Only in port for one day, we rode through the city of Semarang on what we now know was absolutely the tiniest bus in Indonesia. Even I had to turn sideways to get down the aisle. After a 1 ½ hour ride up into the hills, we arrived in Ambarawa. A visit to the antique Railway Museum (built by King Willem I in the 1870s to serve Dutch commercial and military interests) was followed by a short (by Indonesian standards) ride over to a coffee plantation. Once there, we were treated with snacks and the best cup of black coffee we’ve ever had (said by two people who always take cream in their coffee). Two beautiful young ladies performed a Javanese dance and then we took a walking tour of the plantation. Banana trees; Coffee bushes (only allowed to grow as tall as these short Javanese can reach); Rubber trees; Cinnamon trees; Cacao trees; Durian trees; Jackfruit trees; Papaya trees; and more. Coffee roasting and rubber processing parts of the operation were shown, and I even got to stir the beans. After purchasing a 1.1 lb bag of freshly roasted coffee beans for $5.00 and which we will keep in our refrigerator, we headed over to the train station for our steam train ride back to the town of Ambarawa. The views were awesome – tall mountains; Lake Ambarawa (means wide lake); rice paddies; people fishing; birds; bridges; motorcycles; families out enjoying Sunday afternoon and waving at us as we waved at them. The ride was long; the bus was tiny; the A/C didn’t work all that well, but what great memories we made.

Final Java information – 80% of Java is Muslim (Sunni). Everyone in Indonesia must declare a religion, to stop communism. Religion lessons are taught in public school and students are separated for those classes by their religion. To attend a religious private school, you must be a member of that religion. On Fridays, members of other religious groups (Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Hindu) act as parking attendants at the mosques so that all their Muslim friends can attend the service. And they all do likewise for each other’s religious ceremony days.

Final Indonesia information – 17,000+ islands; 3,200 miles across; population of 267 million; Jakarta is sinking so the capital is moving to an island; 700+ different languages but there is an Indonesian language that everyone speaks & reads. The country’s slogan is “Unity Out of Diversity” and, boy, do we believe it.