It is amazing that a land composed of 17,000-18,000 islands, a population of 280 million people, diverse religious beliefs and many language dialects could exist as a unified governmental country. Indonesia not only does this but does it with warmth, graciousness, tolerance, hard work and great national pride. The island of Java lies at the geographic center of Indonesia and is home to more than half its people and its capital – Jakarta.
For better or worse, this trip avoided Jakarta (which many said was a good thing) and headed straight to Semarang in Central Java and Surabaya in Eastern Java.
The Indonesians went out of their way to welcome visitors and to make them feel at home with a great deal of warmth, even though their economy is quite depressed. Semarang, although predominantly Muslim, was proud to display its religious diversity and acceptance showing a mosque, Confucius shrine and a Protestant church.
Dancers welcoming the ship in Port of Semarang.
The Central Java Grand Mosque.
Lucky to witness a wedding photo session at the Grand Mosque.
Cute kids waiting for the photo session to end.
Several shots at the Confuscion Sam Poo Kong Temple.
Are your ducks, dragons, roosters, etc. in a row?
Mural at the temple depicting Java’s history.
Organ and dome in a protestant church – Blenduk Church.
With great pride, snacks, drinks and wonderful entertainment were provided to make visitors feel welcome –
Java dance presentation.
A wonderful ‘band’ with vocalist to say goodbye to Semarang.
Surabaya is located in East Java and is the second largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta. Due to its location on the Madura Strait, it grew to be a major port and military power as early as the 15th century and, early on was a competitor to Shanghai and Hong Kong. The city residents are very proud of their city and quite welcoming to guests no matter their individual means.
The Surabaya welcoming committee.
An excursion might take one through a ‘village’ or neighborhood where the residents band together to grow plants for eating and medical care, raise animals and fish for food and generally entertain each other. Again – their warmth in welcoming and pride in their home was on full display.
This particular ‘village’ entered a contest to determine the best village in the city and won! Their prize was a wide screen TV, which went into a communal room where the neighbors could go to watch together as none of the residents had a TV!!
Performers in a small neighborhood cooperative.
All the residents were eager to entertain.
The other half lived around or near the Hotel Majapahit – owned by the same group as the Raffels Hotel in Singapore (remember the Singapore Sling??). This group today was lucky enough to have a spot of tea and eats;-)
Historic Hotel built in 1910 and used as a headquarters by the Japanese during WWII.
Looked a bit like Frank Lloyd Wright – reminded us of home;-)
The old in the middle of the new.
Beautiful grounds!
Back to the other half – railroad tracks running through the city are lined closely with homes.
Diversity was the word of the day here in Java. Whether it was living conditions or religion. But, always present was a welcome smile, warmth and pride!
E & G – grateful for what we have and the ability to do the travel being done;-)
Elizabeth & Gary's Magic Bus Tour 