Semarang, Java, Indonesia
Good morning, Campers! Our excursion today is entitled Vintage Train & Plantation Visit. This morning, we will meet dockside, please have your tickets ready. There will be two buses for transportation today. The Falk’s are in group one, also called, for who know a why, Group 10.
We are surprised to see that today we have a police escort. The driver just explained that we would never be able to get through the traffic without it with sufficient time to get back to the Mariner before she sails this afternoon at 17:00. Looking out the window it is very easy to see he has a good point. We are on our way to the Indonesian Railway Museum in Ambarawa about an hour and a half from the quayside where the Mariner is docked.
The ride is taking us through the city of Semarang which looks very similar to Benoa or Surabaya. Even with really good timing and police escort the guide says it will take us over an hour to get to Ambarawa.
The guide is continuing to talk. Hearing him is ok, understanding exactly what he is saying is something else. He is working very hard on trying to get the group to speak Indonesian. Obviously, he is very proud of his language and country. However, those of on the bus generally have problems understanding.
Even though Indonesia gained its independence after World War II, we were in school and brought up to think of it as either the Dutch East Indies, or even Java, Bali or some other island name. The cities, in fairly recent times, reverted back to the original or historical names that were used prior to the arrival of the European. These names are difficult for English speakers, or maybe all on-Indonesian speaking, people to pronounce. Ambrarwa for example used to be called Fort Willem.
Riding through the countryside listening to the guide we look out the window. The terrain is changing as we climb into the countryside. We have gone from dense, crowed, smelly city to the suburbs. Houses are still tightly packed together. Some neighborhoods book clean and modern. Others look a little better than shanty towns. There are still a lot of traffic. There is still quite a bit of trash on the roadside.
We continue on towards the the guide points out various picturesque parts of the landscape. Rice paddies start to replace houses. Orchards of coffee trees. Rubber trees. We are now riding along side the Dana Rw. Pening, a large lake to the south of Semarang. We take a right, keeping the lake on the left and skirt around the lake.
He points out that some of the rice fields look flooded while others are quite dry. Apparently, the recent rains have flooded some of the fields to the point where the rice may actually die. Others it is possible that the levees between the paddies was broken during the storms. Agriculture is like getting old, not for the faint of heart. We are passing a man in the field who is rototilling the paddy with a device that was probably designed a thousand years ago. Another man is crouching near by repairing yet another one of these devices. The marsh around the lake if filled with birds. A beautiful sight.
We are pulling into the parking lot of Ambarawa Railway Museum (Museum Kereta Api Ambarawa) in Ambarawa, Central Java, Indonesia. Ambarawa was used for military purposes during the Dutch colonial administration. Just before entering we passed the ruin of Fort Willen I, known as Benteng Pendem locally. It is currently being restored. The railway museum was once the Willem I station. It was a station built in honor of the services of the King of the Netherlands William I.
There are a number of different trains here. Most all of them stream locomotives. The guide is trying like crazy to tell us the history of the station and about steam trains. However, he can barely be heard over the local band playing rock music in the station for our entertainment. Walking around we have discovered there are 21 steam locomotives, a display of how the cog train system worked for going up into the mountain, and a hydraulic diesel engine.
We are standing around waiting anxiously for our ride on the steam train. It is about fifteen minutes late so far. Finally, we hear a steam whistle off in the distance. Perhaps it is our train? We can now see a one hundred plus, probably, year-old steam engine and cars backing into the station. Stepping into the car is like stepping back in time. The plaque on the wall of the rear of the train says, “CR:56-I, 3RD CLASS RACK TRACK COACH). First date placed in service, September 9, 1907. In operation for 66 years. Rebuilt on June 30, 1973. Overhauled June 30, 1976. Length of Body 9 meters.” There are a few other points, but you get the idea. We are riding in a 117 yer-old rail coach, and third class at that.
Our destination is a place called Bawen. We are heading back towards that big lake. It is a short ride to Bawen, we think the guide said about eight kilometers. We are beginning the ride through town. People are watching the old train move along and wave at us. We, of course, wave back. We are now entering an area nearer to the lake and begin seeing rice paddies. Lots of rice paddies. The guide said that people here each about a kilo of rice a day. That just doesn’t sound right. Maybe cooked rice?
