Semarang, Indonesia

The destination today was to the restored Temple of Borobudur. It is the site of the world's largest Buddhist temple built around 800A.D. You circumnavigate the tiers until you reach the top of this magnificent structure.

We had a police escort for the 3 hour journey. Between Semarang & Borobudur, you pass through a variety of agriculture, homes, and businesses. We saw rice paddies, coffee plantation higher up, tea plantation, crops of cabbage, carrots, potatoes, fruit orchards (salak, also called snake fruit, bananas, papayas, durians) and tobacco field. Temanggung is famous for high-quality tobacco. It is used in traditional kretek (clove) cigarettes. These cigarettes are made using a complicated procedure that involves a mixture of different tobacco and cloves. The sauce added can contain up to 100 different ingredients.

It was a most interesting day. I didn't make to the top of Borobudur but Gary managed. It was bloody hot and humid!!Read more