Semarang, Indonesia

Semarang is a city with lots of shipping and manufacturing (rubber, teak, textiles).
This is a tropical climate for sure with banana, coconut and palm trees everywhere. The low costal land leads up to the mountains, which is where we spent our day.
After a 90 minute bus ride out of the city, we visited a steam locomotive museum and boarded a train built in 1869 for a ride through the countryside along the foot of the volcanic mountains. We rode on the open air train car through rice fields, small villages, fishing grounds and the tropical forest. The sun was behind clouds so the temp was very reasonable, especially in the mountains.
After leaving the train, we rode to a coffee plantation called MesaStila. It was a 55 acre plantation planted by the Dutch government during their rule and is not a resort and spa. Learning about coffee plants was very interesting, walking the gardens was fun, and we also watched the roasting process after walking the plantation.Read more