Mari's Travel Blog: BALI Trip 2014: Crystal Cruise UPDATE, Surabaya, Semarang (Borobudur) & Amanjiwo

CRYSTAL CRUISE UPDATE

SURABAYA

SEMARANG (BOROBUDUR)

AMANJIWO

Crystal Symphony

We are now on the Crystal Symphony. It's amazing how well the cruise is run. All of the common areas are updated and spotless. I love their new colors! The staterooms have wonderful bathroom amenities (Aveda) and the bed linens are really comfortable. Crystal now is offering a "pillow menu" which is helpful for those with allergies.

Crystal Symphony Bedroom

Our first stop was in Surabaya, Indonesia in Eastern Java. The first impression was that almost all of the women were wearing Arabic scarves while the men were in t-shirts and shorts. This differed dramatically from Bali because most of the Balinese people are Hindu. The next impression was that this is a port that should be missed. Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia. It is such a poor city. There were so many litter filled shanty towns with people hanging around doing nothing. The only thing to see was a pretty museum 90 minutes from the port called Pendopo Agung Trowulan. This is where the Majaphit Palace was and it housed artifacts but the artifacts were not dated so it really was pretty meaningless. The best part of Surabaya was returning to the Crystal Cruise to leave. Blunt but true.

Borobudur Temple

Our second port was Semarang in Central Java. BTW: Java and Bali are both islands in Indonesia. While Surabaya was a city of absolute poverty, it seemed as though Semarang was more developed. People were at work. There was less litter and more industry. The homes seemed more established and less shanty town. The challenge of Semarang is that there was one highlight to visit and it was located three (yes, three) hours away. There is only one road to access Borobudur Temple in each direction and it actually took three and a half hours to return. The countryside is quite pretty. It has hills, rice paddies and volcanic mountains – some with steam coming from them.

Amanjiwo

The Borobudor Temple is a UNESCO site. It is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. Have you ever heard of it? I had not! Borobudur Temple was discovered in 1814. It was hidden by volcanic ash for over 800 years. The stone relief panels, 504 stone Buddha statues and bells are stunning and definitely worth visiting. If you have an interest, I would suggest visiting Central Java by land rather than spend the horrible three plus hours in each direction getting to the Temple from the port.

Amanjiwo Bedroom

From the top of Borobudur Temple, you can see Amanjiwo, the fourth Aman property that I visited. We were with dear friends and wanted to treat them to an amazing lunch while I was able to do a site visit of Amanjiwo. Amanjiwo means “peaceful soul” and rests 15 minutes from the Temple in the Central Java countryside. It is breathtaking! From the entrance, you can visually see Borobudur Temple. From the moment you enter the open air reception, you relax. All of the surfaces seem golden. I loved the gold painted Hindu mural in the dining room as we enjoyed our lunch. Amanjiwo offers a Western menu and a separate Indonesian menu.

Amanjiwo

There are 36 villas on property. The size of each villa is the same. The difference between the villas are that some have views of Borobudur Temple and half of the villas have beautiful pools. I loved the use of Javanese art around the property and learned from Mark, the GM at Amanjiwo that this part of Central Java was an artist paradise. Amanjiwo can arrange for private appointments with various artist studios located around the valley. All villas offer the Aman bathroom with dual sinks, closets and an outdoor soaking tub. Did I mention the use of the beautiful Javanese textiles? The food is locally sourced and Amanjiwo is proud to work with the local farmers. Everyday, you can watch local Javanese girls being taught local dances. I also learned that tours could be arranged by car, bicycle, atop elephants or on horseback! This amazing resort is serenity on steroids and a wonderfully romantic place in the world to discover.

Crystal Symphony

We have four more ports to visit during our cruise. Tomorrow, we visit Makassar, Indonesia, followed by Borneo, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore.

Thank you for taking the time to visit this part of the world with me!