Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:30Zamboanga, on the southern tip of the Philippines, is a difficult place to leave.
00:46This is partly because it has charm and character, and partly because the sailing schedules are
00:51completely unreliable.
00:54But after several days of delay, we're booked aboard the Danica Joy, bound for Borneo.
01:04Her much bigger sister ship should be doing this run, but she's laid off after a fire
01:08in the engine room.
01:09Still, beggars can't be choosers.
01:12Such has been the political tension between the Philippines and Malaysia, that until a
01:16year ago, there was no passenger service across these seas at all.
01:21I'm quite sorry to be leaving Zamboanga, not just because it's a very friendly, hospitable,
01:28easy-going city, but because I'm leaving it via the Sulu Sea, which has a fearsome reputation.
01:35The Sulu Sea is a frontier, not just between the Philippines and Malaysia, but between
01:40Christians and Muslims, and they've been fighting each other over this area for the last 400
01:45years.
01:46So, what's going on?
01:47In the newspaper yesterday, there were three separate incidents provoked by Muslim-Christian
01:50tension.
01:51Add to that, it's her reputation for piracy and smuggling, and I'm quite looking forward
01:57to it.
02:05There are no real grounds for my mindless optimism.
02:09This is the dangerous end of the Philippines.
02:12Islamic terrorists are active, and foreigners are warned to stay clear of the offshore islands.
02:20I'm watched every inch of the way on board.
02:23Passenger, yeah, sure, yeah, passenger, traveller, moving on, yeah, thank you, OK.
02:42The head of the shipping line greets me.
02:44Hello, boss, I'm here.
02:47Is it me, or is his smile a little nervous?
02:49Great, the full ship, is it?
02:52Yeah, we're done, thank you.
02:54The Filipinos love families, and they love farewells.
02:58A departure is never something to be taken for granted.
03:01It's always an event.
03:19Amazingly enough, some of the other ferries make our old tub look smart.
03:26It is, as the owner confirmed, a very full ship.
03:33I find myself a peaceful spot, complete with local alarm clock.
03:42Most of my human fellow passengers are Filipinos going abroad to look for jobs not available
03:47to them in the country they're leaving.
03:50On the horizon, I can just make out the islands that travellers are warned to steer clear
03:54of.
03:58They run in a long line across the Sulu Sea.
04:01They provide shelter for Paris and resistance groups, and mark our southwestern course to
04:06Sandakan in the state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.
04:14The Danica Joy was originally built for placid inland waters.
04:19As the wind builds up on the open sea, she begins to roll and pitch like a drunk.
04:30There isn't a lot you can do to take your mind off it, except watching incredibly violent
04:35kung fu videos, or curling up on your bunk and trying to sleep.
04:44Being somewhat cowardly in these matters, I make for the bridge to reassure myself that
04:49we're in good hands.
04:50Is it OK if I come in?
04:51Yeah.
04:52Just have a look, see where we're going, how fast we're going, when we're going to get there.
05:00Indications are not promising.
05:02There's not a uniform to be seen.
05:06I ask some searching questions.
05:07So we're going...
05:08Well, we are heading to Pipe Sheddle.
05:09Pipe Sheddle.
05:10Pipe Sheddle.
05:11Pipe Sheddle, right.
05:12This ship is all...
05:13I mean, I noticed these are all in Japanese.
05:14Yes.
05:15It's a Japanese ship.
05:16Is it easy to steer?
05:17It's easy.
05:18It's easy.
05:19It's awfully young.
05:20Excuse me.
05:21Excuse my asking.
05:22How old are you?
05:23I'm 21.
05:24Only apprentice me.
05:25Apprentice.
05:26Yeah.
05:27Apprentice.
05:28Apprentice.
05:29Apprentice to who?
05:30Who's in charge here at the moment?
05:31That's our chief.
05:32Ah, you're the chief.
05:33Chief officer.
