INDONESIA - DAY 2 IN KOMODO NATIONAL PARK: LOH LIANG PARK ON KOMODO ISLAND

 July 12, 2023

During the night, when the tide movements were right (I think around 11:00 PM), the captain drove the boat a couple of hours to another bay. When we got up, we had a not very appetizing breakfast :

But really, it is amazing that they can cook at all in a kitchen this small.

After breakfast we took the small boat to shore to Loh Liang National Park on Komodo Island.

INDONESIA - DAY 1 IN KOMODO NATIONAL PARK: LOH BUAYA PARK ON RINCA ISLAND

 July 11, 2023

Komodo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, comprises three major islands--Rinca, Komodo, and Padar--and a number of smaller islands. The park covers about 542,000 acres, or 847 square miles.

Rinca (pronounced REEN-cha) Island, one of the three largest islands but with fewer tourists than Komodo Island, is famous for its Komodo dragons. Just over 70 square miles, the island has a population of about 1,800 people and 1,300 Komodo dragons. I believe that is the biggest population of Komodo dragons on a single island in the park (and therefore in the world as Komodo dragons are endemic to this area). And yes, occasionally someone is killed by one of the dragons. Our guides told us that Komodo dragons are not venomous, but have dozens of fatal bacteria in their bite.  Some scientists insist, however, that there is also venom in the dragon's saliva. A human who is bitten by a Komodo dragon at the very least may lose the limb that was bitten, and may even die. Go here to see Smithsonian magazine's list of the most infamous Komodo dragon attacks on humans. 

After being ferried onshore at Rinca Island by Elfrid in his motorboat . . . 

. . . we were greeted by this very large statue of fighting dragons--something we would have loved to see played out in real life.

Bob was about to live the dream he had as a little boy--to see a Komodo dragon in the wild.

INDONESIA - BALI TO LABUAN BAJO TO KELOR ISLAND

 July 11, 2023

We got up at 4:20 AM, feeling sleep depreived, and were in the lobby at 5:30 as instructed. Our guide and driver were 15 minutes late, but we had plenty of time at the airport. 

I liked the reminder to stand to the left on the escalator so those in a hurry can get past you.

Another practical feature are the child-sized toilets in the "mother's stall."  Why don't more public restrooms do this? 

The photo murals are unique . . .

. . . as are the swirling fabric fans suspended from the ceiling.

INDONESIA - BALI PART 1: ULUWATU TEMPLE

 July 10, 2023

We drove the last 20 minutes to Uluwatu Temple, which was (surprise!) quite crowded. 

On entering the temple, everyone is asked to put on a purple skirt/wrap or a gold sash. I remember in Thailand the women often had to cover up with similar wraps, but not the men. I'm not sure if this wrap was for modesty or was a gimmick. Either way, Bob wasn't thrilled about it. Welcome to a woman's world, Bob.

By the way, the sign behind us does not have any English, which tells you what percentage of the tourists speak English.  We did see signs in other parts of the complex in English, however--mostly warning signs, which may tell you more about the tourists who speak English.  

Pura Luhur means "Divine Temple." Uluwatu is regarded as one of the six holiest places of worship on Bali. The six places are spread about the island as a way of providing spiritual balance to Bali. This temple complex is dedicated to Sang Hyang Widhi, the Supreme God of Indonesian Hinduism.

INDONESIA: ON THE WAY TO BALI AND A FEW OBSERVATIONS

 July 10, 2023

We originally had a non-stop flight from Sulawesi to Bali, but because we had to eliminate our Sulawesi portion of the trip at the last minute, thereby changing our departure city, we had to now go through Jakarta, and then to Bali, a much longer process with an afternoon arrival rather than a morning one.

We got to the airport early, and after checking in, we realized they had only given us one boarding pass, but we had two flights. We waited in the check-in line again. The counter guy had to call someone about it, and then told us we had to go to the Super Air Jet airline desk in Jakarta to get the next boarding pass. Bob tried to argue, but it didn't help. When we got to our gate, we asked the attendant there. He also had to call someone and got the same answer. I asked if that meant we had to go out of the passenger area and find the main desk, then go through security again, and he said yes. If everything was on time, we only had a 1 hour 20 minute layover.  It didn't seem possible that it could work.

