Raphael Kessler

Indonesia is one of those places that has almost anything the traveler might want. It is cheap, it has good weather, good beaches, historical sites, sites of natural beauty, interesting wildlife, world class surfing and diving as well as diverse and interesting cultures. I found the people to be friendly in general although many other travelers I met had poor experiences with the locals. At times I also had problems, most of the problems though were in Bali where the tourists treat the locals badly and the locals treat the tourists worse.

In West Sumatra the Meningkabau culture is predominant. It is unique as it is the worlds only matrilineal Muslim culture, where the property is passed down the female line. The first photo shows the Meningkabau  royal palace, the second a Meningkabau woman making some tea and finally a baboon riding a bike and selling coconuts, I don't understand that bit either.

Off the west coast of Sumatra is a small jungle island called Pulau Siberut. Here live the Mentawai, a largely undisturbed tribe that follow their traditional ways and live similarly to how they always have. Their bodies are extensively tattooed, their teeth are chiseled and shamans and their wives have all their body and facial hair removed. This all seems a bit too much like a brochure or something, but the fact is that they have managed to keep their culture largely intact, despite some interference from the government in the sixties and seventies. They are quite amusing people, when you ask them the reason for certain practices they almost always reply "Because it is what my ancestors did". This is because they have forgotten the reasons and a lot of the symbolism for much of what they do. An example of this is that there used to be seven levels of Shaman, whereas now there are only four, the reason being they have forgotten what the other three levels involved. This is the problem trying to maintain a culture without a writing system.

In the first picture below, Cleopatri is wearing my glasses as I left them on my pack when I went off into the forest. He had found they improved his sight and as I wasn't using them he may as well, these people have very little sense of possession, most things being communal to some extent. The Mentawai are prolific smokers, tobacco being a very important commodity to them, they start smoking at a very young age. The second picture shows the women sitting and having a chat in the Uma (longhouse). Finally is a picture of Aman Lao Lao and I. Aman Lao Lao is the subject of "Mentawai Shaman" an excellent book by Charles Lindsay, with some lovely pictures.

One of the most interesting things the Mentawai do on a regular basis is process Sagu, which is from the Sago palm. Firstly they chop down the palm, peeling back the bark in order to use it for floor coverings or some other purpose. Then two of them grind the trunk into small bits using what is similar to a board with lots of nails in it (photos 1 and 2), then the pulp is chopped up more finely with a machete (photo 3 background). This is then taken to the processing area (photo 3), in this case by a volunteer. The pulp is spread around the platform which is located above a stagnant pool. Then water is poured all over it (photo 4) and the processor jumps all about to squeeze all the juice out, which then runs down sluices into an old canoe (photo 5). The sediment is given a stir and then slowly settles in the bottom of the canoe (photo 6), before being wrapped tightly in leaves from the palm. This parcel (photo 7) is then buried in the mud in the bottom of the stagnant pool, this has been found to effectively kill all the harmful bacteria otherwise present. A minimum of three months later the parcel is retrieved and the women then use more of the palm leaves to wrap up sausages of the Sagu, which is then cooked in an open fire. The end result is ninety-six percent carbohydrate and tastes like it was made by Dunlop. This perhaps explains the chiseled teeth as they need something sharp to chew through the rubbery Sagu.

In June 1999, Indonesia had it's first largely free elections for more than thirty years. At this time I was on an island called Samosir in the middle of the world's largest crater lake, Danau Toba which is in Sumatra. To give an idea of size, Samosir is roughly the same size as Singapore. The people who live on Samosir are mostly Batak. This is a Christian tribe famed for their paranoia, in hindsight, an amusing place to be on election day. Some of the conversations I had with the locals at that time were quite amusing, still in Samosir the day passed without any significant problems. The picture below shows a typical Batak house, in the traditional style. The satellite dish is not so traditional.

One of the most lovely animals to see up close in the wild is the Orangutan. They are only endemic to northern Sumatra and Borneo. I saw these Orangutans in Bukit Luwang, Sumatra. The Orangutans live in the dense forest in the area and sometimes come to the sanctuary in Bukit Luwang to get a free meal. Some Orangutans are being rehabilitated there, hopefully before re-release.  These are incredibly powerful creatures, but at the same time there is a real sense of gentleness.

From Sumatra I went to Java and to Jogyakarta, which is the second city of Indonesia, an interesting place with old palaces and the like. Nearby is the worlds largest single Buddhist structure, Borubdur, which is several levels of Buddhist sculptures. If one walks around all the levels it is a total of about five kilometres before one reaches the top. The first picture shows Borubdur, the second shows a Buddha inside a Chedi and the third the view from the top at sunrise. The fourth picture is of Prambanan which is another Buddhist site just down the road from Borubdur.

In Jogyakarta there are various peculiar things on sale, amongst them are live chicks that have been dyed various fluorescent colours for small children to play with, I presume they either eat them or throw them away when they molt. 

On the eastern end of Java is Mount Bromo, an active volcanoe surrounded by other active volcanoes, the view is quite spectacular, but it is also bloody cold as I was there for sunrise.

Some way east of Java and close to Australia and East Timor is Flores. Unlike most of Indonesia it was previously Portuguese and is animist and Catholic. Keli Mutu is an extinct volcanoe on Flores with three different coloured lakes on top. From time to time they change colour. When I was there they were black, turquoise and purple. Unfortunately it isn't possible to take a picture of all three lakes in one shot except from a plane etc. The first two pictures show the three lakes, the next is a three hundred and sixty degree rainbow that was on top of the volcanoe with my silhouette bisecting it as I took the picture.

On Flores there is an interesting animist culture that involves sacrifices and lots of drinking. The first two pictures show a Bajawan village complete with totems, altars and traditional buildings. The third is of the beach on a nice little uninhabited desert island, north of Riung, where there is excellent snorkeling and diving on the colourful reef. The last picture is of sunset at Labuanbajo, the port at the western end of Flores, from where I got  on a small fishing boat for a few days to Lombok via Komodo, Rinca and Sumbawa.

In Komodo and Rinca I got to see the Komodo dragons, the worlds biggest lizard, growing up to four metres long. These things are perfect killing machines, able to run at up to 40 km/h, to swim, with razor sharp long claws, a tail that can break your leg with a swipe, sharp teeth and jaws strong enough to bite through bone and with bacteria festering in its mouth that will kill a large mammal if bitten.