Mount Bromo

 

Taking the ponies to Mount Bromo

Our excursion today was to climb 2329 meter Mount Bromo, one of seven active volcanos on Java. It last erupted in 2011. We started with a one-hour bus ride through the city. Soon we were climbing the mountain and even had to resort to first gear occasionally. We stopped for a snack at a hotel and transferred to 4 wheel jeeps to proceed. Four of us singles formed a group for the jeep: Linda from Las Vegas, Jeff from Ohio and Geoff from Melbourne. The road was narrow but paved as we climbed through the bamboo forest. As we proceeded, farms began to appear with vegetables growing on the steep hillside. Finally, we reached the caldera of the volcano. Here we mounted a pony who took us across the sand flats and started a climb up the crater. 

The final ascent

The final ascent was a steep staircase of 250 steps. The rim of the crater was 3 to 10 feet wide, so one had to watch your step. I could hear the gurgling of the steam, smell the sulfur dioxide, and see the steam rising. Occasionally the wind would blow the steam so we could see partially into the crater. I walked back to our jeep. We stopped at a viewpoint on the way back, but the clouds obscured most of the view. We had a good lunch. As we started back to the ship we had our afternoon rain.

Surabaya, Java, Indonesia

Mary and John at Bajang Ratu Gate

We spent all day on our tour to the Archeological sites of the Majapahit Hindhu kingdom. We left the 3 million people in Surabaya to drive into a countryside of rice, sugar cane, and assorted other fruits and vegetables. We had a police escort because even the freeways are bogged down by slow moving trucks and numerous scooters. We started at the Trowulan Architectural Museum. We were entertained by local dancers who shared a welcome dance followed by a dance to fight evil spirits.

Then we saw Buddhist and Hindu statues as well as reliefs from the temple. The museum was filled with kids on school trips, they were excited to say ‘hi’, high five, and wave with foreigners.

Lord Vishu mounting Garuda 

We went on to the Tikus temple, a ritual bathing pool, which contained the holy water from the mountains.

Tikus Temple

Sea day on the way to Indonesia

 

We went to several talks to learn more about Indonesia. The cultural talk today focused on Bali. Over 40% of tourists’ visits are to Bali. In contrast to the rest of Indonesia, Hinduism is the primary (87%) religion here. Islam came to Indonesia in the 15^th century, many Hindus fled to Bali. Bali’s style of Hinduism includes elements of Animism, making it more attractive to the people. Bali is known as the Island of the Gods with over 20,000 temples. There are some cultural taboos: the left hand is considered unclean, and one never touches someone on the head. The head is considered the seat of your soul. Nyepi the day of silence, is the day to convince the evil spirits that the island is deserted. Every business, school, and even the airport is closed. Throughout Bali, you will see Bantan, offerings to the gods. Caning Saui is a daily small offering. Banten Tegala is a stacked offering of fruit. The most interesting cultural fact is the Metatah ceremony where the canine teeth of the teenager are filed when they reach puberty, the ceremony to become an adult. Filing the canine teeth makes them human, different than other animals.

We began what would become a nightly ritual. We had first seating at a table of eight. Last night, we had one other couple Indonesia at the table, but we soon learned they preferred the Lido for dinner. Tonight, it was just us at our table of eight. After dinner, we would go to the Billboard lounge and listen to Megan and Gabe, who played hits on two pianos. 

At Sea on the Noordam

 

We arrived in Singapore at 7:15 on Sunday morning after leaving Denver at 5:30 PM on Friday. We boarded the ship, Holland America’s Noordam, at about 1 PM. We’re learning about our ports of call and the culture of Indonesia during our two days at sea. Indonesia consists of 17,508 islands and 277 million people. It also has over 700 languages and more than 600 ethnic groups with unique cultures and ethics.

Torajan Houses

Our speaker explored the Torajan people who live in the mountains of Sulawesi island. The houses are unique in the shape of a saddle back, believed to have originated from turning their boats upside down. This culture is known for their death rituals, which last several days and involves the whole village and possibly nearby villages. It may cost up to $100,000. This requires the family to save up over years for the rite. Meanwhile, the body us mummified, dressed in clothes, and stays with the family. It is fed, clothes are changed and even given cigarettes if they smoked. The funeral itself can last as long as 12 days with meals of Buffalo and pig. The body is buried in the caves of the mountains with a wooden statue of the deceased in a balcony in front. Once a year, the body is brought out, dried and clothed with new garments, and paraded around the village.

