SAILING on the Borobudur was like being thrown into an endless sea. As far as you could see, there was only water. Overhead was one big roof of sky, bounded down by the horizon. There was only silence. No matter how loud you shouted, it would be lost in the wind and engulfed by the sound of the waves.

On the boat, life became so simple, the world seemed to circle around the 8th century replica vessel. The one-week trial voyage across the Java Sea,