05:34You're the chief officer.
05:35Chief officer.
05:36So you're learning.
05:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:38He's learning.
05:39He's learning.
05:40He's learning.
05:41He's learning.
05:42He's learning.
05:43He's learning.
05:44He's learning.
05:45He's learning.
05:46He's learning.
05:47He's learning.
05:48He's learning.
05:49I like that.
05:50When will you...
05:51How's he getting on, all right?
05:52He had been in school for years, and he will be on board one year to finish his four-year
05:53course.
05:54Night falls.
05:55Fortunately, there's no queue for the bathroom.
05:56Night falls.
06:06Fortunately, there's no queue for the bathroom.
06:16Then it's either more video nasties or bed.
06:20That is, if I can find it.
06:27Next morning, the good news. My first sight of Borneo.
06:42The skyline of Sandakan exudes an air of prosperity we never saw in Zamboanga.
06:51We take a bus heading south across the island,
06:53but it's the monsoon season and progress is slow.
07:00Walking isn't any easier.
07:03I'm not tall enough, it's just going into my boots now.
07:07You see, I'm only concerned about snakes.
07:10About what?
07:11About snakes here, because normally the ground dwellers,
07:15like snakes, scorpions and so on, they would all be floating up.
07:20So keep your fingers crossed, hoping that we don't come across any of them.
07:24I'll keep everything crossed.
07:27How long has it been raining for? It's been 24 hours.
07:30Almost.
07:32This is the pathway to one of the world's very few orangutan rehabilitation centres.
07:42When the North Borneo rainforest was plundered for timber,
07:45many of these orangutans were taken out of the forest
07:47and sold as domestic pets.
07:54A much older female.
07:56Slightly different technique.
07:58Yes, different technique.
08:00They're now an endangered species,
08:02and this centre has been slowly teaching tame animals to be wild again.
08:09She's pregnant.
08:11Yes, she's pregnant.
08:13You can see the...
08:14the genitals as well.
08:16So that's the only way...
08:18that's the only way to detect.
08:21So probably from a wild male.
08:24That's good news for you.
08:26It's good news for us.
08:28I think I'm going to be a grandmother now.
08:32What are they eating now, Sylvia?
08:34Bananas. I think that's their normal menu.
08:37She's pregnant. How long is the gestation period?
08:40It's about eight and a half to nine months.
08:41Almost like humans.
08:43As Sylvia, my guide, tells me,
08:45orangutans normally live high in the trees.
08:48This rope that leads to their man-made feeding platform
08:51is the orangutan equivalent of a wheelchair.
08:55Most of these have been used to humans, of course,
08:58and to take that away from them is...
09:00that is a difficult part,
09:02because what the centre is trying to do here
09:04is sort of, like, very different from what the zoo does.
09:07The zoo sort of, like,
09:08wild animals are made to be tame, sort of.
09:11But the centre here...
09:13In reverse.
09:15It's reverse, actually, so that's even much more difficult.
09:18Are they still coming in from people?
09:20Right now, it's not so much so as people keeping them as pets,
09:23but rather they come from disturbed areas.
09:26Land that's going to be cleared or...
09:28Yes.
09:30So when they go,
09:32do you have any means of seeing where they're going to?
09:34No.
09:35It stops just when an individual has been reintroduced.
09:38Our job stops.
09:40As long as the centre survives,
09:42both the orangutans and this stretch of rainforest are safe.
09:50Borneo is our stepping stone between the Philippines and Java.
09:54It's divided between three countries.
09:57Indonesia has the south and east,
09:59Malaysia the north and west,
10:01which it shares with Brunei.
10:02The jewel of the Malaysian west coast
10:05is the city of Kuching, capital of Sarawak.
10:16Kuching has a quietly affluent air.
10:19It's an Asian-Pacific crossroads,
10:21bringing together Chinese, Indians, Malays
10:24and local tribes in apparent harmony.
