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Previous Australia
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Capital: Jakarta
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Having sampled and enjoyed Indonesia in Bali and Java (I've worked in Jakarta in 1994), I naturally wanted to see the southern islands on my way home. I was pleased to have satisfied my curiosity about Australia but after 7 weeks there, I was glad to move on to more exotic places where coping with culture shock would add to my pleasure. I stayed three weeks and travelled 2100 kms before flying from Bali to Brunei. |
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| Lonely Planet CIA | ||
Kupang, at last a taste of adventure. I was slow getting through customs and when the last airport taxi tried to charge me four times the going rate, I decided to hitchhike in town which I did with a Chinese family who explained that most of the local commerce is in Chinese hands because the local population don't work as hard as they do. I asked them to drop me off in the center and I set off to find a hotel in that area because the places recommended by my Lonely Planet guide book were too far out for my taste.
I enjoy being on my own like this. Kupang center was busy, colourful and full of noises and odors. After walking around for a while, I finally I found a place that suited my purpose. The big advantage of travelling light is that I can carry my bag a long way without effort (the small bag you can see here weighs from 5 to 10 kg depending on how many books and what food I carry). The Sea Breeze hotel was well located and cheap (2.30US$), but it was pretty basic, I didn't mind the scruffy wall because the bed was clean and Abdul, the owner, was an interesting young chap who, with two of his friends from Jakarta spun a tall tale of how he had been an addict and had lived off drugs when he was living there (now he was reformed of course).
I spent a couple of days at the Sea Breeze where also stayed Alistair (UK), Matt, (AU) and the very colourful Jurgen (DE) who trundled a huge bag on a two wheeled trolley instead of carrying a backpack. The four of us were going to Flores so we had a few beers and enjoyed the sunset at Teddy's bar next door.
Getting aboard the ferry Kelimutu was in itself an adventure, we left the hotel at 5 am and rushed to the port of Tenau by bemo (small van) to catch the ferry before its sailing time of 6 am... then, we waited until it arrived at 10, fought through the crush of several hundred passengers all trying to get on at the same time to get the best places on board and finally departed at 11 am for the 12 hour run to Ende on Flores. We met two other backpacking deck space passengers. There was not much to do on board so the six of us took turns watching our bags while the others slept as well they could under the burning sun. We split in Ende, I stayed there, some went to climb the volcano Keli Mutu and others carried on to get to Bali quickly.
These young tuna merchants in the Ende market were so enthusiastic about being photographed that I'm sure they wanted to be noticed... so, now that they are on the world wide web they will really be noticed.
This bamboo and thatch house somewhere between Ende and Bajawa is typical of Nusa Tenggara (The South East Islands). Houses on Sulawesi (the big island north of here which I hope to visit some day) have a different style with peaked roofs.
Islam has become dominant in Indonesia but the ancestral Animist beliefs permeate religious expression everywhere including in the Hinduist, the buddhist and the Christian minorities. This mosque in Bajawa serves a minority for the Portuguese and Dutch occupations have left a majority of the population of Flores nominally Christian. For example, this small town of Bajawa is surrounded by the villages of the very traditional Ngada people who have enriched their original Animist religion with some selected Christian concepts.
Bena, about 20 km from Bajawa is one such village. The two square structures in the foreground, called "Bhaga", and the round structures further down, called "Ngadhu", symbolise the presence of the ancestors of the community and are central to the Animist rituals relative to crops, to fertility,to births and deaths.
On this terrace, two Ngadhu which are masculine are in the foreground and the corresponding feminine Bhaga are in the background. In between lies an array of stone slivers and slabs also related to ancestor worship.
The predominance of religion in the lives of the Ngada people is evidenced by the importance of the family shrines occupying a position of honor in front of each house in Bena. In this case, the megalith element appears more important, in others the Bhaga-Ngada element predominates.
The Ngada people maintain their traditional values and customs but do not shy from charging entry and photo fees to the curious strangers who come to Bena. Having paid these betel-nut chewing ladies I tried to get them to smile but they steadfastly refused to show their blackened teeth.
Fortunately it is relatively difficult to get to Bena and few tourists come here. I hope it will remain so and that this beautiful compact community will keep their values and not be degraded to the status of zoo animals. Can you imagine the nightmare of seeing half a dozen 40 passenger busses where I stand plus two rows of souvenir peddlers and two or three Coca Cola signs adding colour to the browns of the village!
The rugged terrain of Flores has contributed in isolating communities such as the Ngada one from the other and explains the striking linguistic and cultural diversity found on this relatively small island (Manggarai around Ruteng, Ngada around Bajawa, Ende & Lio around Ende, Sikkanese around Maumere and Lamaholot around Larantuka).
Fortunately the mountains slope down to the sea on the north coast and lush plains there sustain a highly productive rice agriculture.
Labuhan Bajo on the west coast has a beach resort atmosphere not found elsewhere on the island. Alistair and Jurgen caught up to me here after climbing Keli Mutu and we planned our visit to Komodo to look at the monsters on the following day.
To get to Komodo, we first took this ferry and then transferred to a smaller boat that could come alongside the small dock at the government tourist camp Loh Liang on the island.
We had a glimpse of a small fishing village called Kampung Komodo but went directly to Loh Liang. The facilities of this government establishment were comfortable, the services were well organised and the dragons were appropriately horrible.
We walked a hour in the jungle to view the famous dragons in their natural environment but I didn't get a good picture there so here is a shot of one that was roaming free around the camp. That ten foot beastie commonly called "Komodo Monster" is in fact a lizard of the "varanus" family that grows to this exceptional size only here and on the neighbouring islands (I saw smaller varanus lizards in Yala Park in south east Sri Lanka).
