Dave's comments:

26th October, 2008

Well we are on the last few days before the twenty mile hike across the Singapore Strait into Malaysia with cargo ships passing each way every three minutes! We have loved every minute of our journey through Indonesia and I have vowed to come back as we have only seen such a small slice of it. The only part that did not inspire me was Bali as it was so so touristy with people hassling you by the minute and the Balinese art did not inspire me. One of the highlights of Indonesia is its people, just so wonderfully hospitable and friendly after meeting the ones who can speak good English they want you to email them of our travels. One lovely Muslim girl who was studying the coral reefs around an Island we anchored off would like us to visit her in Sumatra, on the list of must do's for next year. We would have liked to stay here for a week Five hundred people (100 adults & the rest children) live here on an Island of 2 or 3 hectares and fishing is their livelihood as are all of the coastal regions. However as we have already cleared Customs we are only allowed to stop one night at each Island on route. Now just some thoughts and observations I have made over the past few weeks.

Looking at the economy of what we can see, Indonesia consumes 70%of the country's production. Internally the 1000 Rupiah (NZ$0.20) rules in that even the banks don't seem to carry them. When buying fruit & veg we need lots of them as do all the locals. They carry fistfuls of them all the time every time our drivers stop in the cities you pay a 1000 note to the parking attendant and there is one every 50 metres and for that he blows his whistle to stop the traffic so as you can get going again. The Becats (three wheeled bicycles which carry two people ) are rented as the drivers can't afford to buy them as they cost about 750,000 rupiah NZ$150 secondhand but as they have no security they cannot borrow from the bank! We have been watching the world financial meltdown via the BBC, VOA, Aussie and NZ radio international. Indonesia's largest company had a billion US$ loan called up which nearly sent it under.