10:27It was run by the British for over 100 years.
10:31It was they who created the racial mix,
10:34still evident in quite unusual ways.
10:40Like this Indian healer with a great cabaret act.
10:48Don't try this at home.
10:51It's a bit of a shame.
10:53Don't try this at home.
11:08Only a short walk from the bazaars,
11:11I come across a passable imitation of Henley regatta.
11:17That is, until I look a little more closely.
11:19These are not flannel fools,
11:21but descendants of the Dayak warriors
11:23whose war canoes terrorised the coast,
11:26until the British got here and told them about regattas.
11:38As far as the British were concerned,
11:40it was quite a successful move.
11:42I can't see these people terrorising anybody.
11:50It wasn't the British government which created all this,
11:53but a family called Brook, from the city of Bath.
11:56In 1841, they bought Sarawak off a local sultan
11:59and ran it until the Japanese invaded 100 years later.
12:06Stephen Yong, a former minister, shows me round the Istana,
12:10official residence of the family who built Sarawak.
12:13It's a small town,
12:15but it has a lot of history.
12:16This is the Istana,
12:18official residence of the family who built Somerset on the Sarawak River
12:21and called themselves the White Rajahs.
12:27From here, Charles Brook, the second Rajah,
12:30ruled for 50 years.
12:35He regarded all his subjects as his children.
12:39He never encouraged higher education.
12:42He had the idea of ignorance is bliss.
12:44He drew the line at headhunting, didn't he?
12:47Well, headhunting is one of the crimes which Rajah introduced,
12:51of course, much against the tradition of the Ibans.
12:54And the Ibans, of course, thought that headhunting
12:57was one of their ways of life.
13:00Freedom.
13:02What was the penalty, can you remember, for headhunting?
13:05Well, headhunters, normally, they would be executed.
13:08Beheaded, probably.
13:10Yes.
13:11Headhunters would have lost their heads at Fort Margarita,
13:15named after Brook's wife.
13:17The legacy of the Brooks lies in buildings like this,
13:21another of the great post offices of the world,
13:24or these law courts,
13:26and perhaps most poignantly,
13:28in the single surviving public likeness of Rajah Brook,
13:31dressed in the style of the people he ruled for so long.
13:42Quite difficult to get round Borneo by road,
13:46largely because they tend not to exist.
13:49The pattern of life here still revolves very much around the rivers
13:53which run from the interior down to the ports,
13:56but I'm doing it the other way round,
13:58going from Kuching upriver towards the mountains
14:01to spend two or three days with the Iban people
14:04at one of their longhouses,
14:06which certainly, for me, is a journey into the unknown.
14:10It'll take the best part of a day to make our way up the river system
14:14almost as far as the Indonesian border.
14:39As the rainforest closes in to become jungle,
14:42the rivers grow narrower and shallower.
14:45We're on the edge of the great inhospitable heart of Borneo,
14:49one of the secret places of the world.
15:03Without the help of the local people,
15:06it would be hard to find our way in or out of here.
15:10The Iban live on the rivers,
15:13which they navigate with skill and prodigious physical effort.
15:19Nevertheless, this is as far upstream as we can go.
15:23We've reached the village of Nanga Sumpah.
15:27The Iban people have been living here for a long time,
15:30but they're not used to it.
15:32They're not used to living in the jungle.
15:35They're not used to living in the jungle.
15:37This is Nanga Sumpah.
15:52The centre of the community and heart of their nomadic culture
15:56is the longhouse.
15:58This one has been here all of 12 years,
16:00making it almost an ancient monument.
16:08It's a 28-door longhouse, meaning 28 families share it.
16:18Money and food are not shared,
16:21but the large open spaces such as this are communal.
16:38Many of the elders are profusely decorated.
16:41Hello.
16:43Good morning.
16:45Admiring your tattoos.
16:52Just admiring these.
16:54Now, what are they meant to be, first of all?
