A few days back in the small capital of the Banda
Islands, Bandaneira, after two weeks on Pulau Hatta felt like being
in the big city, with motorbikes, electricity and shops! We headed
out to another island in the Banda group, Pulau Ay, through an
amazing storm, with rough seas and water pouring in the sides of the boat- a
sickening experience for Sal.
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| Storm approaching, journey from Bandaneira to Pulau Ay |
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| Dramatic stormy sky, Pulau Ay |
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| Wet boat ride from Bandaneira to Pulau Ay |
We didn't have any expectations for Ay, as we did
for Pulau Hatta, and we immediately liked the laid back and beautiful
island. We strolled up the pier and into the adjoining guesthouse,
scoring a high up room with a balcony overlooking the comings and
goings of the two ferries a day, and the local boys fishing and
playing in the water. For the first night we were alone, then some
welcome lovely fellow travellers arrived to share the place.
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| Pulau Ay pier |
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| View from our room of Pulau Ay pier |
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| Ferry boats from Bandaneira |
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| View from our balcony of Pulau Gunung Api and full moon |
During our numerous and long walks around the
scenic island, we discovered two highlights. The first was the
unusual beaches with curved rocks jutting out onto the sand, with
vines and roots climbing over them. Looking up from the sand into the
jungle was like looking into a dense fairytale. We spent many a happy
hour beach combing the long sandy beaches during the low tide, and
admiring the endless array of photogenic colourful wooden fishing
boats.
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| So many boats! Pulau Ay |
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| Beautiful vines on beach, Pulau Ay |
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| Rich and volcano, Pulau Ay |
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| A small remote beach, Pulau Ay |
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| Sal getting creative, Pulau Ay |
We especially loved the island for the light and
airy forests full of giant
kenari
trees with their huge buttressed roots and high spreading canopies-
another prized spice, this one similar to an almond. We explored
extensively, occasionally coming across the coast, but generally
getting lost and enjoying the walk.
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| Sal dwarfed by giant kenari trees, Pulau Ay |
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| Beautiful walks through kenari forests, Pulau Ay |
The quiet and clean village was delightful too,
with some amiable people, beautiful big mango trees over the paths,
no traffic, chilled out cats (so nice to be on a Muslim island with
no dogs!), many little basic shops, old Dutch ruins and graveyards, and
many produce gardens- apparently Pulau Ay is the garden of the
Bandas. For us, it was much more diverse and interesting than Pulau
Hatta.
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| Fort, Pulau Ay |
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| Muslim cat! Pulau Ay |
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| Shutters on little village house, Pulau Ay |
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| Cute village girl, Pulau Ay |
Unfortunately, our last two days on the island
left a bit of a bad taste in our mouths. The first incidence was us
waking up to see the dark figure of a man attempting to enter our
room in the night, looking around with a light. Sal's banshee
screaming saw him running away, but it meant the next couple of
nights sleeping with the doors closed- very hot when there was no
electricity or fan. The following evening, we were visited in the
guesthouse by an arrogant man and his friends rudely demanding all
guests pay a “Conservation Fee” to him, or leave the following
day, even though we'd already been on the island for a week. We chose
the latter, thereby cutting our visit to the island short by a few
days. Way to make people feel welcome!
PULAU BANDA BESAR
We then found ourselves a bit earlier than
expected back in Bandaneira waiting for a suitable boat to take us
back to Ambon. While were there, we visited the biggest island in the
Banda group- Pulau Banda Besar. It was a welcome break from the more
touristy islands- Bandar Besar has only one tiny guesthouse, lack of
restaurants, and no picturesque beaches for snorkelling, so is less
popular with tourists. There was a shady and tidy path leading most
of way along the north side of the island, and it was most pleasant
to stroll along, answering the many cheerful greetings, and call for
photos to be taken. Much boat building was taking place, and the
overhanging mango and avocado trees laden with fruit, as well as the
lack of motorized vehicles made for a charming day. A visit to the
obligatory fort was a prerequisite, but we were pleasantly surprised
to find much atmosphere still retained, as well as a stunning view.
