Ternate 23-08-2012

Ternate 23-08-2012
Today I did the "kelingin". That is following the coastal road and, as usual on an island, I ended where I started. I have seen all of the Bentengs (forts) from Portuguese and Dutch origin. So I cannot have missed the footsteps of my first ancestor in Indonesia in about 1720-1760. That is a satisfying compensation for the fact that I missed his grave. I of course have seen a lot of cengkeh (cloves). There are no large plantations, just the small desa-plantations. I spoke with a few people of the desa (difficult for they spoke Bahasa Ternate). They offered me a few cloves (cengkeh kuning, rather freshly picked clove) to chew on. Some would have refused for fear of their health but I know that clove is a strong anti bacterial herb. Wow, that was much stronger than the black cloves we know. Now, hours later, I still have that taste in my mouth. Of course I visited the lakes (Danau Tolike and Laguna) and the white and black beaches and enjoyed nature. I could picture Ternate as an tropical island one can only dream about. But that would be a false picture. There is pollution everywhere and in spite of the natural beauty, the smell of rot and decay is never far away.

What I did not do today, and probably will not do at all, was climbing Gungung Galama, the volcano. Not because of the fact that it erupted in 1997, 2004 and 2011, so it is a very active volcano, but in this extremely humid and hot climate it simply is too demanding for me. Maybe tomorrow I'll hire a young ojek rider (ojek=motorcycle) with a strong motor to get me as high up the volcano as possible. But I also want to have a look in the archives with my portable scanner, which is a higher priority for me.

At night there are a lot of kaki lima (little restaurants on 2 wheels, 1 stand and the 2 legs of the man or women, hence the name: 5 leg) along the harbour all roasting fresh fish.

I almost forgot about the keraton (kraton or sultan's palace). A very old man (78) guided me. I made a few picture amongst others of the helmet op Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the former Dutch hero, who is not regarded as such anymore (and with good reason). It was nice but not so impressive as in Yogyakarta or Solo (=Surakarta).
After the tour I signed the buku teman (guest book). Here it is custom that you put money on the book after you have signed. IDR 10K will usually suffice but this man was very old and for reasons of hormat (respect) I doubled it. When we said goodbye I had to give hormat so I took his hand in both of mine and bowed so that my forehead touched my hands. That is the way it is done in Indonesia.