Leaving Komodo reverses the process and implies a short hop on a small boat to get on a sea going ferry for the five hour trip to the port of Sape on Sumbawa island.
We split again in Sape, my companions took an express air-con bus direct to Mataram on Lombok island and I took a local bus to Bima one hour away. Small, busy and commercial, Bima is different from the Flores towns and definitely Muslim; it even has a Sultan's Palace. I had a large air-con room with private sit-down toilet and mandi for 4.50US$ (The mandi is a large ceramic tile reservoir built into bathrooms from which water taken with a dipper for washing or flushing. It is found all over Indonesia).
Ordinary busses are generally crowded in Indonesia but bus travel is quite inexpensive (4.50 for the 5 hour, 180 km run from Bima to Sumbawa Besar). The bus was crowded but the exceptionally beautiful mountain and sea coast scenery made every minute a treat.
The terracotta tile roof of this typical Sumbawa country house shows a degree of development over Flores where roofs are more likely to be thatched, split bamboo or rusty corrugated iron.
In Sumbawa Besar I had a nice room in the Losmen Taqdeer for 2.70US$. It rained, rained and rained. I sat on the verandah a watching a dozen children joyfully playing under the downpour in the narrow alley in front of my losmen. When I took out my camera, they noticed it and gleefully crowded if front of me to be immortalized. They were just delightful! What a difference with the well fed and well dressed but reserved children of New Zealand and Australia!
Television reaches everywhere, in some places, 50 channels by cable, in others, half a dozen by satellite! The high priority and value given to communications can becomes evident when the cost of a family's satellite dish and ancilliary electronic equipment it can equal if not exceed the cost of their house.
From Sumbawa Besar I took a bus direct to Mataram via Poto Tano, in the left background where we got on the ferry for Lombok just one hour away. In many small ways, I have perceived a certain evolution in the degree of development and sophistication of the local populations as I moved west from Timor through Flores and Sumbawa to Lombok.
One but not the least of manifestations of civilisation is reflected in the value given to food between that of an essential element of survival and that of a source of exquisite pleasure. After surviving through eastern Nusa Tenggara, I had my first really good meal here in Mataram . Obviously this Mayura Palace reflects a degree of social organisation much more sophisticated than that of the intersting Ngada society of Flores.
Lombok's principal urban agglomeration includes from the western coast to the interior in the east, the four cities of Ampenan, Mataram, Cakranegara and Sweta. A mini megapolis, I coudn't tell where one ended and the other began. I think that this picture of a colourful individual playing a bizarre Indonesian instrument on a street corner was taken in Ampenan but it could have been Mataram for all I know. Anyway, I liked his music and made signs of appreciation....
Leaving Lombok, I took my last Indonesian ferry at Lembar for the port of Padangbai on the eastern coast of Bali. The fleet of fishing boats with their typical outriggers is coming into Lembar bay as Iam leaving for Bali.
There were very few tourists in Padangbai when I arrived in March so the beauty and natural charm of this this small fishing village was not overcome by the loud crowds that come through here in the high season. The Balinese are very religious and their blend of Hinduism includes numerous Animistic beliefs as evidenced by the eyes on the bows of these traditional fishing boats who are supposed to ward off evil spirits.
Candidasa, a dozen kilometers east of Padangbai was once a small fishing village but now it has become a tourist center with more than 70 losmen and hotels. It also offers several excellent restaurants some of which provide traditional Balinese dance entertainment. Here, I found the Baruna Water Sports dive shop with whom I went wreck diving off Tulamben on the north coast.
Candidasa is a charming place in the off season when it is not too crowded and it never gets as hectic as Kuta so it can be a good place to visit all year around. I stayed at the Lilaberata Homestay where I had a nice cabin facing the beach for 4.50US$ Two ladies came around and I let them give me a great one hour massage out on my cabin verandah (also for 4.50US$).
A community of the Bali Aga people can be found not far inland from Candidasa. The Bali Aga culture is the odest on the island; it predates the arrival of the Hindus in the 11th century. This culture still survives in the traditional village of Tenganan shown here.
This structure is reserved for ritual community assemblies and traditional festivals. The Bali Aga have maintained their customs here but now they live mostly by selling their handicrafts to tourists. They specialise in high quality ikat weaving where the warp and weft threads are tie dyed before being woven into cloth.
The island of Bali is a Hinduist enclave between predominantly Muslim Java to the east and Lombok to the west. The Besakih temple on mount Gunung Agung (in the background), is the "mother" temple or spiritual center of the unique Balinese religion which integrates ancient Animism and ancestor worship into an Hinduist mainstream.
The day I visited Besakih was a holy day with a steady flow of thousands of Balinese dressed in their "Sunday best" coming to the temple to pay their respects to the gods. This staircase leads to the main gate which, in conformity with the Balinese tradition, is built like a tower split in two halves.
The Besakih temple is actually not one temple but a large complex of inumerable temples honouring every god of the Balinese pantheon and representing every district and major town of the island. It is the temple of all Balinese. On a holy day like this one (unfortunately I did not make a note of the nature of the occasion), people come from all parts of the island to pray and offer gifts of flowers and a few grains of rice to the divinities.
These two ladies are leaving the temple. Having carried out the appropriate rituals they probably feel securely integrated into their human and spiritual community. Anyway, they do look happy, don't they?.
It is obvious that the Balinese love rituals, ceremonies and processions. They need very little excuse to organise parades like this one in Ubud.
This is the world famous white sand beach of Kuta. It looks nice and peaceful now but you should see it swarming with white and red sunburnt tourist bodies in full season!
