Formerly known as the “Dutch East Indies” because of the East Indian Trading Company, the islands were also known as the “Spice Islands” after the many spices grown here, such as nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon etc. The Japanese occupied the Islands during WWII treating the people badly. The Islands claimed their Independence in 1945 (even though the allies had given it to England after the war) naming themselves Indonesia (India Islands).
It is the world’s largest Muslim country, but Islam is much more flexible here. An example is that they pray 3 times a day vs 5 times as in Arab countries. Indonesian character is one of acceptance. The culture finds it hard to criticize, they are frugal, work hard and education and family are very important. They are not great marketers and instead put value in their artistic and creative capabilities even though you may not be able to find the product to purchase. Because they were so tolerant of mediocrity, they put up with many years of a very corrupt government starting in 1945. This led to the violent overthrow of the government in the 1960 but not before that government had purged over 1 million people. The hard part for us to understand is although it is a democracy, the government expects self censorship. Freedom of the press is sort of ok, but be responsible. There is a lot of gray muck here.
Rice is the main staple as a food source throughout the islands. A note about rice: Why does it grow in water? Because it can tolerate water which controls weeds. No pesticides are needed, the fields are flooded and lots of rice will grow! However, the country is still unable grow enough rice to meet the total demand so they are unable to export.
The Island of Lombok sits next to the island of Bali but is different in many respects. We are told that Lombok is the way Bali used to be prior to the invasion of tourists. Lombok, like Bali has its pristine beaches, reefs and native villages. That became obvious during our visit. However Bali is Hindu and Lombok is Muslim. Although both islands are roughly the same size and have about the same population (3.5 Million), Bali is much further ahead in terms of tourism. In fact, our cruise ship was the first American Cruise ship to visit the Lombok in 9 years. Upon arrival we were greeted with a great deal of fanfare, bands and dignitaries. It’s something that the island had been waiting for since they had heard the Rotterdam was going to visit a year ago. Upon arrival our group boarded 4 buses and had a police escort of 8 motorcycles and a police truck that barreled through the countryside not stopping at any lights and weaving around stopped traffic. Essentially our arrival made it a holiday for the island with many villagers lining the roads waving at our bus convoy as we drove by. This was quite a surprise to all of us. Many of the pictures we have included are of the people (especially the children) who are a delight. We were able to spend time at a village pottery shop, a Sasak Village(the locals are Sasak’s) which was not a tourist village, a weaving school, a local school for children and finally a resort on the Indian Ocean for lunch and a swim. It was quite a day and one we will not soon forget. We have many pictures and have included just a sampling for the Blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment