Blogs from Maluku, Indonesia, Asia - page 5

Journey to the Spice Islands - Spice Islands, Indonesia, Asia By: Dave Stocking We recently returned from a trip to the Banda Islands, previously the mysterious Spice Islands. The islands have both a European and a local history. They have long been a major point of conflict for their riches. Getting there is an adventure in itself. This is our trip with a few tips. We are in our mid to late 50s, don’t do hard travel, long bus journeys or speed boats (hard on the back). We don’t speak Bahsa Indonesian, but are trying to learn. We spend a little extra to smooth the trip out, try to avoid too much moving about, hire porters where possible. The journey was from Europe, with a stopover in Jakarta. Not caring for basic accommodation in cities. We ... read more

Not all that much happens on the Banda Islands. The days of crazy foreigners falling over themselves to set foot on the islands - all for a little brown nut - are long gone. The Bandas are a forgotten backwater if ever there was one. Not surprisingly therefore, the docking of a ship as large as the Bukit Siguntang at a port as tiny as Neira Island's is an event. A big event. Arriving in the Banda Islands aboard a PELNI liner is quite a surreal experience. As the islands come closer into view, the ferry suddenly seems disproportionately large. Surely this place, in the back of the back of beyond, does not merit a detour ? Perhaps PELNI stops here purely out of courtesy, as if to send a message to this little specks of ... read more

“Fly is cheap”. That’s the confidence-inspiring slogan printed on the front of our Lion Air tickets. Still, here’s hoping the money they save on corporate image goes towards decent aircraft maintenance. Lion is one of a vast number of recent start-ups in the Indonesian regional airline business. With these airlines, whether your flight departs or not is a matter of luck. Whether your flight arrives or not is, I fervently hope, somewhat less dependent on luck. Having said that, Lion operate a useful direct flight from Surabaya to Ambon, our next destination. Ambon is merely a stopping point on our journey to our ultimate destination, a far-flung group of islands lost in the deep waters that separate Sulawesi and New Guinea. Tiny specks of land which, although practically unknown nowadays, were for hundreds of years some ... read more