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  • Day 74

    Borobadur

    February 26, 2018 in Indonesia

    We are still in Indonesia, but today on the island of Java. We pulled into the port in the city of Semarang and immediately left for our destination, the Buddhist temple of Borobudur. On the way we stopped for a coffee break. The neat thing about Java is that they make lots of—well—Java. Coffee is one of the major products here, and the java of Java is some of the best. Some computer geeks were once sitting around drinking java trying to figure out what to call their new programming language. So they called it Java and even put a little coffee cup on their trademark. The most expensive coffee in the world is made here. It is called kopi luwak. It gets its name from the luwak civet, which is related to cats, but really looks like a possum. This jungle cat has an extremely sensitive nose. It chooses only the best, ripest coffee berries to eat. It digests the husk, but then passes the undigested coffee berries, which are then collected, roasted and brewed into a very smooth, mild coffee that many connoisseurs consider the best coffee in the world. The Javans themselves lovingly refer to it as “cat poo chino.” In the movie The Bucket List Morgan Freeman played a little kopi luwak joke on Jack Nicholson that was not in the script. The movie is worth watching again just for that.

    After coffee we made our way to the Temple of Borobudur. It’s really not a temple because you can’t go inside it. It’s really just an elaborate set of carvings that tell the life story of Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha. This granite clad hill was commissioned by an unknown ruler, probably in the 8th century AD. As an act of piety Buddhists now come from all over the world to circle its various levels until they reach the top, symbolizing one’s achievement of Nirvana. Yesterday we were on the Indonesian island of Bali, which is predominantly Hindu. Today we spent the day on Java, which is predominantly Muslim. Even so, there were Christians, Jews, and Muslims at Borobudur today, all marveling at this monument that took two generations of Buddhists to complete back before the time of Charlemagne. It sort of felt like home today. While we have a Baptist Church on every block, Semarang has a mosque on every block. Some are big; some are small; some are beautiful; some aren’t. Somehow I felt a kinship to these good people who are doing their best to raise their kids, provide for their families and do what they sincerely believe God wants them to do. So tomorrow is a sea day, then it’s on to Brunei.
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