Spice Islands III

          Pulau Ai fishing boats at night           Loaded boat to Ai           Pulau Ai smile           Pulau Ai chill           Iyan and Opan Pulau Ai fishing boats at night

Pulau Ai's a beauty. Unlike Banda Neira, the only boat you need is the one to get you there. After that it's snorkel and dive heaven right off the beach. Nice and quiet too - we only saw two motor bikes in the ten days we were there.

Spice Islands II

          Dayak, mace and nutmeg           Prime fresh Banda nutmeg           Pulau Besar nutmeg plantation           Afternoon tuak session - thanks for the pic Dayak :)           Another one Dayak had to take Dayak, mace and nutmeg

The man with the big grin is Dayak, the guy who carried my camera bag and showed us the way to our guesthouse when we first arrived on Banda Neira. His eyes lit up when we gave him what we thought was a rather paltry ten rupiah, and now he's grinning at the thought of how much he's gonna get for convincing me to spend a whole day exploring the aptly named Besar (Big) island with him.

Spice Islands I

          Rainbowed shadow in Gunung Api crater           Bandaneira harbour           View from Gunung Api: Neira, Besar and Syahrir (Pisang) Islands           Bandaneira waterfront           Bandaneira morning scene           Bandaneira's Dutch cemetery           Decaying Dutch mansion           Prime banda nutmegs and mace           The Indonesian Pelni liner "Ciremai" departs Bandaneira           Full moon over Gunung Api Rainbowed shadow in Gunung Api crater

The Bandas were once the world's sole source of nutmeg and mace, the crimson filigree that embraces the nutmeg kernel. Together with Ternate and Tidore, the islands to which the clove tree was once endemic, these remote jewels of Maluku were the original fabled Spice Islands. Today the cultivation of those spices has spread far and wide and Maluku has lost its lucrative monopoly, but given the invasion, bloodshed and ruin that accompanied nature's boon, perhaps that's not such a bad thing.

At the end of the best trip ever...

          Summer camp in the Pshart Valley near Murghab           Best mates, Poi Mazar           End of the road, Bartang River valley           Momosaduk and Koban take a break on the Pamir Highway near Bash Gumbez           Entering the Wakhan Corridor behind our Khargush Pass guide :)           Ladies preparing vegies (yay!), Vanj           Rare high speed action, Murghab River valley           Main street strategy meeting, Khorog           Koban cools Uazie at 4000m near Kyzyl Rabat           Chai party, Poi Mazar Summer camp in the Pshart Valley near Murghab

Right now, Amber and I are holed up in a hotel room in Dushanbe, the stately capital of Tajikistan. We've just spent four gruelling weeks exploring the Pamirs by jeep. The mountains and the people who inhabit them are awe-inspiring and beautiful, but a "road" is just a concept out there and vegetarianism is a complete myth!

Our trusty Russian UAZ jeep needed many kinds of cajoling, with regular roadside TLC required for carburetor, radiator, starter motor, exhaust and tyres. Amber and I were required to push it to make it go on numerous occasions, but the beast was essentially indestructible and got us everywhere we needed to go. Some of the places we needed to go were on the other side of things we thought it impossible to get a vehicle to cross, but our intrepid driving/exhortation/TLC team of Kobanich and Momosaduk were supremely (and comically) competent.

In the end, there were only three things that denied us passage: