Semarang is Indonesia’s fifth largest city, located on the north coast of the island of Java. Its history dates back to the 9th century, when it was known as Bergota: by the end of the 15th century, an Arab mullah by the name of Kyai Pandan Arang founded a village and an Islamic boarding school here. On May 2, 1547, a Sultan Hadiwijaya of Pajang declared Kyai Pandan Arang the first regent of Semarang, thus culturally and politically, on this day Semarang was born. On October 5, 1705, after years of occupations, Semarang officially became a VOC (Dutch East India Company) when Susuhunan Pakubuwono made a deal to give extensive trade rights to the VOC in exchange for wiping out a huge debt. VOC and later the Dutch East Indies government established tobacco plantations in the region, and built roads and railways, making Samarang an important colonial trading center. The Japanese military occupied the city, along with the rest of the island of Java in 1942 during WW II. After Indonesian independence in 1945, Semarang became the capital of Central Java province.
Tanjung Emas, Semarang’s harbour is where we were docked and is the very heartbeat of central Java, so the city’s main focus is really commerce and not tourism. The harbour area is large and very industrial and in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the 2 million strong population, these Indonesian people pride themselves as friendly and very welcoming hosts.
Our day began with another welcoming group and then a 3 hour each way police escorted bus and steam train trip to the 8th century site of Borobudur. Borobudur is the world’s largest Buddhist temple and according to records, predates Angkor Wat by a few hundred years and was built by tens of thousands of workers - more than five generations. Fabulous and incredible is the detail to work performed here with the intricate carvings done to reflect the Javanese style, with Persian and even Greek design. This site has been dug out of volcanic ash from an eruption some years ago and has been beautifully excavated and restored over the past years and continues to be an ongoing labour to maintain it against the constant elements it is exposed to. The entire structure was originally made and carved from volcanic rock - just incredible.
Again through the dense population and seemingly disorganized traffic patterns it is amazing to see all the genuine smiles and waves from the people from this part of the world. When asking our guide Hasam about the people and living here and the sense of peace and contentment, he response was quite simple, they have no food shortage problems, there is enough for everyone so if everyone is fed they are basically happy.
Tip or comment of the day. Today comes from our pillow card last night:
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can.
- John Wesley
Tomorrow we are in Tanah Ampo - Bali...
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