The guide points to a group of people often in the distance in the middle of rice paddy. He says they are racing pigeons. Straining somewhat hard, we finally spot a pigeon racing towards the group. The guide says these are training groups. They remove a mating pair from each other. Take one of them further out into the rice paddies. Then let one go. In theory they will race back to their mate. The only ones that don’t are looking at the dinner table. Ha Ha Joke.
We are pulling to the station and preparing to disembark from the train. Apparently, these trains don’t run all that often because there are people taking photos and videos of the train. Next to the train as it pulls in are our buses. Timur for another ride.
We are off again. This time, the guide tells us it should only be about a half hour. We head back towards the lake towards Losari. Sixteen minutes later we are in Losari. It helps to have a police escort! Lunch is at the luxury five-star MesaStila Resort and Spa.
The parking lot, at least for buses, at the bottom of a “hill”. Please recall it is close to or about 32 (90) degrees with the corresponding humidity. Once out of the bus you realize that we have climbed into the mountains or hills. It is a bit cooler. Still the cobble stone path up to the reception is a bit of a doing.
The reception building is the 19th century Losari railway station. This place is truly gorgeous. Rolling green lawns well planned pathways. We walk down the other side of the ridge to the open-air restaurant. A buffet is laid out that looks beyond anything we have seen so far on the trip.
This food is magnificent. It is flavorful and, even though it is a buffet, nice and warm. Truly this is a five-star resort. They tout it by saying: MesaStila is a luxury five-star resort & spa that incorporates an unparalleled collection of remarkable antiques and enchanting buildings; including Central Java icons such as a colonial railway station and historic joglo-villas. At MesaStila the focus is on luxury yet keeping the traditional, local and wholesome experiences intact, which accentuate the magnificence of the environment, the people, the culture and facilitate a healthy lifestyle-full of wonderful experience. It lives up to its advertising.
We take off walking down the path and in among the coffee trees. This is my first time seeing a coffee tree, Mary has seen them before while she was in Guatemala a couple years ago. The resort’s guide is telling us they grow three types of coffee here – Arabica, Excelsa and Robusta. He is pulling the leaves off the trees and a few green beans. He is trying to explain the how to identify which tree is which. It is doubtful if anyone can possibly remember it all.
We are continuing to walk down the path back down towards the parking lot through the coffee trees. At the bottom there is a drying shed for the coffee beans. Apparently, they break the husk off the bean. Separate the beans from the husk and then dry age the beans for about a year before roasting them. Entering the shed we get to observe the roasting process.
Talk about small batch roasting. There is a cylinder, looks much like the butter churn in Berbenno, which is mounting on a hand turned spit. The guide says the cylinder holds 25 kili or about 55 pounds. They are roasting the coffee over a wood fire! Honestly is smells like they are burning it.
Then they dump the hot coffee on to a wire based wooden frame and rake the coffee with wooden rakes to cool it off. Now it really smells like coffee. There is a place here to buy coffee, but the guide says we will have coffee and deserts up at the main reception area – at the top of the hill. We are also learning that most of, about 90%, of the coffee they produce here is from the robusta coffee bean.
Now he wants us to walk back up the cobble stone pathway to the coffee tasting. Walking isn’t that bad but being a little less than stable walking on the cobble stones, and uphill, is proving a bit of a challenge. But there is coffee and sweets at the top of the hill, so trekking on!
We are out on the veranda of the reception area. They are pouring coffee, tea and fruit juices. There is a small buffet of sweets to choose from. We sit with Rosanna and John from Canada. The coffee is REALLY good. We you are at the source of a product it is probably as good as it gets. The wood fired roasting does seem to add quite a bit of flavor.
Well, the break is over, and it is back to the buses, police escort and eventually back to the ship. It has been a long day. Thankfully tomorrow is a day at sea to recuperate and rejuvenate.
You can visit MesaStila on line at www.mesahotelandresports.com/mesastila . A two night stay with spa treatments, meals and airport transfers will cost you about 10,100,000 to 12,200,000 IDR. About $675 to $820 US. If you are a runner they have a Sweat, Breathe, Conquer The Trail even in October. 65k, 42k, 21k, 12k and 6k events. Called the MesaStila100. WWW.mesastila100.com .
Good day, Ciao Enrico e Maria
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