January 24, 2019 - Semarang, Java, Indonesia - Thursday, Day 19

January 24, 2019 - Semarang, Java, Indonesia - Thursday, Day 19

Today we are in Semarang. This is our last port in Indonesia on this leg. It is the port that provides for tours to Borobudur, a Buddhist temple built in the 9th century. Over half of the passengers took tours to see this. We did not because we had toured there in 2016.

Instead we opted for the tour, Semarang Sights. This took us out of the city first to a Chinese Temple. Then we visited a traditional style hill resort.  

This old complex was set in beautiful gardens. We enjoyed a traditional snack. The old art works and the antique implements were interesting. Another building housed the museum. here there were many artifacts salvaged from ancient shipwrecks. As we returned ahead of the others we were approached by three vendors selling various goods. We were interest in full figured puppets with articulated hands and rotating heads. These were like the puppets used in the show in Surabaya. After the appropriate dickering we purchased a pair of these, a man and a woman of royalty, for 1/3 of the original asking price. We may have overpaid a bit, but if we did, we do not mind contributing a little more to a needy local man.

Next was the necessary visit to a Batik center. 

This was nice because it provided more depth to the explanation of the process. The retail shop was full of garments and fabric cuttings. I looked at the shirts, but did not find anything. Alice found some fabric she was interested in, but it was clear from the pricing that this Batik was either printed or block stamped. Neither of these is the traditional hand created process. When Alice asked to see traditional fabrics, she was shown 1 piece that was being worked on by a lady at the front door. It was not finished. There were a few more days work to be done on it. This was the only traditional piece in the whole shop. Clearly there is a limited market for this and the profits on the non-traditional fabrics accounts for the broad selection of them. We managed to leave empty handed.

All of these places were 45 to 60 minutes apart through congested towns and over winding and hilly roads. Now it was time to return to the port. Our driver took us through the city. It is very clean. It has an impressive skyline and all of the people we came in contact with were very friendly.

Back onboard we prepared for dinner and went to Mass. We bid fond farewell to our fellow church goers who are living in Singapore on Saturday.

At dinner our waiter, Sinar, was all smiles. He is by nature a happy fellow, but today was beaming because he had gotten to bring his family aboard for a visit. They had come buy bus from their town 3 hours away.

After dinner our room steward, Seger, was able to show us pictures of his family. They had come to see the ship and they live close enough that he was even able to go home for a visit.

We can’t help but feel that under their happy countenance is a bit of heartache as they will not see their families again for many months. We thank them for all they do for us.