17:03Yeah, creeper.
17:05How would it be done?
17:08How do you call it, soot?
17:10Yeah, soot.
17:12They mix it with...
17:17mixed with sugarcane juice,
17:20and then they use a pin to get it in.
17:24To have it in?
17:26Yeah.
17:27Did it hurt?
17:32I got that.
17:34It hurt like hell, he said.
17:35Yeah.
17:36Have you got any?
17:37I don't have, yes.
17:38Just a t-shirt.
17:40Not the same.
17:42All right.
17:44The Iban are not isolated.
17:46The young men are encouraged to travel,
17:49and these woven blankets are quite likely to end up in Los Angeles or London.
18:06There's little mistrust of the outside world.
18:09They're curious about our curiosity.
18:12Yeah.
18:15Get your finger through it.
18:17It's always useful, isn't it, to get your finger through your ear?
18:23Oh, dear.
18:25I hope I live to be as old as you.
18:27Luck as well.
18:36I asked the headman and another elder, both in their 80s,
18:40about the contentious issue of headhunting.
18:43What was the importance of having a head?
18:46What was the value of the head?
18:56They said, not really.
18:58It's just chopping people's head,
19:00take the head back,
19:02and smoke the head,
19:03and keep it to show the whole people how brave they are.
19:06Only bravery.
19:08That's all, so it's just how many people you can...
19:10That's right, yeah.
19:12And they have to, after that, they have to celebrate
19:14Kenyalang Festival, which means Hornbill Festival,
19:17to ask for a longer life.
19:19They ask for a longer life from God,
19:21or else they have a short life,
19:23if they don't celebrate that celebration.
19:25Really?
19:27So they have to pray for the people whose heads are chopped off.
19:29Yeah.
19:34He said, today is very good.
19:36Today, there's no more fighting.
19:38So he said, that's very good.
19:42The other thing that's very good
19:44is that I've discovered the bathroom.
20:04There are one or two fewer pigs around this morning.
20:11There is to be a feast in the village.
20:13It's to be held in honour of the visit
20:15of a famous government minister.
20:17I'm very much looking forward to seeing him.
20:19If he doesn't come,
20:21then I, as second most important visitor,
20:23have been asked to kill the ceremonial pig.
20:33On another fire, rice is pressure-cooked
20:35inside branches of bamboo.
20:45I breathe a huge sigh of relief
20:47when the top man's canoe is at last sighted.
20:58The top man is James Massey,
21:00the head of the Kenyan government.
21:01The top man is James Massey,
21:03the minister of tourism.
21:05He's the first Iban ever to hold such a high office.
21:15Some politicians have to kiss babies,
21:17but if you want to win votes in Sarawak,
21:19a passing knowledge of butchery is more useful.
21:23After a quick word with the spin doctor,
21:25the minister prepares to do what a minister has to do.
21:32Between ceremonial duties,
21:34he seems happy to talk.
21:36James, you were born and brought up
21:38in a longhouse yourself.
21:40How similar was it to this one here?
21:42What are your memories of longhouse life?
21:45Yeah, I was born and brought up in a longhouse,
21:48and, of course, another part of Sarawak.
21:51My memories are very good.
21:53I have very fond memories of my childhood
21:55in a longhouse.
21:57I was born and brought up in a longhouse.
21:58I have very fond memories of my childhood
22:00in a longhouse.
22:02I spent the first six years
22:04actually living in a longhouse,
22:06and after that, I went to boarding school.
22:09I think this longhouse that we are looking into now
22:13is one of the most traditional longhouses
22:15that you can get in Sarawak,
22:17and my feeling is that not many of them are left.
22:21The longhouse structures are still there,
22:23and throughout Sarawak you still have,
22:25but the design is slightly different,
22:26and the wood that they use
22:28is slightly different,
22:30more kind of modern design,
22:32but still the longhouse structure.