There didn't seem to be much that we could do, so we settled in to wait for our flight.  I passed up the dried fish . . . 

. . . in favor of a chocolate cream puff at Beard Papa's. I know that is surprising.

It wasn't as good as other cream puffs I have had at Beard Papa's, but it was better than nothing for breakfast, which is what Bob had.

INDONESIA - JAVA: SURABAYA, PART 3 (BEING SICK IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY)

 July 7 - July 10, 2023

Our plan was to spend one day and one night in Surabaya and fly out the next morning to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, where we planned to stay at the Tangkoko Nature Reserve for a few days before flying to Bali on July 10th. 

It didn't quite work out that way.

But first, some information about our hotel in Surabaya, the Hotel Majapahit, which played an interesting role in Surabaya's history. It was built by the Dutch colonizers in 1911, then expanded in 1926 and 1930. Charlie Chaplin and various European royalty attended the opening. As a side note, I have discovered that Chaplin traveled to Java, Bali, and Sri Lanka in 1932 and made an amateur film of his time there. He was well-known and hugely popular on the islands, and I'm sure it was a boost to his spirits during a difficult time in his career.

Anyway, the Hotel Majapahit has changed hands and names many times in the last 112 years. Today it is a five-star hotel and one of the best hotels in Surabaya.

Photo from Hotels.com

The hotel neighborhood is pretty swanky.

During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies (what Java was known as prior to and during World War II) from 1942 to 1945, the hotel was used as Japanese headquarters and renamed Hotel Yamato. After the Japanese surrendered, the hotel reverted to the Dutch, who raised their flag over the hotel. However, on September 19, 1945, a group of incensed young Indonesian revolutionaries who saw the flag-raising as a symbol of Dutch colonial control climbed the flag pole and ripped the bottom blue stripe off the Dutch flag, leaving just the red and white stripes, which happen to be Indonesia's flag. It's a story that belongs in Hollywood.

INDONESIA - JAVA: SURABAYA, PART 2 (TUGU PAHLAWAN OR HEROES MONUMENT)

 July 7, 2023

After our jaunt through the Arab quarter, our guide Anwar said he was taking us to our hotel. Bob was not happy and said so, noting we had only been out two hours and had paid for a half-day tour. Anwar asked if we were interested in seeing the Surabaya National Monument, aka the Heroes Monument, which pays tribute to the 1945 Battle of Surabaya that led to Indonesia's independence from the Dutch and British. It was definitely something I was interested in, and so we went, and it turned out to be my favorite part of the day.

The park opened in 1961 and contains artifacts from the Indonesian war for independence. There is an underground museum that we didn't visit, but we really enjoyed the park. The battle fought in Surabaya was the single biggest battle of the revolution. As in Colombia's Medellin uprising against the drug cartels, it was led by young people.

I'm not sure what it is supposed to represent, but the red entry gate is pretty spectacular.

Just beyond the gate is a statue of the hero of the day, Indonesia's first president, Sukarno. (He went by a single name.). He led the struggle for independence from the Dutch colonists and then was president of Indonesia from 1945 to 1967. The man standing behind and to his left is Mohammad Hatta, the country's vice president from 1945 to 1956. (NOTE: The largest airport in Jakarta is named after these two men: The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.)

The plaque on the statue's base has an English translation, which surprised me. We hadn't seen much English in Indonesia.

By the way, these two also make it on the front of Indonesia's largest bill, the 100,000 Rupiah note (about $7).  There is a serious version . . . 

. . . and there is a happy version.

Behind the statues are pillars from the occupiers' government building, reminiscent of the pieces of the Berlin Wall on display around the world that have become symbols of freedom from outside control. However, the fresh-looking writing on these pillars in English was a little disconcerting. It doesn't look authentic.

