the hero monkey

As we left the open air theatre area we witnessed a beautiful sunset.

The temple is surrounded by monkeys and we were warned to keep hold of our belongings, especially our phones and cameras. On the way back, taking advantage of darkness we saw a couple of strikes; one monkey nicked a large bag of crisps from a shop causing a fight between monkeys and dogs, and another stole a bag from a small child.( sadly the photo Carol managed to take of the crisp thief captured a rather risque angle of the monkey’s private parts rather than it’s face so thought best not show it..did get the bag of crisps in though!)

Here’s another viewpoint - the dog did manage to snaffle some crisps whenever the crisp carrying monkey moved.

Back in the bus - where we kept catching glimpses of a gynormous landmark with a golden budda like statue in the middle of it - we named it The Big Thing as Carol had asked Graham what that big thing was whilst travelling on the tender to the port. Sadly although we thought we may be travelling nearer The Big Thing we never actually got to see it close to, and after about 45 mins of driving through cut throughs and traffic we arrived at a beachside restaurant where tables were laid on the beach with the tide crashing in the background. All under pretty party nightlights with music provided by local musicians. All very lovely but we were all very hot and tired after a 8 hr+ day with just water to drink. Sadly the promised seafood dinner was not as good as promised (over-cooked) so we asked to leave earlier than planned.

Another 30 mins ride to the port and a 30 min tender back meant we arrived back just after 10.30 pm - a long, tiring but interesting day. Hopeful taxi drivers were still at the port trying to fix a client for tomorrow.

The Big Thing from afar. It is located in a lovely park evidently, not far from the university and where we had the concert, so with hindsight it would have made more sense to see that and the concert and cut out 3+ hours of bus travel.

Thurs 28th Feb.

Sunny, 32 degrees.

A lazy day on board - we couldn’t face the hazzle of tender transfers and taxi hagglers. So nothing to report other than the usual sunbathing, pool dipping, eating and drinking...and tomorrow’s a sea day so more of the same.....

Indonesia - Komodo

We had thought we would post all our visits to Indonesian islands in one blog. But we have so many photos to share the app we are using keeps crashing. So we’ll post them individually. So here’s Komodo....

Tues 26 th Feb.

Sunny, 30 degrees plus.Humid.

Today we visit Komodo to dragon spot.

We woke with the beautiful sight of the ship anchored off the coast of a collection of islands including the Komodo Island National Park.

We dressed with care - nothing red in colour was recommended - Carol deciding to take no chances with orange or pink shades either!

Apparently you are not allowed on the island if you have an open wound or if a woman is menstruating.

We joined our group and met our guide from Komodo Tours who was accompanied by 2 National Park rangers each carrying a dragon weapon... a tall forked stick! Apparently they shove it in the dragons nose if it gets aggresive ... not being totally persuaded this would protect us we made sure we were in the centre of the group at all times.

We walked a well worn trail through the park, quite crowded at times, stopping to hear about the local flora and fauna from our guide. The villagers that live here do not have access to health care so rely on use of traditional plant and herb remedies to treat various ailments. One plant has sap which can stop bleeding in a couple of minutes and glue cuts together! Our guide explained that most of the guides live on surrounding islands and only travel here by boat to conduct tours when cruise ships come in. A handful of park rangers only live permanently on the island. 

Sadly for us - not for the guides - there was a steady procession of tourists on various tours pouring all over the dedicated tracks. Therefore when we spotted dragons, their nests, droppings, etc  it was difficult to get a good photo without someone else or their selfie stick in the picture.

People also insisted on being the subject of the photo with the dragons playing understudy - which have to say got on our nerves. “Gee honey, get my picture with the lizard thing in the background”. Why not get your picture with your leg in its mouth you idiot!

Such a rare species of lizard - the largest in the world, around for millions of years should be admired from afar in our opinion. Also we were just a tiny bit scared... These things can move fast if they want to and are full of bacteria - one bite can be fatal. They are wild and are free to roam the island and can (and have) come into the village to take domestic pets and even sadly on one occasion a small child. However, the cynics among us felt that on this occasion they may have been lured into a specific place perhaps with water or food for the tourists to gawp at. Those in the pics that we saw were about 3m long with slithery lime green forked tongues.

The female dragons lay about 15 eggs at a time and hide them in a nest consisting of a mound of earth (which we were duly shown). The Mother then goes off and leaves the eggs until they hatch about 3 months later, at which time she returns .... to eat some of them. Yes, the life of a young dragon is tough. The ones which hatch early must scrabble up a tree and hide, living off insects and smaller reptiles until they are around 5 years old and too heavy to climb the trees any more. The ones which hatch late, well, they’re an easy meal for their Mother.

Wild deer are the food of choice for a dragon. The dragons don’t hunt like a lion or tiger but lie in wait near a waterhole and pounce. Once bitten, the victim is doomed as deadly bacteria assures its slow death whence the dragon will track it down for the meal. The wild deer too were victims of the selfie sticks.

Our group - Carol now a honarary stick guide

After an interesting if crowded tour we ran the gauntlet of souvenir stalls and failing to buy anything went back to the tender point for the ship. We got 2 free postcards from the guide though. We expected a few souvenir stalls but were surprised at how many there were - the shouting and beckoning went on both sides for about 300m. Any currency accepted.

As we waited to return to the ship on the getty we were blown away by the fantastic scenery. The water was so clear  that we could see corals and many tropical fishes with the naked eye - even a small shark (not in the photo unfortunately).

View looking down  from the pontoon 

A few hours later as we sunned ourselves on the pool dack we saw a flotilla of boats leave the bay - presumably the guides and stallholders returning to their own islands.

Boats awaiting the islanders departure home

Tomorrow Bali.