22:34So what you're seeing now
22:36is one of the very few that's been left.
22:38What are the religious beliefs of the Iban?
22:41The Iban, people call them animist,
22:45practice animism,
22:47believe that every living thing has spirit.
22:49Animals have spirit,
22:51trees have spirit,
22:53the rivers have spirit.
22:54So that, because of that,
22:56before you clear a farm, for instance,
22:59you do an offering
23:01to pacify whatever spirit there is.
23:03So that is an Iban belief.
23:06The passing of a white cockerel back and forth
23:09is believed to be one effective way
23:11of pacifying the spirits.
23:13So before the eating and drinking can get underway,
23:15the minister must do the honours.
23:17To be honest,
23:19the drinking has already started
23:21around breakfast time.
23:29The Iban love contests
23:31like this hard, fast drumming round
23:33in which the first one to lose the beat is out.
23:47In fact, Iban hospitality itself is a contest.
23:52It's the host's duty
23:54to provide far more food and drink
23:56than the guests really need.
24:03I've seen this being prepared lovingly all day long.
24:08And it's the duty of the guests
24:10to polish it all off without falling over.
24:17A little bit of fish.
24:24It is good.
24:33Some bits there.
24:35Some choice bits.
24:40Everything is done
24:42in a most egalitarian atmosphere.
24:44In Iban society,
24:46the rank or status sits down together.
25:17I can't help wondering
25:19what sort of place there will be
25:21for this pleasure-loving,
25:23unauthoritarian people
25:25in the stern, purposeful,
25:27industrialised New Malaysia.
25:37600 miles due south of Borneo,
25:39I'm across the equator
25:41and into the southern hemisphere.
25:46Java is one of a chain
25:48of Indonesian islands.
25:50I hope to find a sailing ship
25:52to take me through them
25:54and on to Australia.
26:01I'm driving across Java
26:03in the company of Eko Binaso,
26:05a trekking and mountain guide.
26:08It's the start of Ramadan,
26:10the Muslim month of fasting
26:12and self-restraint.
26:14Jakarta, largest city
26:16in Malaysia, is hot,
26:18wet and quiet.
26:23Our plan is to drive
26:25the length of the island
26:27to the port of Surabaya.
26:30The road soon winds up
26:32into foothills
26:34and as cool and moderate a climate
26:36as back home.
26:38In fact, I'm dying for a cuppa.
26:40Eko says he knows just the place.
26:42This is the Gunung Mas tea plantation.
26:47Hello.
26:49Oh, after you.
26:51I'm sorry.
26:52Hello.
26:53Good, hello.
26:54Michael.
26:55How do you do?
26:56Can you just tell me
26:57what's going on here?
26:59These are obviously the teas.
27:00When were they picked?
27:02I'm testing the tea produced today.
27:04That is for the,
27:06test the quality.
27:08Was that, they've been tested quality?
27:10How can you tell
27:11the good quality?
27:13The quality of the tea
27:14The good quality, for example,
27:16we test the appearance.
27:18Yeah.
27:19There is the particle.
27:21It's clean.
27:22Particles.
27:23Size of particle.
27:24Yeah.
27:25And second,
27:26we test the smell.
27:28Oh, I see.
27:29Yeah.
27:30What do you do with these?
27:31You pour water,
27:32hot water through them?
27:33For the testing.
27:34Yeah.
27:35This is water from here.
27:36Oh, I see.
27:37Yeah.
27:38Can I have a little sniff?
27:39Yeah.
27:40Yeah.
27:41This smell,
27:42the good tea smell
27:43tea smell is
27:44breeze
27:45and strength.
27:46This is what?
27:47What's a good smell?
27:48Yeah.
27:49Good smell.
27:50Yeah.
27:51Good tea is a good smell.
27:52Is it strong?
27:53Yeah, strong.
27:54Is that what you're looking for?
27:55Yeah.
27:56And then the taste.