Gate, statues, and pillars from behind:

Sukarno, who helped build Indonesia as a democratic nation, was supported by the United States, but over the years he became more and more reliant on the communist party and the military to maintain his control over the country.

President Kennedy and Sukarno. Photo from here.

Sukarno was made "president for life" in 1963 and had developed a personality cult. He was deposed by the military-backed Suharto regime in 1967 and placed under house arrest, where he died three years later of kidney failure. Nevertheless, this charismatic leader (who had 10 wives--some at the same time) is still revered as the father of Indonesian independence.

The focus of the park is a 135-foot-tall obelisk dedicated to the heroes of what they call the 10 November 1945 battle. Opened by Sukarno on the seven-year anniversary of the battle in 1952, the obelisk has become the symbol of the city.

The Indonesian flag waves in the background. (It is the reverse of the Polish flag, which has white on the top and red on the bottom. More on its history in the next post.)

View from the bottom looking up and with us in front for perspective on size:

The park surrounding the monument is really nice. I'm surprised there isn't more information about it on the web. I could hardly find anything.

I noticed these two young women surreptitiously taking photos of us with their cell phones. (Was it my hat again?) I made Bob stop and pose with me, and then I asked them if I could take their picture. Aren't they darling? More than any country we have traveled to except, perhaps, China, we got the sense they don't see many Americans. However, they must see a lot of Dutch tourists and other Europeans, so I wonder what makes us stand out?

It must have been my hat, as it had been in the farmers' market.

This is the Indonesian equivalent of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, known here as the Tomb of the Unsung Heroes. It is set in the middle of a beautiful water feature. I read somewhere that it includes remains not only of local soldiers and civilians killed in battle, but also of Dutch and British soldiers who also lost their lives in the conflict.

Close-up of the battle scene:

We were there (and looking a bit too jolly for the action behind us)!

The oddly-shaped building across the street from the park is the East Java Governor's Office.

I can't believe the Heroes Monument isn't the first thing on a tour guide's list of places to take visitors. This is where our tour of Surabaya should have begun. Having been there and gotten a taste for Indonesian history and nationalism, I began to notice other war-related items around the city, like this statue in front of a business.

In general, we have had pretty good luck with private tour guides around the world, but this was one of our worst experiences (although we had another bad guide coming up in Bali). We had gotten everything we could get out of Anwar at this point, we were starving, and Bob wasn't feeling very well, so our next stop was our hotel.

READING

In The Year of Living Dangerously by C.J. Koch, an Australian journalist named Guy Hamilton finds himself in the middle of Indonesia’s tumultuous civil war in 1965, the year the president/dictator has declared to be “The Year of Living Dangerously.” Guy connects with Billy Kwan, a Chinese-Australian cameraman, who in turn introduces him to Jill Bryant, a secretary in the British Embassy. A love triangle plays out within the violence of war, and there is plenty of betrayal on every front. I don’t know that I would be interested in this book without my recent travels to Indonesia, but our experience there made the tales of Sukarno's regime and lots of political intrigue that were part of the book's plot very interesting.

Under the Java Moon by Heather B. Morse is a work of historical fiction but is based on interviews with Rita Vischer, a survivor of the camps and the main character of the book. In 1941, at the beginning of World War II, 5-year-old Rita and her pregnant mother and younger brother are placed in a Japanese internment camp on the island of Java. Rita’s father had joined the resistance army but is captured and placed in another internment camp just a few miles away. For 3½ years, the family suffers under the hands of cruel guards, horrible living conditions, inadequate food, and rampant disease. We all know about the Nazi camps for Jews, and most of us know about the US internment camps that held Japanese-Americans during World War II, but I had never heard of the Japanese imprisonment of the Dutch in camps in Indonesia. An additional layer is that after the Japanese surrendered, the Indonesians immediately waged their own war against the Dutch colonists as they sought for independence. Dutch families like Rita’s faced even more trauma as they tried to find a way out of the country. Having seen the war for independence from the Indonesian point of view, this book reminded me that there are two sides to every story and that war is horrible.