Blogs from Maluku, Indonesia, Asia

Vonku pod mrakom. Na terase zjedene keksy, oznamenie, ze tu ostavam este jednu noc. Podla recepcneho kijang do galela by mal chodit i z pred ubytka. Zastavil som troch no ani jeden nesiel, tak isto ani dodavka angkot. Nuz tak pesi busom prechadzam celu jednosmerku co je vlavo od ubytka. Tu sa pytam dvoch domacich co cakali pri ceste, ci galela. Ukazuju na prichadzajuci kijang so zltou spztko (to su oficialny prepravcovia, cervene su statny a cierne obycajny ludia ale i ti funguju ako taxi) Pytam sa na cenu,25k, podla recepcneho mala byt 30k. Este ked som povedal galela tak sa pytal na kontretnu dedinu. Podla mapy pri jazere to mala byt soa sio. Neskor sme sa cestou opat zaplnili. Nesmel chybat vojensky check point aj s gulometom. 25km ubehlo rychlo. Opat dedinky, pobrezie, dobra vozovka ... read more

It’s a question I’ve been asking myself the past ten days, and I’ve had plenty of time to think about it, with nothing to do but stare idly at the white sandy beach in front of me, with its swaying palms and aquamarine waters. It certainly has the cards for it. A plethora of brilliant beaches that seem to have dropped right out of some glossy travel magazine, offshore coral gardens, dreamy islands, a mini-mini-mini-Raja Ampat in the form of an isle dissected by the turquoise seas and split into a jigsaw puzzle of tiny rocky islets in strange forms and shapes that reflect in the clear blue waters, begging you to swim down one of the secret channels to find out what is hidden there, or to walk on top and look down on the ... read more

Three hundred and fifty years ago New York was still called Nieuw Amsterdam. And three hundred and fifty years ago, the British had a useless speck of an island in the Banda archipelago. Useless though it was, as the Dutch had destroyed all the nutmeg plantations on the island, which was the original reason for the British to set up shop there, it was a bit of thorn in the side of the Dutch who controlled the rest of the islands and thus the lucrative spice trade. The British, basically, were an irritating nuisance, too close for comfort to the important Spice Islands. The Dutch tried to dislodge them several times, when this didn’t work they burned down all the plantations in order to render the island useless, in short they tried everything to get rid ... read more

Ed eccomi qui ad Ambon seduto al tavolino di un caffe' con una busta di tabacco a buon mercato, carta, penna ed una fumante tazza di pregiatissimo Kopi Luwak; cosi' va la vita nel lontano Oriente, dove con una tazzina di liquido ottenuto dai chicchi di caffe' defecati da un quadrupede ci si puo' bere lo stipendio ricavato da una dura giornata di lavoro di un nativo del posto... Sapore intestinale dolciastro, aromi di animale rinchiuso in gabbia, residui di alimentazione forzata: e comunque non riuscirei a distinguerlo da un Kimbo qualsiasi! Cosi' va la vita nel lontano Oriente... Scappato da Singapore, lasciata con successo Jakarta, quasi alluvionato a Makassar (e scippato miseramente nel bel mezzo dei mari del Sud) il Mercante e' riuscito finalmente a raggiungere le lontane e mitiche terre delle spezie, le Isole ... read more

So the morning Emma had been looking forward to had finally come. We hired a bike each to take us to the airport - again one building next to a runway about the width of a dual carriageway.But before this we had to get through checkin. We had read some of the small print on the ticket over the last few days and started worrying over the *no change of name* clause in it. We started to think that the fact our names showed as Friedrich and Christina might cause a problem. As it was a domestic flight our passport shouldn't be needed but so far we usually got more attention at airports than most as we were Bulé (the local word for foreigner which is usually shouted to alert everyone we are in a shop ... read more