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Published: August 19th 2007
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Maluku is a delightful group of islands in the eastern part of Indonesia. They straddle the equator directly right of Sulawesi. This part of the world is said to have been the spark that ignited European colonialism. Nutmeg, in the 16th century, was worth its weight in gold in Europe, but here it cost next to nothing. The Banda islands in the south of Maluku province had nutmeg in abundance, growing wild, and it was the only place in the world! The profit potential for trading the spice back home, soon resulted in a long spate of colonial struggles between the Dutch, the Portuguese and the Spanish. A final player arrived in the area last of all: Britain. The British, though, went one step further than their European rivals. They actually smuggled nutmeg 'seeds' out of the country, and took them back to their own, nearer, colony of Sri Lanka, where the soil was equally conditional for cultivation. Not only did this mean that the British could make even more profit through shorter journeying, it also eliminated the Banda islands' monopoly on Nutmeg. This was catastrophic for the other colonial powers, and for the islands themselves, but it changed the face
of European colonialism forever.
Ambon is a city that has had its own, tragic, recent history. In a period in 2002, which locals now refer to (regretfully and incredulously) as 'the accident', large parts of the city were bombed to pieces, and many were killed during intense civil unrest between Christians and Muslims.
It was baking hot when we arrived, and, as well as the usual daunting task of finding a reasonable place to stay, we also needed to hunt out the ‘Pelni’ office, to find out about transport to the Banda islands. This large liner operator is not very forthcoming about giving boat times, unless you come to the port of departure itself. We were eager to find out the times as soon as possible, because we knew our boat ran only weekly and we didn’t want to get stuck in unexciting Ambon. It turned out that we had to stay five nights! This was a fairly uneventful period where our time was split between residing in a nice (but expensive) hotel, and braving the streets of the city, to the constant cries of “Hello mister, where you going?”. Louise felt that the city had a certain
A Five-Legs!
Two wheels, one rest and two human legs give this moving food cart its name. not to miss it. We should have spared the effort though, because after having found an adequate place to park ourselves on the economy class deck, we ended up sitting for four hours on a stationary boat! Large sacks of watermelon and piles of boxes were loaded on and off, and moved about, for what seemed like an eternity. We sat and watched this endless pursuit, as our fellow passengers watched us with equal interest.
Eventually, the seven hour slog began. We buried our heads in our books for a few hours, trying to escape from the thought of the countless cockroaches crawling on the wall behind us. We also wanted to avoid the watchful glare from all around, but we eventually succumbed to the pressure, and began to interact with the locals on the boat. What ensued was a tiring marathon of broken English versus broken Indonesian.
We arrived late on Pulau Neira, (the principle island) and found a pleasant guesthouse in the main town of Banda Neira. Recuperating from the exhausting, hot day, we relaxed with a cool beer, sat on the platform over the water; the dark outline of Gunung Api looming over us. Meaning
literally ‘fire mountain’, this volcano is the central, focal point for the islands. Alan, the English-speaking owner, was a very helpful man, and he effortlessly organised our boat-trips for the next two days.
We drifted out on Sunday morning, on a small boat to the other side of the volcano. Just the two of us and a lone boatman. We had first needed to acquire some packed lunch from the nearby market. Ambling along, we were made to feel extremely self-conscious as the locals whistled at us and stared like they hadn’t seen a tourist in their lives. We spent a hot, glorious day snorkeling among superb, and diverse coral. Watching the tropical fish float peacefully by, we swam hand-in-hand in a romantic underwater experience. The black volcanic rock all around provided a dramatic setting. We stopped for lunch at a small bay, where we raced hermit crabs and lazed in the sun before heading back out again.
On our second day, we teamed up with an Italian guy staying at our guesthouse (in fact the only other tourist we had seen in the islands at all). This time we went further afield, to the outlying island of
‘Hatta’ for more snorkeling, the real purpose of our coming to Banda. Again, we were delighted by the multitude varieties of fish species and coral shapes and colours. At one point, David was encircled by waves of phosphorescence. The highlight of the trip, though, was coming face-to-face with a stingray. These potentially dangerous creatures are so amazing to watch, and when it came into view, we couldn’t believe our eyes, to the extent that David panicked and tried to escape it. Clearly, however, the stingray was more scared, as it quickly fled, seeing the human predators in the water.
We wanted to stay longer, but constrained by the boat timetable, and by visa considerations, it was time to move on. The long, return boat trip was a very different experience. Realising that we were not confined to the bowels of the ship, we ventured to the top deck where a karaoke machine filled the air, and the hours whizzed by as we gazed out to sea. David did a convincing Bee Gees number and Louise selected Abba - how could we resist!?
'Land Ahoy!'
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Amanda
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Hello from back in England!
Hello you two, It sounds like you are having a really amazing experience...real off the beaten track stuff! The snorkelling sounds great. Did you know that Phosphorus compounds are also widely used in explosives, nerve agents, friction matches, fireworks, pesticides, toothpaste, and detergents! Me and Michael are back in England and have already dealt with the transition from 35 Degrees to - 2 and snow! We miss being away but are happy to see our friends, family, cat and house. Cant wait to meet up for camping and other festivities once you are back...but thats a long time yet, so enjoy. xxx