Ambon
6:00 am, December 4, 2017
Because we were getting so worn out with all these travel days, we asked our agent to make a change in the itinerary, cutting out a day in Surabaya. We simply stopped there, had a meal, went to bed, woke up yesterday at 4:00 am (instead of 2:00!) and traveled to our first island in the Moluccas, Ambon. After driving from the airport to the hotel we feel we feel we’ve seen enough of Surabaya. It’s a bustling, prosperous trading hub with over 10 million people, good roads and all, but exhibiting an incredible amount of urban blight. The traffic, the traffic!
Once in Ambon (no plane delays on the Garuda flight) we sort of rattled around town a bit until the hotel was ready for us. Our guide was instructed to give us a tour of the city, consisting of the military cemetery (on the site of a notorious Japanese prison camp during WWII); the mountain-top statue of the city’s hero, a young local woman who would not bend to the will of the Dutch colonials, and who is depicted carrying a spear; and the local museum, which was locked. Instead of waiting for Security to come open the musem, we pretty much demanded to move on. We needed to replace Mary’s suitcase, which had been torn in transit, and I needed a new pair of sandals. My old ones had disintigrated!
I did work on a drawing, but didn’t finish. Instead, I spent the time backing up our photos and choosing ones for the next set of drawings — and getting over the two-hour jet lag from our last time zone. Sorry, but I promise to post some as soon as we hit land again.
I’m afraid, though, that won’t be for another 10 days. Our tour of the Maluku Islands starts today. Please stay tuned!
