From 22 to 28 of October 2008, I was in a highland town some distance from Jakarta, Indonesia.

On the 22nd, I flew to the Jakarta Airport and was greeted by a friend, who drove me to Cipanas. Cipanas is typically about an hour and a half's drive from Jakarta. But because of the usual acute traffic congestion, it took us about three hours to get there.

Cipanas is well-known for its mountain scenery and is a favourite place for the local people (especially from Jakarta) during the weekends. It is an extremely cool place (in every sense of the word).

The purpose of my week-long trip was some talks that I was supposed to deliver at the Cipanas Theological Seminary (supposedly the fourth most established theological faculty in West Java). But of course, it was also an extremely pleasant week - because of the slow pace and the chilly air - for lots of personal contemplation and the deepening of my interiority.

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This is the frontage of Cipanas Theological Seminary. It is actually a new block that has recently been constructed and which is still in the process of being painted, so they have yet to inhabit the block.

Cipanas Theological Seminary has over a hundred students from Indonesia (and a very small handful from Malaysia). It is a Protestant seminary owned by the Church of Christ (Gereja Kristus) but which has an ecumenical slant to its scholarship. For this reason, they were extremely open in interacting with the issues which I had brought up for discussion during my visit there. In fact, they have invited me to consider the possibility of assisting them with the development of their doctoral programme next year.

One thing I love about this seminary is that whilst many other seminaries are focusing on the training of seminarians for urban ministries, this seminary has taken the "lesser" way by focusing on the training of ministers for rural ministries. Students are taught more than theology - they are taught how to rear fish, plant vegetables, and make beancurd for economic sustenance. If you have been exposed to theological education only in the West and in urban-type seminaries, the concept of such developmental projects coupled with critical theological thinking would understandably be quite confounding for you (likewise for me).

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This is the "backyard" of the seminary that contains the volleyball court. The block that you see right in front is the hostel for female students, which also houses the administration offices for the time being. On the left is the dining area.

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This is the dining area. Meals are extremely simple here (unimaginably simple to some of us). How about a meal of fried egg and beancurd soup with white rice? Or a meal of two very small pieces of fish with vegetables and white rice? These students are training for rural ministry, which means they have to be acclimatised to an environment of poverty and utter simplicity.

And yet, at the end of each meal, they break out in songs of praise. I'm sure those of you who have met the Indonesian peoples are aware that when they sing, they sing. They break out in beautiful vocal harmonies after each meal to thank the Lord for what He has graciously provided them with.

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I was rather impressed with the library, really. Although they didn't have many journal titles, they had lots of good books in both the English and Indonesian languages. Any library that has Karl Barth's commentary on the Epistle to the Romans must be a good one.

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This is the little road just outside the seminary. Yes, what you're looking at is a horsecart. That's how people travel around that area. Cool huh?

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One of the events organised by the seminary was a 2-hour seminar entitled "Catholic-Protestant Relations: Ecumenism". It was attended by the students of the seminary. In this talk, I highlighted the Catholic priority of ecumenism and also explained the various factors which until now are hindrances to the achievement of ecumenism between the Catholic Church and the Protestant communities.

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These were the students in attendance at the seminar. A closer look would reveal that many of the full-time students of seminaries in Indonesia are rather young. It is something that is apparently encouraged. I was told by the Academic Dean that students who graduated young had many years of ministry ahead of them.

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I was also asked to preach at the chapel service in the morning. I spoke from Ezekial 21:1-17 on how God had trained Ezekial to be a powerful and effective communicator to Israel. The challenge before us was how we could communicate the Word of God to a generation that had forgotten how to listen.

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That's my horsecart. I can't quite remember where I was going at that time, but I got a picture taken just before I went onto the cart. Horses are such beautifully elegant creatures. You should see how the horses have raincoats put on them on rainy days!

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Not all people in Indonesia are poor. There is actually a rather sizable segment of the population which is quite well off. They are rich enough to purchase posh weekend houses in elite areas in Cipanas, and they would come up to Cipanas from Jakarta to enjoy the air during the weekends.

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This was taken on a Sunday morning, just after the Mass, at the Catholic Church in Cipanas. Ignore the two cute girls standing beside me (they're students at the seminary which I visited) and look at the background. Those are traditional musical instruments.

On that particular Sunday, whilst the Mass was still as thoroughly Roman as ever, the liturgy was sung entirely in tunes of the Sunda culture. I couldn't connect with the music, that's true, but it was really inculturation at its best! Even until now, it still rings in my head.

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It so happened that the priest celebrating the Mass at the parish that morning was a guest priest. I met him after the Mass, and once he realised that I was a visitor, he introduced himself to me as a Carmelite priest. He told me that his Order had developed an entire valley into a retreat centre that was able to accommodate 5 or 6 thousand people for retreats at one go, and asked if I would be interested to visit the place with him. Which fool would say no?

So here it is, Lembah Carmel (Carmel Valley). Again, ignore those two pretty girls. Look at the little chapel behind us. That little chapel can accommodate about 300 people with lots of space to spare. Further up the hill was a humungous chapel which could accommodate 4 thousand people!

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This is a view of the frontage of Lembah Carmel from a different perspective. The landscape was indescribable. A vast valley surrounded by mountains, greenery, and infested by clean cool air.

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This is another place called the Cibodas Botanic Gardens. It is a very vast piece of land, again on a very high place, that is preserved as a rainforest. The natural waterfall even flows onto the road, and then back again into yet another waterfall - this must have been one of the most unique waterfall sights I had ever seen.

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More waterfalls.

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This is the iron horse that was used to take me around to Lembah Carmel and to the Cibodas Botanic Gardens. Thanks to Pak Yosef (who works at the seminary) for having so generously offered the vehicle for my use. No lah, I didn't drive it; someone else drove me around.

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