Wooden statues in front of grave site

Copenhagen

 

Our final day began with a bus tour of Copenhagen. Denmark is the oldest kingdom in the world. The 83-year-old Queen abdicated this year in favor of her son. He is well loved with four children being educated in public schools. He has become “Denmark’s best marketing department”. We stopped first at Churchill Park with the Gefion Fountain, Gefion was a Norse Goddess who turned her 4 sons into bulls. She was promised whatever land that she could plow in a day as belonging to Denmark.

Little Mermaid

We went on to see the Little Mermaid in the harbor and the Rosenborg Castle Gardens. We took in one of the markets, where we saw the Danish special: open-face sandwiches.

Rosenburg Castle Gardens

Then we were given free time in the town center. Many went souvenir shopping, it was our last day. After lunch at an Irish Pub, I took in the 17^th century King’s New Square and New Harbor, the 18^th Century Marble Church, and Amalienborg Palace, the residence of the Royal family.

New Harbor

This was a great trip:  seven interesting countries, great lectures on local topics, unbelievable weather for September (60s and 70s. only one day of rain), friendly and helpful crew members (many of us needed help to our cabins on the one stormy night heavy waves). The highlights were the Vasa Museum in Stockholm and the documentary film about the “Singing Revolution” followed by touring the sites in Tallin, Estonia. Our guide, Julia, was a great representative of Finland, the happiest country in the world. And we bonded with quite a few of our fellow travelers.

Mary with our guide Julia

 

Day in the life on Bornholm

 

Citizen Committees

We started our day in one of the nearby towns. Jurgen, our speaker, has a background in public transportation systems. He was quite proud of working with both the public bus and school bus systems on the island. By changing school starting times, he managed coordinate these two systems, so that he increased the ridership by 70% and the bus system became profitable.

Historically. Bornholm’s economy was primarily fishing. But fishing has declined with overfishing combined with more pollution from fertilizer. Meanwhile world trade has flourished with large container ships reducing the cost of transporting goods. Thus producers need to efficiently produce large quantities of high quality goods, usually requiring the producer to be in a large city. But large cities also have a high cost of living. What do you do in a rural area like Bornholm?

Today, it only takes about 100 farmers to produce the same crops that use to take 5000 farmers on this island.  Our citizen committee decided to concentrate on local food and handicrafts to support tourism with the initial funding coming from the EU. We are seeing success. The island has recently won a Michelin star restaurant and a world prize in crafts.

Nelson, Miya, and Fred at the organic farm

Organic Farm

We then went to Hammersley organic farm. Our hosts, Nelson, Miya, and Fred all had advanced degrees in agronomy. This is their third season running the farm. They rent the land from a firm whose purpose is to encourage organic farming. Many of the 150 shareholders also volunteer at the farm. The farm operates as a CSA, community supported agriculture, with 65 customers who pay up front for a share of the crop. Currently, the farm produces about 50 varieties of vegetables (including 7 types of tomatoes) on their 20 acres. They are growing new unfamiliar vegetables, so they give their customers recipes for them. They are also selling to 10 local restaurants.  In addition, they are renting part of the land for wine grapes and an orchard. Next year, they will be growing mushrooms. 

Vegetable rows 

We had lunch of salad and an open face sandwich of breaded fish. We spent the afternoon in the village of Gudhjem.

The Village of Gudhjem

Bornholm, Denmark

 

Smokehouse

The Denmark flag is the oldest national flag in the world. The legend is that the Archbishop of Denmark prayed in 1222 for God’s blessing against the Swedes and a red flag with a white cross floated down from heaven. Bornholm is a 30 x 40 km. island only 30 km off the Swedish coast. It has 14K people living here. Fishing was the primary industry, but now agriculture and tourism predominant.

Hammershus Castle

We visited a former smoke house. Here the women smoked the fish and then hung them on racks to dry. The island is primarily made of granite in the north and we saw several quarries. Our most interesting stop was Hammershus Castle. Built in 1250, this was once the largest castle in Scandinavia. It was deserted in 1525 when the Germans took the island. We explored St Olaf’s Church, a Nordic Round Church built in 1115.

St. Olaf's Church

In the afternoon, we took a hike from Gudhjem along the coast from the seashore to the cliffs and through the forest. We made good time, so the bus driver suggested another short walk to his favorite spot on the island.

Hike along the coast

That evening, Krishna, our restaurant manager, MCed the Crew Show.