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Tomorrow I will go over to the Volcanic Island of Tidore and spend a few days by the sea - I hope. There hasn't been much 'sea/beach' in this year's trip (apart from the 6 days diving/snorkelling at Alor) due to the nature of the geography and the LONG road and sea travel I've had to fit into my two months.
MOROTAI 20/9/10: You may remember the island of Morotai from your WW2 history. I left Ternate, Nt Maluku capital on the slopes of the volcano, about 10 days ago. Boat south to the island of Tidore (also named by the Portuguese) for a few quiet days away from the 'ojeks' (m/bikes) and always-loud karaoke style (terrible) music. From there I went by boat to Sofifi on the west coast of BIG island of Halmahera.
I will never complain about the weather again after what I've been through over the past week: EXTREME HEAT as well as unbelievable humidity in the north of Halmahera and Morotai. I doubt it was just my poor health that made me think that it was the most oppressive and unbearable weather I've ever experienced. I got a chest infection after leaving Ternate about 10 days ago. I think my smokers cough was finally pushed to it's limit by four hours of travel in a Kijang (large hire car) with a man who smoked non-stop, kreteks (cloves) as well as tobacco and all the windows up. Before that there were several boat trips with stinky motors.
The scenery is unbelievably beautiful - volcanoes just rising straight out of the sea and the island of Halmahera is like a crazy 'K' shape with volcanoes and jungle covering each peninsula. The best days were on a motorbike in the breeze, exploring the north. Many burned out churches and mosques from the 'troubles' during the early part of this decade. At that time there were many people killed in the religious conflicts all over the Moluccas. Allah Akbar - God is great! (He/She's got a lot to answer for).
I met a fellow Irishman, Michael, in Tobelo, North Halmahera. He's married there with an 18 month old daughter. We went out snorkelling in a hired boat from 8am till 6pm. His wife's cousin Benni was with us too. Michael's wife Vina lost her mother and younger brother during the conflicts as they tried to escape by sea west to Manado. The boat overturned in bad weather and not one of the 500 passengers 7 crew survived.
Enough of the sad stories - some of the best time has been sitting around in the relatively cooler evenings -with the street vendors and the big orange-selling ladies, practicing my lingo. Or sitting at the warung in the evening eating the eternal nasi (rice) - again!
Lots of Muslim girls in here doing 'Face Book' or is it 'Buku Wadja' or 'Buku Muka'?? All dressed in the veil and all posting their IDENTICAL pictures!!! ("Does my head look big in this?") Whatever your politics on the veil I think it's a crime that even young girls of 5 or 6 have to wear it in such atrocious heat, particularly in Morotai and north Halmahera. I was sitting in a temporary warung last night, chatting to the locals after a good feed of nasi/ayam goreng when someone shifted a pavement slab and disturbed a nest of hundreds of giant cockroaches. You should have seen them running about with lightening speed - out under the traffic, up the trees, into the cooking flames then up the table legs and up the legs of the diners before a rat arrived and started chasing them. The other diners just got up and danced around a bit before brushing them off the table and settling down to continue eating!
It seems like more than six months since I've left home and yesterday I realised it was time I was outta here when I retorted to the billionth 'Ojek Mister?'(motorbike) with a '%$#@***&%$' - I amazed meself with such an expression I've never used before - at least not in that context anyway!
THE SPIT:
Now this is a funny story: in Ternate I was walking along a street a ways further up the volcano and being about midday a beautiful aroma (unusual) made me realise I was hungry. At a 2wheel/2legged cart there was a tall elegant Muslim in traditional garb (last day of Ramadhan) filling a little bowl with noodles, chicken and egg in a beautiful broth. I'll have some of
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