27:57Yeah.
27:58We taste the tea.
27:59Can I try and taste
28:00some myself?
28:01Yeah.
28:02So which should I taste?
28:03This.
28:04Which is a good one?
28:05Good one.
28:06This one here?
28:07Yeah.
28:08You just take a little bit,
28:09rather like soup.
28:10Oh.
28:11Yeah.
28:13You must shoot.
28:18Try a bit more.
28:19So you bring it up.
28:20Shh.
28:22Yeah.
28:23Yes.
28:24It's good.
28:25What?
28:26I swallowed it.
28:27Lovely cup of tea.
28:28I love coffee.
28:30I love tea.
28:35The tea pickers look serene.
28:37Almost effortlessly bored with the job.
28:40In fact, they're experts.
28:41It looks easy enough, but it is quite a skill, you've just got to get the very, these little
29:09top bits, I think, I've noticed the way they're doing it, bending lower down is completely
29:13useless, it doesn't taste very nice, but these little succulent tips are the ones you have
29:18to get, like that, custom made shears, you see, very nice, I don't think you can get
29:25these available at home, they have to be bought here in Java, and I presume the more little
29:34succulent tips you get, the more you get paid, but I'm not sure about that, do you get a bonus for
29:41good, you know, getting the best? Yes. Yes? Good, right, well I'll stay here a while then,
29:47there's one, and I look a bit like a butterfly collector, don't I?
29:53There we are, there's one, there's a cup of tea,
30:04a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup.
30:13Java is the most densely populated island in the world. 110 million people live in an area
30:20the size of England. Increasing afloats is bringing increasing traffic to roads never much wider than
30:27this. As the road system is largely free from motorways and express routes, so much of the
30:33countryside is free from huge farms and agribusiness. This warm wetland is still
30:39farmed by local people with incredible delicacy and precision.
30:55It's tempting to stop in every valley and every village, but we have a tight schedule,
31:00and I insist we only stop if Echo sees something I really mustn't miss.
31:13Just outside Yogyakarta, he spots something. It's a fruit that, despite its startlingly
31:19foul odour, is one of Southeast Asia's most sought-after delicacies.
31:23Can I have a look at one? It's a famous durian fruit that we've been looking for, which is so
31:29smelly that they won't allow it on airplanes. I saw a hotel the other day that said no durian
31:35fruit allowed on the premises, but apparently it tastes good, does it? Yeah. Can I smell it?
31:43Oh, yeah, it smells pretty rich. Now, how do you eat it? How do you eat it?
31:48They will open it, but you can't. Yeah, it can be strong. All right, soft like banana. Well,
31:54this is a first. I don't see durian tasting often. Are you going to have some as well?
32:00I'll have some if you have some, Echo. Okay, here we go. One, two, three.
32:05Yummy. Oh, God. That was a very strange taste. I really can't describe it.
32:22The first taste is a bit nauseating, I have to say. It does make me feel sick,
32:29the very first taste. What about the second? Well, the second I haven't been sick, so I feel
32:34slightly more confident about it. Now, I know it makes a terrible smell wherever it's stored,
32:40but do people really price it? Yeah. So it's quite expensive. Yeah, the price also depends on
32:47the smell. It's actually nice. It's like a rich custard, isn't it? It's like a rich,
32:50smelly custard with a bit of sort of burnt rubber tine. One each.
33:08The main road winds on, deeper into the heartland.
33:12It's impossible to hurry, but that doesn't stop people trying.
33:21The row of volcanoes that forms the backbone of Java is never far away.
33:26I feel they're benevolent, guardians keeping an eye on us at the end of a long day.
33:44They call Yogyakarta the cultural capital of Java. It's a little bit of several cultures,
33:50Dutch colonial buildings, and a street named after the British Duke of Marlborough.
33:56We've been asked to a private home to hear some gamelan music
34:00and watch the puppet show that goes with it.
