A short trip five kilometers (three miles) south of Semarang’s city center transports you to another world entirely, the site of a well-preserved Indo-Chinese–style temple complex. Sam Poo Kong, a temple that honors a Chinese-Muslim leader and cultural icon of that name, is the main pilgrimage site. (The temple is popularly known as Gedung Batu, Indonesian for “stone building.”) Ask to be directed to the cave that houses a statue of the hero surrounded by twinkling lights. (Note: There’s a rule that menstruating women may enter the complex but not the temples.)
