IDUL FITRI - The End Of Ramadan ...yikes!

Tonight's the night. There's a street party going on, truck loads of boys and men dressed in head scarfs being driven at breakneck speeds down the streets to the main mosque, police every where with guns ..big Russian looking guns!

Every one is in a happy mood and the ambiance reminds me of the build up to a summer Festa in a Maltese village. Kids are throwing fire crackers, fireworks are being set off and there are people on balconies or roofs watching the scene below. I decided to pick up last minute supplies for the Kei islands after dinner and spend an hour or so at an internet cafe I found along the way, near the mosque.

The truck loads of men in head scarfs are just the sort of scenes right off the TV news only on the news they look really sinister, here you get the feeling that they're just the village boys dressing up for the party. Idul Fitri or Eid is just like Christmas to the Muslims, its a big annual event. But as I get closer to the action, the very thought of being the only white person for miles and miles and the fact that the end of Ramadan is sometimes a time for the extremists to rediscover their passions, I decided it wise to seek refuge at the super expensive internet facilities of the 5 * star hotel across the road from my guest house instead.

The men on the trucks and police and the rest of the crowd scream out 'Hey Mister' (every white person here, man, woman or child is Mister to the Indonesians) to me as I walk past and the mood is jovial enough. I have never yet felt in danger (apart from the flying :) whilst in Indonesia, people here are extremely friendly and generally want to interact, practise their English and make contact with the 'White Person'. However it does become more noticeable that the deeper one goes into the more remote places the more kids, women and men stare!

Tomorrow I am off to Paradise... the Kei islands have mobile reception but no internet, I shall be taking notes :) in order to keep you abreast, the Banda Islands are reputed to have internet access (probably tortoise powered) but no mobile phone access.

Im excited and I have 9 gigabytes of mobile space for the next set of photos!

Kota Ambon

So picture this, I wake up with a smile on my face reminiscent of the ones I had earlier on this trip. Its the smile a 10 yr old wakes up with on Christmas morning. I'm going to The Spice Islands today!! At 10.45, I fly to Kota Ambon with Merparti on a Boeing.... meaning that if it goes down, it would be reported (ie more than 10 passengers on board) the downside however is that this is Merparti therefore the Boeing will be a thousand years old and held together by masking tape... !! So the chances of it going down and being reported are fantastic! :)))) ouerr!

I get to the airport and I check in. Easy enough. Then I felt the distinct need for cheek(iness). I attempted to sweet talk Merparti into refunding my missed (because I changed my mind) flight of yesterday, Manado to Kota Ternate. My hopeful & fictitious excuse of engine trouble on a boat off Bunaken and the 'miss-connection', a word inputted with a knowing nod by the member of Merparti staff helping me, (Christian - Merparti's Mgr at Makassar Airport) resulted in me being handed back 80% YIPPEEEE It's amazing what a smile can do!!! :)

Now I'm scanning the departure lounge for another bule (foreigner), there are 2 but they're not on my flight, Father & Son. No surprise but jeez I wish there was one on my flight...

Then I get on the plane. I had asked for a window seat and got one (12a) on the left. So I ask the air hostess if it were possible to change seats as I would like a window seat on the other side... BOY I'm in a demanding mood today aren't I! :) What the heck after all the conversations I've had with friends I now feel I'm risking my life to fly to Indo's most beautiful & best kept secrets.

I get my wish, I'm placed on the other side of the plane at a window seat, one row behind my original seat and in the emergency row which now means that a portion of the wing is blocking my view but relax, at this point I decide I've already been given enough for one day and I still get a partial view.

To get this seat a rather nice looking man in his late 30's was asked to move (hehehhee) this was Dr Zol I found out later. So hey here I am sitting in the emergency row with a Javanese Doctor (who's wearing very fashionable Gianfranco Ferre blue retro styled specs) at my side. I couldn't be safer, if something was going to happen I'd have had all best opportunities of getting out alive and being cared for at the crash scene, if only I could keep him alive too. And of course it would be reported news! :)

The whole point of wanting to move to the other side of the plane was actually to catch a glimpse of the Banda Islands before we landed in Ambon but unfortunately they weren't visible!! Instead I made a good friend out of Dr Zol. He is married but that hasn't stopped him taking me out on a 'date'. A day time date with a Muslim in Ramadan, its pretty interesting. I was watered and feed 'Rujek' (chillies fruit salad and crushed peanuts - actually really good) on the waterfront of Natsepa a town on the east of the island. His English is good and we had quite a laugh before he drove me back to town and dropped me off in the safe hands of my new Dutch friends Ive made here at the guest house in Kota Ambon!

Ambon reminded me of Hawaii when we came in to land, very tropical and so green but its not as well manicured as Hawaii is. It's actually quite wild and true to the image I had of the Spice Islands. Full of Cloves, they are all drying out in the sun on the side of the roads and you can smell them when you drive past. We've explored the whole island, seen remnants of the Christian/Muslim war of 2002 and found the best beaches and generally had a good time.