34:04One of the fighting scene. Yeah. This is hitting. Yeah.
34:09And you're moving, you're moving all, both arms as you do that as well. Yes, it's great.
34:14How many different puppets would you use in a story like that?
34:18Say, in one night, at least Adalang uses 35 to 40 puppets. Yeah, in one night. Really?
34:25Usually, more or less. Yeah. At least 35 voices.
34:29Male and female voices. Yes. So like, this is what I've seen.
34:35Has it sort of been affected by the age of television? I mean, has television kept people
34:43away from the puppet shows? Some people say so, but now there is a private television
34:52that is not for the public. So, I mean, I think it's a little bit of a problem.
34:58Some people say so, but now there is a private television
35:04which broadcast Wayang Kulit every Saturday night.
35:09Ah, I see. So they couldn't beat them, they joined them. So they've got their own puppet channel.
35:20Wayang Kulit, as they call the shadow puppet show, is not for the faint-hearted.
35:25Loosely based on the great Indian epics, a full-length performance lasts eight hours.
35:32The dalang, the puppet master, works without a break to bring 40 or 50 different characters to
35:38life, accompanied by the soft, strange tinklings of the gamelan orchestra.
35:54After an hour or two, my brain falls into a trance-like state,
36:08from which it is only rescued by a full-scale battle.
36:11Ah! Ah! Ah!
36:21With its in-jokes and subversive references, many Javanese still regard Wayang Kulit as
36:26essential viewing, and children still grow up wanting to be puppet masters.
36:42A little way off the road out of Yogyakarta is one of the world's great monuments.
36:48It's enormous, yet easy to miss, squatting amongst fields and coconut groves like a half-finished mountain.
36:58This is the Buddhist temple of Barabadur, built in 800 AD and rediscovered 1,000 years later,
37:04half-submerged in volcanic ash. Barabadur represents the cosmos,
37:10a model of the universe set in stone.
37:16We have to walk around all these levels, is that the idea? Yeah. Yeah. Follow Buddha's progress.
37:22What's happening if we go along here? They all look rather sort of slightly racy.
37:29Things going on. The terraces form a path to enlightenment that runs around the monument
37:34for a distance of almost two miles.
37:38The relief panels show details of the Buddha's journey, complete with setbacks and seductions.
37:4599. 100. 60 more. 60 more.
37:51Well, this is still the story. Still the story of Ramayana. Yeah.
37:58Where are we now? We are at the third level.
38:04We're almost in heaven now. The lotus position.
38:11Now, go to prayer. 300 years ago, Islam swept into Java and the Buddhists retreated.
38:18Now search for enlightenment.
38:23As I've already found on other sacred mountains of Asia, enlightenment requires effort.
38:34It's only when you get to the top, you're suddenly aware of the location of this place,
38:40and the plain with a circle of volcanoes all around. I mean, was that intended?
38:47Borobudur was built just absolutely right at the center of the area,
38:54surrounding by five mountains. It's very significant where we are now. We're in the
38:59center of the temple, which is in the center of the ring of mountains, which is in the center of
39:03the universe, is that it? Yes, of course. OK. Well, where's the center of the universe?
39:07Center of galaxies. Yeah. Well, I think we deserve a drink.
39:15Sorry. You were the guide. You brought me here. You first. No, you.
39:23I'll have a whiskey, please.
39:26Not far from Borobudur is a thousand-year-old Hindu temple,
39:31another man-made image of that key to life and death on Java, the volcano.
39:42It's hot today, Echo. Are you ready for climbing, Mike? Yeah, yeah. Anything to get off this road,
39:50I tell you. Echo is determined that I should climb a volcano, preferably one that's still active.
40:02He suggests Mount Bromo. He says it's just around the corner.
40:14Eventually, we find the turnoff and begin the long climb towards Bromo.
