Lonthor, once the center of the universe...

Great visibility is a blessing here, steep drop offs and an unlimited amount of all kinds of marinelife. The seas around the Banda Islands are a tropical paradise with it's unspoiled corals it is one the world's richest reefs!
After diving and snorkeling around the world, this is the best underwater world I've ever experienced and I'm afraid that I'll never experience better? People like Columbus, Marco Polo and Jacques-Yves Cousteau sought the Banda Islands. The original Spice Islands and the most coveted destination on earth, particularly by the Dutch and Portuguese who colonized the islands and exported the indigenous nutmeg, mace and cloves. On all these Banda Islands you can still find a lot of VOC (Dutch East Indies Company) remains like forts and colonial buildings that are really intact.

The common nutmeg is a native to the Banda Islands, is the actual seed of the tree and mace is the innner reddish skin of the nutmeg. On the biggest island Lonthor (Banda *Besar) you'll find plantation with big trees full of nutmeg. Walking through the Island Lonthor  you'll see and smell the scent of nutmeg drying in the sun infront of almost every house you pass by. It's hard to believe that the small Banda Islands were the world's only source of nutmeg and mace and therefore the center of the world in the 17th century dominated by the Dutch. A funfact an probably not so smart is that the Dutch almost controlled whole Banda except for one Island called Run that was controlled by the British. At the end of the Second-Anglo-Dutch War the Dutch finally got Island Run in exchange for New Amsterdam (New York) in the USA. After this trade it didn't take long while the British were smart enough to transplant nutmeg trees to their own colonials elsewhere. And now you can find it in everyone's cupboard, it's tasty and healthy. While nutmeg has a small amount of toxin it is advised to use a minimum because it can take you into a very nasty trip that even leaves you behind with a more nastier feeling...

*Besar= Big

Trick or Treat?

Untitled

Only the good die young.

By Justin Canning
Justin Canning Photography

Bemo's, Beautiful Smiles & J.Bieber

*Kota Ambon has a gazillion-whatever Bemo's in all colours, riding through- and from Kota Ambon to all kinds of locations and back. Their all stacked with people and it's never enough when you think the bemo is full and ready for a ride, there's is allways room for one more and a huge bag of rice and/or a box with a living chicken.

Normally I get into a riding Bemo so I'm sure that it's not getting more stacked then it allready is. But one time I caught myself on getting into a Bemo that waited at Mardika station for passengers, it waited so long that the Bemo turned into a sauna and instead driving home people could swim home in their wet clothes. Anyhow I'm pretty tolerant but that moment I felt like I was the most dirties person in the world that really needed a shower ASAP. Not because of an obnoxious smell but more the idea having other people sweat rubbed onto me, Yikes! The weird part is that of all these rides I've taking I couldn't caught anyone smelling badly?! What's up with that?!
I've been travelling a lot and allways had to accept all kinds of (bad)smells from people. It kept me busy each time I got into a Bemo. Even the hitsingle "Baby" from Justin Bieber that was busting through each huge speaker in every Bemo and got sang along by schoolkids couldn't get me of the thought. Eventhough Ambonese people have so little they are very clean, washing themselfs couple of times a day. And Ambonese allways keep on smiling even when they have to wait a half a day to get a ride!

*Kota = City

Remembering Bayon

One of the temples of Angkor, in the Siam Reap region in Cambodia.Built around the 12th or 13th century, Bayon's most distinctive feature is the multitude of serene and massive stone faces on the many towers which jut out from the upper terrace and cluster around its central peak. 

Untitled

"You're not a Moluccan, if you can't eat papeda!"

That's what they say....
Back in the days when I was younger, pure and innocent and obviously crime didn't exist....right :-P
Almost every weekend I stayed at my grandparents and once in awhile we ate papeda, something that looks like wallpaper paste and tastes like...well..like nothing. Unless it was eaten with vegetables, spices and fish. It was made from potato starch, in the Moluccas it's traditionally made from sago or cassava. Only in the Moluccas it's possible to use sago and cassava, because the water in/around the islands contains a lot of minerals and that's why the water can get more hotter then for example in the Netherlands.

And there you have it on a beautiful sunny day along the coast in Suli, Ambon, papeda for lunch. Made by a wonderful woman named Lily who's perhaps the best cook on pulau Ambon I can tell ya that! It looked so good, it smelled so bad, and tasted amazingly! A ball turned around and taken out a ceramic pot with bamboo "tweezers" dropped subtle into my bowl and vegetables and vegetable stock soaked in hot spices got added. We all lapped/sipped the papeda out of our bowls, yes we lapped/sipped it out of our bowls with all the noise you can imaging 'cause that's the way you eat papeda. No shame in the game.

Untitled

Meat

By Justin Canning
Justin Canning Photography

Snug as a Bug in a Rug!

That's how I felt when I arrived for the first time in the Spice Islands are now called the Moluccas. While sitting next to the window something I don't prefer I saw the Islands coming towards us, flying underneath a rainbow that welcoming us and landing on the most greenish island I've ever seen, Ambon. A blanket of full warmth conceiving that this could be a start of a beautiful journey.

(Photo taken at Natsepa, Ambon)

A tale of urban exploration

It with coffee in hand and in good company that we went seeking for empty spaces, filled with memories of another era. Abandoned places that lay around the city waiting to be crushed by yet another condo project or a shopping mall. It seems to be the new trend of capitalism's evolution.

Satu Darah (One Blood)

After a small vail in the Moluccan community, while Museum Maluku was closing, the third generation was flagrant with the situation what I actually had expected. There's refreshing vibe going through the Moluccan community in the Netherlands I noticed this myself but also other Moluccans it's like we're repacking. Moluccans are making movies, books, music, clothing and jewelry with more passion then ever. All pretty awesome developments, something that must be kept supported and be proud of. Yet I continue to worry about the future regarding to the identity, will we maintain our culture as desired, will the traditions be continued or will Moluccans just blend into the crowd ...which is good to for some reason, but still. My hope is that there will be as much as possible documented whenever in books, movies, audiorecords etc. doesn't matter, keep documenting what you have and what you know because where will we be without the first generation? Are we then still one blood? Let loose, share your knowlegde for the next generation because sharing is caring and shame is lame. And I say it again; “Sometimes in order for something wonderful to happen, we must let go of the idea we have been holding onto of what wonderful is. We must close one door in order for another to open….”

(Photo taken from one of the members from Satu Darah Motorcycle Club)