From Wikimedia Commons. After disembarking from KM DORO LONDA, I walked out of the part and up to my hotel. This gave me a quick impression of the city. Though Ternate was a very powerful sultanate and a center of the spice trade, these days that has mostly been layered over with a typical regional…
Cloves. They came from Ternate and Tidore. They brought war and invaders to the islands. The Sultanates of each are still here, and now so was I. After an extended boat ride. PELNI, the national ferry company, has a huge network of long haul ferries that connect the vast archipelago. Local, short-haul ferries may run…
Started in July 2024 and updated continuously… Internet is not really sufficient at the moment here in Sekongkang, Sumbawa for a lot of image upload or reliable saving of works-in-progress. However, good enough for some text and a few links to Open Street Maps. I’ve hit a few islands recently, and thought I’d better make…
The start of June was all in Sri Lanka with Et-chan and I did no watercolor practice at all and very little drawing. So, after a bit of a hiatus I sat down again in Kuta Lombok to get back into it. The place: Sitting outside at Surfer’s Paradise. On the right, the first attempt.…
Took a little time in an air-conditioned hotel room on a hot day to sort through some pads and papers and photograph a few examples. None of these are going to win any prizes and some of them pain me to look at, but that’s a good thing, right? If looking back two months kinda…
Stops: Marina Hotel, Port of Labuhan Bima, Museum Asi Mbojo Eks. Istana Kesultanan, Kantin Yuank Istana Asi Kalende (Days 110-111) I arrived at the Marina Hotel in Bima. Pretty down and dirty section of the city between the harbor and the market. And, I do mean dirty. And, a mistake. There are two ports with…
Stops: Batu Tering Sarcophagi, Villa Aqila Hotel, Labuan Jambu, Sumbawa and Whale Shark Point in Teluk Saleh, in the shadow of Mt Tambora. (Days 108-109) The last couple of days I was in Sekongkang, I met this surfer dude from Latvia named Marten at the hotel. He’d been in Lombok and Sumbawa for a couple…
Stops: Kaccapa Beach Resort, Castaway Surf Retreat (Days 98-103)
Stops: Poto Tano Port, Rumah Kenawa, Bukit Pototano Communications Tower, Pantai Lampu, Pantai Pasir Putih (Days 93-94) The weather was grey as we pulled into port on the ferry from Lombok. Spent about thirty minutes in the harbor waiting, then disembarked just in time for the clouds to open up. But, my “homestay” at Rumah…
Stops: Minangkabau Airport, Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Kuta Lombok, Tanjung Aan (Days 87-93) Lombok is a good way point heading east. Flights from Jakarta to Sumbawa (no direct flights from Sumatra) take you quite a ways east along this oddly shaped island, but the ferry from Lombok drops you right at the westernmost tip so I can…
