The Lure of Islands (3): Indonesia, the Island country

The country is a collection of 17,000 islands, only 6,000 of which are inhabited. Some like Java, where the mega metropolis Jakarta (and other large cities) is located, have a population of over a hundred million people. Others are occupied by just a few families under the cluster of coconut trees. The original Ibn Battuta […]

The country is a collection of 17,000 islands, only 6,000 of which are inhabited. Some like Java, where the mega metropolis Jakarta (and other large cities) is located, have a population of over a hundred million people.
Others are occupied by just a few families under the cluster of coconut trees. The original Ibn Battuta wrote in his book, The Rihla, that once a ship he was travelling on passed by one such isolated Island, which consisted of just one family homestead and a canoe tied to its moorings.
He had just resigned as the chief judge of the nearby island of Maldives after a difficult relations with its rulers. He was also leaving behind a wife and small children. He had travelled to most parts of the Islamic world (in the 14th century the richest and most developed part of the planet) and as a distinguished scholar and political advisor, had enjoyed all the splendor it had to offer. But on sighting that small island, with just a man, his wife and kids living at peace with nature, Ibn Battuta said he envied their situation.
Right then he felt he could have given away all his wealth and titles in exchange for such a simple and anonymous life.
 If this was the feeling of a sensitive man 600 years ago, we his followers living in a more complex and chaotic world, are that much more drawn to small islands that promise natural and trouble free living. Indonesia, with its thousand islands, offers a vast opportunity for such escape. In fact the challenge is to choose where to go, between Islands made popular by tourists and the ones off the beaten track. I decided to try the  two varieties.
The most popular island destination in Indonesia is Bali and it was easy to see why,  when I began my Indonesian adventure from there. The airport was very crowded, with budget flights landing every few minutes from Europe, Australia and other parts of Asia. The road traffic was also busy especially to the central beach of Kuta, where I had booked a hotel. Once in my room with its sweeping view over the Java sea, I began to appreciate the charms of this much visited island.
 Bali has many beaches and more hotels per visitor than most places I have seen. It became known to Western pleasure seekers through fun-loving Australians, the richest country in the neighbourhood. Young white hippies, fascinated by the exotic people and the sea, soon made Bali a byword for wild beach parties and all-night discos. But it’s comfortable resorts and five star hotels have also welcomed many well-heeled visitors either for holidays or conferences.
 Bali is a Buddhist community in a largely Muslim country. There are temples and statutes of gods and goddesses everywhere. But religion is mainly ceremonial and social life is very relaxed and liberal. Except in small rural settings, the life on the Island is almost totally dependent on the tourist trade. Most Balinese either work in hotels, restaurants, message parlous, or as tourist guides or drivers. A cross between Indians and Chinese, they are smallish and unthreatening and culturally suited for the hospitality industry. (Which by the way Nigerians are not! Despite the efforts of our colourful new tourism champion, Mrs Mbanefo, it would genius, not bluster, to turn Nigeria into a mass tourist destination. The odd, hardy traveller may venture our way, but most tourists are too concerned about their safety and comfort, to take the risk. Then there is our bossy attitude, which rub visitors the wrong way. An American journalist told me that in a Lagos hotel, as soon as he sat down for breakfast, a waiter came over and put a plate on his table and shouted “eat, eggs!” He pleaded that all he wanted was toast and coffee, but the man continued to order him to eat eggs!).
 Anyway back to the gentle ways of Bali. I hired a pleasant young driver, who spoke adequate English to show me around. We headed north to the less crowded part of the Island. The scenery was stunning. Most postcards of Bali show ridges of rice farms clinging to mountains. There were lots of these as you get outside the urban areas. But there were also mountains and lakes and dramatic waterfalls.
 We stopped in a few village markets and the profusion of colourful fruits and vegetables was a feast for the eye and then for the stomach! I bought all the fruits that were new to me and ended with a large sack of them. We made other stops for food and coffee, of which Bali has its own exotic brands. As usual with tourist guides, the driver took me to prearranged handicraft and batik shops where I obliged by buying a few shirts.
 He tried to convince me to try a Balinese massage, but there I drew the line. Delicate looking Balinese women have developed this skill to a high art, which has been exported to other parts of the world. Male and female visitors would be persuaded to have the real thing on the Island, complete with exotic oils and hypnotic lights. But except at the high end resorts, where you pay through the nose, some of the massage parlours in town are thinly disguised prostitution joints, where for an extra fee you can have more than a massage!
 Bali is enchanting and a well-developed tourist haven, which takes care of all your whims. While Ibn Battuta is not indifferent to creature comfort, my dream island is not so crowded, where you bump into more Australian back-packers than the islanders themselves. So even as I mingled with other tourists on Kuta and other beaches on the Island, my heart was yearning for the quieter islands elsewhere in Indonesia.
 After searching the Internet and reading some travel books, I settled on a string of islands called the Malukus, which are at the far eastern end of Indonesia in the Moluccas sea. One travel brochure called them “ Indonesia’s best kept travel secret”.
They are also known as “Spice Islands”, because, when they were colonized by the Dutch in the 16th and 17th centuries, their fertile volcanic soil were the source of the lucrative trade in spices such as cloves and nutmeg, which were a novelty in Europe and were used to preserve food, in medicines and even as aphrodisiacs! Those were the days when sweet smelling cloves were worth their weight in gold, but now the trade in spices has moved to more accessible places such as India and the Molukus have returned to their obscurity.
 To reach them I had to travel overnight by plane, first to the central hub city of  Makassar, before connecting another flight to Ambon, the regional capital of the Maluku.
 We arrived “Ambon Manise” or beautiful Ambon (in the local dialect) as dawn was  breaking and as if waking from a dream, I sighted from the window of the plane the arch of a wide bay with the most gorgeous beach you can imagine. Next week, I will tell you more about this visit to the backwater islands of Ambon, Ternate and Tidore, places where few tourists bother to go due their remoteness.