40:22Farming is precarious here, in every sense of the word. The local people are descended from Hindus,
40:29who were pushed to this far end of the island by the Islamic conquest.
40:34Surprisingly for the tropics, they can grow crops like cabbages, onions and leeks.
40:45To my great relief, another long day on the road ends,
40:48successfully, at the door of Mount Bromo's only hotel.
40:52Are you ready for the horse? I'm ready for the horse. I haven't ridden the horse for a while, but let's see.
41:04Great, that's good.
41:10We have to start this extraordinarily hard, the night. Let's go, Mike.
41:23How far do we have to go, Echo? It's about three kilometres, I think.
41:27Three kilometres. Yeah. And we're getting down now, into the crater. Yeah.
41:32The great thing is, it's a clear night. Yes. Fingers crossed.
41:38It looks like it could be a pretty good sunrise. Yeah, I hope. Looks like.
41:47How long do you reckon? An hour.
41:53Right at the end of the trail. Yeah. Where do we go now? Up? We walk from here, do we? Yeah, we go in step. Right.
42:14Okay. Thank you, faithful steed.
42:19Okay. Okay, I'll get on your back now, and you can take me now.
42:35The journey has been worth all the effort.
42:39The dawn light reveals an extraordinary landscape, oven fresh and still steaming.
42:49When did this blow? When was this hole made? How recently? It's a hundred years ago. A hundred years ago?
42:58It's as little as that. It's new. Very new landscape, isn't it? Yeah. And presumably, because
43:06from what we're seeing now, that means it's still active, there's still sort of energy under there.
43:10Could it blow again? Has it erupted since? Yeah. The last eruption is last year, October.
43:20Last October? Yeah, they closed the area.
43:24All visitors, tourists. Yeah. I think we should go back, Echo. Why? I think we should leg it. Come on.
43:32At last, we've reached Sorabaya, where they moor the penises, the sailing boats that still carry most of the trade between the islands.
43:57Now we must find one going our way.
43:59Do you want to go to Timor or Lombok?
44:07Okay, we'll try down here. I'm still hopeful. The boats remind me of the dhows of the Persian Gulf.
44:14There's the same sense of family loyalties and local skills operating outside the normal system.
44:20But there are problems. Well, we're in trouble here because none of them will take us.
44:27We've asked around and none of them will take us east towards Lombok and Timor, which is the
44:32direction we want to go, down towards Darwin. They say at this time of year the currents are bad,
44:36the weather is bad, it's too dangerous to go. So we have found one which will take us tomorrow
44:43morning a little bit of a way down towards the end of the island of Java and we'll just
44:48have to try and get somewhere on through the islands from there.
45:01As far as we go, it's goodbye. Goodbye, but I'll see you again sometime. Thanks very much
45:07indeed. Really appreciate your help and patience. I'll send you a card from Darwin if I ever get
45:12there. Call me then. Bye.
45:25We leave Sorabaya, not quite sure where we're going and how we're going to get there.
45:43So
45:45So
46:06For a while it all seems to be going so well.
46:09With sails hoisted and a fair wind, we make our way majestically southwards.
46:24The inescapable reality is that our ship cannot risk the open sea with monsoon winds about.
46:31But if we stay inshore, the wind gets weaker and the sea gets shallower.
46:38So
46:40After less than a day's sailing, our captain has no choice but to arrange for local fishermen
46:46to take us off the boat and ashore.
46:58I don't like having to abandon ship. It's the first major setback since we missed our Coast
47:03Guard flight in Alaska. But we survived that and I'm sure we'll survive this.
47:13Well, I think I'm sure.
47:33So
47:43Wherever this village is, they seem very friendly.
47:47In fact, our arrival feels like a homecoming.
47:50As if we've just been around the world. I don't tell them we only left Sorabaya this morning.
48:03I wish there were another way of looking at it, but there isn't.
48:07After 17,000 miles of travel, we're up the creek.
48:33So
49:03You