Java & Borobudor

After leaving Komodo, the ship entered the Java Sea and, after a day of cruising, we moored alongside the pier in Central Java. The crew is made up mostly of Philippinos and Indonesians. The Indonesian crew has been looking forward to visits by many of their families upon arrival in Java. Most of them are Javanese and the families were able to come aboard and spend the day with the crew members. Some family members had travelled 9 hours, or more, from Jakarta for the short visit.
Marie and I, like most of the passengers, would spend the day travelling to Borobudur. This is a monumental temple complex in the central highlands of Java that is a phenomenal architectural achievement. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site and only Angor Wat in Cambodia comes close to it in terms of mass. Borobudur is the world’s largest Buddhist temple but you can’t really appreciate it until you examine the ingenious design and detail of its reliefs. It rises to seven terraces, each smaller than the one below it. The walls are sculpted in reliefs extending over a total of 3 ½ miles and has 3 miles of corridors inside. It was built in the 8th and 9th centuries and according to records, tens of thousands of workers (more than 5 generations) were involved. It was buried in the Jungle for almost one thousand years until Sir Thomas Raffles (sort of the 18th century Waldo Sexton on a grander scale) discovered it and began excavation. Renovation was completed in 1983.
The trip took 9 hours, with stops, and included a one way mountain passage on an antique steam train. Along the way we were able to see some spectacular views of the central Java highlands and meet some of the local people. Jakarta is the capital of Java and its largest city. The island has a population of 124 million and is the largest island in Indonesia. As the name “Java” implies, coffee is an important export and the island is the 4th largest coffee producer in the world.
We’ve really enjoyed our visits to the Indonesian ports but its time to move on to our next port, Hong Kong, a 4 day passage through the South China Sea.