East Java to Maluku province

 

 

Plenty of trips in the past couple months including an award ceremony in East Java Province that we sponsor to help provide incentives for use of best practices in local government management.  We awarded a dozen districts prizes for everything from financial transparency to improving business enabling environment.  I'm in the photo below on the top row.  Can you find me?

From East Java we continued to Maluku Province and caught a ferry to Buru Island that evening. 

Buru is Indonesia's equivalent of Alcatraz except in Indonesia, it was primarily populated by political prisoners.  All night trip included a five person bunk!

The island is undergoing a gold rush with miners digging up the hills with little oversight and no safety or environmental practices in place.

Below is a traditional still for producing eucalyptus oil.  Boiled in the larger bucket on the right (with a fire below, the distilled oil is cooled through the second bucket and drips out into containers below).  Powerful smell!

Buru ponies at the mayor's house.

A water taxi in North Maluku.  By fare the cleanest place I've been in Indonesia.

The main towns are located at the bases of a series of volcanic islands. 

 

Sunset soccer match in Ternate, North Maluku.

 

 

 

Ternate city in the rearview mirror.