On Friday I fly to the Kei Islands, this will be the highlight of the trip! The sand is white and so fine and soft, its a better texture than flour. I'm not kidding Ive actually seen and felt it already, the dutch girls have an old water bottle of it.... can't wait, then Banda and a couple of great dives I hope!

OK Folks more later, pics too as having problems with my pic storage.

Bunaken

View of Siladon from Bunaken

Bunaken is beautiful. It all started when we got to Makassar last Tuesday. We had a Garuda (National Airline, they're all dodgy) flight booked for the next morning up to Manado which is the closest airport to Bunaken. On arrival at Makassar it turned out that Garuda had re-scheduled our next morning flight to the evening of that same day which meant we'd lose a day in Bunaken. Nathalie and I stood there at arrivals in a state of confusion, do we book a Lion Air flight, there was one available at midnight or do we stick to the 'safer' airline... after a few horror stories back and forth to remind each other what the airline track records were here we decided to risk it and go with Lion Air. (!!) That flight was scheduled on a new Boeing (info frm Nathalie) and boy we choose right. This meant that all though we'd get into Manado at 4am we could be picked up by Lorenzo himself (the guesthouse owner on Bunaken) and be taken to the island that same morning. Lion Air in fact, we were told later, is the safest airline to date as they've recently bought so many new planes.

Further down the beach from my Tree House

Arriving in Bunaken was bliss. The east coast of the island is a mix of mangrove forests and tiny deserted beaches whereas the west is mainly beach and lots of 'bigger' developments. We stayed at "Lorenzo's" on the east coast. It's a guest house on the beach that offers bungalows and one tree house on the beach itself... and what did I opt for? Of course the tree house and NO regrets it was so lovely.

My tree house

My nickname became 'Jane' and I had to endure smart comments such as 'where is Tarzan' which were made at my expense ;) but at 85,000Rp about $9 a night for full board and lodging it was a bargain! And a really cute home.

We dived with Living Colours which is run by a nice Finnish couple and the other divers there happened to be a really great bunch. We really had a good time and were in bed by midnight each night to rest up for the dives ahead. It's a really quiet place.

Arriving at Lorenzo, Lorenzo and son on boat

The island has 4000 inhabitants in three villages. I got to see one village and hear the inhabitants again last night as there was a wedding and the stragglers weaving their way home were a little drunk. The island has one or two concrete paths that link the villages and these paths are lined with the tallest palm trees I've seen to date. I asked my taxi driver (motorcycle) whether he was scared of a coconut falling on his head and he laughed. I was. These people truly live in Paradise.

Nathalie and I were discussing over lunch one day how lovely 'Lorenzo's" was and how good it was to live simply and exactly an hour later we happened across a Living Colours dive boat that was off an afternoon dive to Siladen, the neighbouring island, so we jumped aboard and hitched a ride. When we got there we parked ourselves on the beach of a really swish 5* resort and giggled whilst we sipped a glass of wine and enjoyed the fresh water shower on the beach. The rest of the water supplies elsewhere were brackish and oh boy did it feel good to be clean!

Sunset & Wine on Siladon. Bunaken and the dormant volcanic island of Manado Tua as a backdrop

Diving here is a little expensive in Asian terms especially with Living Colours but they were located next door, professional and just a great crew. However I might be tempted to use another dive op on a future visit as the others are significantly cheaper

Leaving this morning

Originally I had booked a flight to Kota Ternate on Saturday for the start of my Moluku trip but having heard that the planes used on the route were small propeller jobs and after Nathalie's story of plane crashes with less than 10 passengers being not reported as it's not 'news' I changed my mind.

I'm now back in Makassar for the night and tomorrow morning I'm off on a Boeing flight (with Merparti - yet another local airline) to Kota Ambon. I've heard that there is a ferry to the Banda Islands from there next Friday and I want enough time to explore Ambon and the neighbouring Lease islands!!

Sulawesi To Papua through the Spice Islands

Exciting, 'The' long awaited trip has finally begun! I have great expectations for the adventure I embark on and I hope that it will live up to them all. I packed this morning with a desert island in mind, that exercise is supposed to tell a lot about a person. But I wont divulge my secrets just yet!

I am here in Makassar with Nathalie, we landed this afternoon at 5pm and we will shortly be whisked back to the airport to catch the Lion Air flight to Manado.

First stop is Bunaken another World Class dive spot. I have had to put my surf board away for a month but there will be many more opportunities for that!

Get your maps out and have a look: Sulawesi: Bunaken, Togean Islands, The Moluccas: Kota Ternate, Sula Islands, Kota Ambon, Banda Islands, Kei Islands and Papua: Palau Biak, Jayapura. There are some pretty remote islands here and the write up in Loney Planet explains that these would be 'The Next' holiday locations, if only it were easier to get here! :)

Traveling through remote Indo takes time and I have 29 days and counting! Wish me luck.