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| Counting her avos, Pulau Banda Besar |
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| A stroll along the pier, Pulau Banda Besar |
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| Colourful mosque, Pulau Banda Besar |
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| Outside mosque, Pulau Banda Besar |
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| Lovely old pot, Pulau Banda Besar |
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| Typical house, Pulau Banda Besar |
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| Gorgeous view over looking Pulau Gunung Api, Pulau Banda Besar |
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| Local kids posing for us, Pulau Banda Besar |
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| Typical house, Pulau Banda Besar |
We kept on enjoying the local foods on the Banda
islands, pigging out on as many avocados as was possible (30-50 cents for a huge one- can't go wrong!), coconut cake, cinnamon tea, papaya flower
salad, eggplant with
kenari sauce.......and fish, fish and
more fish!!! (We were actually starting to become sick of fish after
nearly two months of eating it every single day).
After the cargo
boat we were hoping would take us on the adventurous route back to Ambon from Bandaneira didn't show, we resorted to the good old Pelni. The boat we chose
this time, however, was small, half empty and took six hours less than the one we took from
Ambon to Banda. We sprawled out on the deck for
several hours until a storm came, when we escaped inside to the
somewhat hot and stuffy, but dry interior section.
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| Route back to Ambon |
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| Bandaneira market on the day the Pelni ferry arrived |
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| Our Pelni ferry seen from our guesthouse, Bandaneira |
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| Leaving the Banda Islands by Pelni ferry |
PULAU AMBON
Our few days in Ambon on arrival back from the
Banda islands were better than our first visit, partly thanks to a
tip from a fellow traveller about a great hotel that was central,
cheap, clean and friendly.
The food highlight of
our
stay was the discovery of a
padang joint that served the best
rich beef
rendang we've ever tasted.......so good we had to go
back for several more days to check it was really that good!
Padang
restaurants (presumably originating in the Sumatra city of Padang),
although a bit more basic here in Maluku, generally have the best
food in Indonesia, and we always seek them out wherever we are there. All the food is set out on plates on shelves, sometimes
with a little white lacy curtain to keep the flies away, and we just
point and choose what we fancy.
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| Our room, Ambon |
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| THE best beef rendang, Ambon |
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| Waiting ojek drivers, Ambon |
PULAU SAPAURUA
We shunned the usual speedboat to Pulau Saparua in
favour of a lovely old wooden “slow” boat. The leisurely pace
suited us- the two and a half hours passed pleasantly and without Sal
being sick for once.
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| Wooden boat from Tulehu, Pulau Ambon to Pulau Saparua |
We immediately noticed two big
differences
on this island, part of the Lease island group near Pulau Ambon. The
first was the fact that the population was overwhelmingly Christian-
the people dressed in a more “Western” style, acted more
confidently (particularly apparent in the young women
),and liked to wear huge silver
crosses around their necks. Dogs and pigs made an appearance, and the
place was jam packed with churches (we counted 10 in the main village
alone). Sunday we spent wandering from church to church
listening to the various styles of singing and services, from serious
Presbyterian to the boisterous Evangelists.
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| Walking home from school, Pulau Saparua |
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| One of MANY churches on Pulau Saparua |
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| Pulau Saparua was full of kitsch Christian statues |
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| Been a while since we saw pigs! Pulau Saparua |
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| Many houses are painted with religious themes, Pulau Saparua |
The other big difference was there were next to no
tourists (or related facilities) and the people were open, curious,
smiling, genuine and welcoming. Fascinated people everywhere were
asking us questions in Indonesian, kids were laughing, screaming and
running away from us, and people were madly waving from motorbikes,
gardens and windows. We really felt like we were back in “proper”
Indonesia!! We were even invited to a new friend's house for drinks
followed by lunch out and a motorbike ride, with an enthusiastic lady
who spoke enough English for a decent conversation. The people seemed
very honest all over the island, and we never felt we were
overcharged for anything. We paid the same as the locals for food and
transport, and there was never that pause before we were told the
price of something (a sure sign an added “tourist tax” was being
added on!)
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| Mad, but friendly family we befriended, Pulau Saparua |
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| Coming home from school on the bemo, Pulau Saparua |
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| Adorable boys, Pulau Saparua |
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| Actually had to coax this lot for a photo, Pulau Saparua |
We stayed in the main town, Kota Saparua, which
was full of quirky styled houses- some with thatched roofs, other
looked like they could have been in a country town in Oz. People here
were very proud of their lovely neat gardens- one lady was cutting
her small piece of lawn with scissors! The daily traditional market
was surprisingly large and varied, with sago in it's various forms
being one of the main products.
