A nightstop in Singapore, exploring the sights

Merlion Park's most iconic resident – the majestic Merlion.

Traditional boats and houses on the harbour front, modern high-rise on the horizon

'Seaman's Paradise'... Only this 'club' stood in an area of redevelopment (near the harbour)

I did not know it then but it would become a sporting pleasure for
me to photograph people handling a camera ☺

During 1981 my wife and I travelled to Asia for the very first time. We were warned by concerned family and friends about properties being easily stolen, tricks by beggars, the food, the water, the change in culture.... But we took the flight by Singapore Airlines to Jakarta and tried to be open-minded about most things.

In green some major visits: Jakarta, Tangkuban Prahu, Yogyakarta & Dieng Plateau. Yellow: the trainride.

Possibly in the garden of the Kartika Plaza Hotel, or a park nearby.

We got a lot of stares by the locals: maybe Westerners out on their own wasn't a common sight yet.

Martinair flew the socalled 'Hadj-flights' and crew stayed in the Kartika Plaza (which brought me a discount too)

We were glad to be out of muggy, stinking Jakarta and found ourselves a taxi to Bandung, via the Botanical
Gardens of Bogor.

It was a bit hectic ride: the driver not speaking a word of English or any other foreign language and he
thought the drive was straight to Bandung... I had to tap him on the shoulder and direct him to the highway exit.
But we got there and enjoyed a guided tour around the beautiful gardens.
After our visit we again continued in a hectic mode as the regular highway was blocked from all traffic, due to
President Suharto passing on that main road... So we drove with millions of other assorted vehicles via Sukabumi,
while the driver tried to make up for lost time !

We found Bandung a disappointment, mainly to do with the first hotel we stayed in. But the excursion to the
volcano saved the day, though we felt less than 100% after a bad night.

This had a lot to do with a bad hotel experience. Hotel Harapan gave us a room which was not very clean,
personnel spoke little English (except the obvious "yes, yes...") and when we returned from an excursion, at 1100 am,
we found the remains of our breakfast had not been removed from our room. No wonder we had cockroaches in
our room!
Also, the taxi we had requested for the following morning, initially did not show up... The reception had failed, again.

We did like the excursion to the volcano ("Gunung") Tangkuban Prahu! It was a tiresome walk through a tropical
forest and sometimes the footpath was hard going, but it was an experience in itself.

The volcano is situated about 30 kilometers north of Bandung and lies at an height of 2.076 meters.
The guide tried to cheat us out of more money, of course, but we did not budge.
We also changed to another, better hotel ('Hotel Kumala'), where we managed to regain our composure.

Boy, it was hot here..!

We visited a worksop of a silver smith and a place where they manufactured 'batik'.

Keeping the fire going

We were impressed by the hard-working people in the glass- and batik factory, though.

We went to the palace of the Sultan, but either the richness did not translate to us or we suffered from the heat:
it did not impress us much.

So many stones, a complex puzzle!

BOROBODUR

I had to use a picture from a brochure to make clear what size we are talking here... The name Borobodur probably / allegedly stems from one of the oldest languages on this earth, Sanskrit and would have meant "Buddhist Monastery"
or "High Place". Unfortunately it did not have the quiet of the Prambanan complex for us and people tried to
sell t-shirts, postcards, etc to the busloads of tourists. The crowds spoiled things somewhat.

The central dome is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues, each seated inside a perforated stupa.

It is hard to believe that this temple has been buried for centuries under volcanic debris and plants!
The 'stupa's' should all contain a statue but many have been robbed or destroyed by muslim vandals.
All the walls, and this is even more interesting than the size of the temple, are decorated with scenes from Sanskrit manuscripts and tell the story of Buddha and the religion. The mural portrays the arrival of Buddhism in Java.

Borobudur has one of the world's most extensive collections of Buddhist reliefs.

As soon as we got out of our van or taxi people showed up to gawk or try to sell stuff.

We chartered a taxi, driver & guide for a daytrip, mainly for the Dieng Plateau (with stops en route)