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| Cute little house, Pulau Saparua |
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| Thatched house and garden, Pulau Saparua |
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| Smiley man on traditional verandah, Pulau Saparua |
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| A form of sago sold in market, Pulau Saparua |
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| Raw sago sold in market, Pulau Saparua |
We walked or caught a
bemo everyday to a
different part of the island, and were entranced by the extremely
neat and tidy streets, houses and gardens, always with the sea and a
breeze in the background, usually with one or more churches and
baileus (traditional meeting place) as the central points.
The scenery and aspect of Pulau Saparua was somewhat contrasting to
where we'd been- less spice growing and fishing than the Banda
Islands, and provided us with a welcome change after one and a half
months of quite similar sights.
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| Another beauty of a beach, Pulau Saparua |
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| Somewhat gruesome warnings about smoking, Pulau Saparua |
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| Inside of a traditional baileu or meeting place, Pulau Saparua |
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| Little sweetie, Pulau Saparua |
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| View from the old fort, Pulau Saparua |
It seemed to us an affluent island- people were
well dressed, some houses quite grand, and people seemed to have a
purpose- not so much lazing around in the shade! The Chinese portion
of the population added to this feeling of prosperity with their
constantly active businesses. We noticed the exception to this wealth
when we walked through the Muslim village (one of two on Saparua),
with the houses being more scruffy, although the huge mosque was in
perfect condition. There was a lot of inter-communal fighting here in
the late 1990's between Christians and Muslims, and unfortunately,
the result seemed to be further segregation.
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| View of mosque in Muslim village, Pulau Saparua |
Really, the only bad thing about our visit to
Pulau Saparua was the large population of dogs. Mostly they were
timid, scabby things, but occasionally they were ferocious enough for
us to have to carry a stick wherever we went. The downside of
Christian Indonesia.
COSTS
Costs on the Maluku islands we visited were
slightly higher then other parts of Indonesia we've been. In the bigger places
prices of 150,000 rp- 250,000 rp (AU$15-$25) for a room with
breakfast were common. Most accommodation in the Banda Islands was
all inclusive, and for the two of us we paid between 300,000 rp-
350,000 rp (AU$ 30-$35) for a basic room including three meals,
coffee, tea and water per day. Rooms were generally the typical
“rough around the edges” Indonesian variety, while the homecooked food was generally excellent. Food in resturants, while being
slightly pricier than other parts of Indonesian, was still cheap,
with a basic meal of rice, fish and various vegetables and a drink costing between 20,000 rp- 40,000 rp (AU$1.50-$4) per person. As previously stated, we
enjoyed Maluku varieties of food, but will be glad to have a change
of rice and fish when we leave Indonesia! Transport was very
reasonably priced, with bemo (minibus)
trips between 3,000-10,000rp (AU$30 cents -AU$1), ojeks and
becaks (motorbike taxis and bicycle rickshaws) only slightly
more, and the deck class of Pelni being the biggest bargain- around
100,000 rp (AU$10) for a 8-12 hour trip! Mind you, you get what you
pay for with Pelni!! Small public boats between the Banda Islands
were about 40,000rp (AU$4) a trip.
Overall we felt this trip was somewhat of a
disappointment, in a way. For so many years we'd heard and read
about the Banda Islands, and built them up in our minds to be an
exotic far away paradise, way off the beaten track. In fact, with
more flights and fast boats these days, it is easy and quite
accessible to travel to this once remote part of Indonesia, and we
found the tourist numbers to be much more than we expected. There are
limited destinations in the Banda Islands, and we felt as though we
were following all the other tourists around from island to island.
Added to that was the obsession with snorkelling and diving most
other travellers seemed to have- we felt a bit out of place. We enjoy
snorkelling, but our primary reason to travel is to experience new
places, culture, history, food, scenery and meet interesting people
along the way. Our criteria for how much we enjoy a place is not how
great the underwater life is- unlike many other tourists we met in
Maluku. Being at the mercy of erratic public transport was slightly
frustrating, especially when we were caught waiting for some time in
Bandaneira for a Pelni boat. Overall though, it was quite an
intriguing experience, but not the richly adventurous and rewarding
time we've come to expect from travelling in Indonesia.
Anyway, we were glad to arrive back in Malaysia, and hope the next three months here will be a mixture of travel, beaches, relaxing, and some organizing for our exciting upcoming summer trip.
.....next post about the Eastern Delights of Malaysia.....
