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.
05:44When will you...
05:45How's it getting on, all right?
05:46He has been out of school for years.
05:47And he will be on board one year, to finish his four-year course.
06:00Night falls.
06:04Fortunately, there's no queue for the bathroom.
06:12Then it's either more video nasties or bed. That is, if I can find it.
06:21Next morning, the good news. My first sight of Borneo.
06:42The skyline of Sandakan exudes an air of prosperity we never saw in Zamboanga.
06:53We take a bus heading south across the island, but it's the monsoon season and progress is
06:58slow. Walking isn't any easier.
07:05I'm not tall enough, it's just going into my boots now.
07:10You see, I'm only concerned about snakes. About what?
07:13About snakes here, because normally the ground dwellers, like snakes, scorpions and so on,
07:20they would all be floating up. So keep your fingers crossed, hoping that we don't come
07:26across any of them. I'll keep everything crossed.
07:30How long has it been raining for? It's been 24 hours.
07:34Almost. This is the pathway to one of the world's
07:36very few orangutan rehabilitation centres. When the North Borneo rainforest was plundered
07:47for timber, many of these orangutans were taken out of the forest and sold as domestic
07:52pets. A much older female.
07:58Slightly different technique. Yes, different technique.
08:03They're now an endangered species, and this centre has been slowly teaching tame animals
08:08to be wild again.
08:11She's pregnant. You can see the genitals as well. So that's the only way to detect. So
08:23probably from a wild male. It's good news for us. I think I'm going to be a grandmother
08:31now.
08:32What are they eating now, Sylvia? Bananas. I think that's their normal menu.
08:38If she's pregnant, how long is the gestation period?
08:42It's about eight and a half to nine months. Almost like human.
08:47As Sylvia, my guide, tells me, orangutans normally live high in the trees. This rope
08:52that leads to their man-made feeding platform is the orangutan equivalent of a wheelchair.
08:59Most of these have been used to humans, of course, and to take that away from them, that
09:03is a difficult part. Because what the centre is trying to do here is very different from
09:08what the zoo does. The zoo's wild animals are made to be tame, sort of. But the centre
09:16here, it's reverse, actually. So that's even much more difficult.
09:20Are they still coming in from people?
09:22Right now, it's not so much so as people keeping them as pets, but rather they come from disturbed
09:28areas.
09:29Land that's going to be cleared, or...
09:31Yes.
09:32So when they go, do you have any means of seeing where they're going to?
09:36No. It stops just when an individual has been re-introduced. Our job stops.
09:42As long as the centre survives, both the orangutans and this stretch of rainforest are safe.
09:52Borneo is our stepping stone between the Philippines and Java. It's divided between three countries.
09:59Indonesia has the south and east, Malaysia the north and west, which it shares with Brunei.
10:05The jewel of the Malaysian west coast is the city of Kuching, capital of Sarawak.
10:19Kuching has a quietly affluent air. It's an Asian-Pacific crossroads, bringing together
10:24Chinese, Indians, Malays and local tribes in apparent harmony.
10:33It was run by the British for over a hundred years. It was they who created the racial
10:39mix, still evident in quite unusual ways.
10:46Like this Indian healer with a great cabaret act.
10:54Let's try this at home.
11:08Only a short walk from the bazaars, I come across a passable imitation of Henley regatta.
11:17That is, until I look a little more closely.
11:21These are not flannel fools, but descendants of the Dayak warriors whose war canoes terrorised
11:26the coast, until the British got here and told them about regattas.
11:39As far as the British were concerned, it was quite a successful move.
11:43I can't see these people terrorising anybody.
11:51It wasn't the British government which created all this, but a family called Brook from the
12:02city of Bath. In 1841, they bought Sarawak off a local sultan and ran it until the Japanese
12:08invaded 100 years later.
12:13Stephen Young, a former minister, shows me round the Istana, official residence of the
12:18family who built Somerset on the Sarawak River, and called themselves the White Rajahs.
12:27From here, Charles Brook, the second Rajah, ruled for 50 years.
12:34He regarded all his subjects as his children. He never encouraged higher education.
12:41He had the idea of ignorance is bliss.
12:45He drew the line at headhunting, didn't he?
12:48Well, headhunting is one of the crimes which Rajah introduced, of course, much against
12:52the tradition of the Ibans. And the Ibans, of course, thought that headhunting was one
12:58of their way of life.
13:02What was the penalty, can you remember, for headhunting?
13:05Well, headhunters, normally, they would be executed.
13:08Beheaded, probably. Yes.
13:11Headhunters would have lost their heads at Fort Margarita, named after Brook's wife.
13:17The legacy of the Brooks lies in buildings like this, another of the great post offices
13:22of the world, or these law courts, and perhaps most poignantly, in the single surviving public
13:29likeness of Rajah Brook, dressed in the style of the people he ruled for so long.
13:42It's quite difficult to get round Borneo by road, largely, because they tend not to exist.
13:50The pattern of life here still revolves very much around the rivers which run from the
13:55interior down to the ports, but I'm doing it the other way round, going from Kuching
14:00upriver towards the mountains to spend two or three days with the Iban people at one
14:05of their long houses, which, certainly for me, is a journey into the unknown.
14:23It'll take the best part of a day to make our way up the river system,
14:27almost as far as the Indonesian border.
14:36As the rainforest closes in to become jungle, the rivers grow narrower and shallower.
14:43We're on the edge of the great inhospitable heart of Borneo,
14:47one of the secret places of the world.
14:51Without the help of the local people, it would be hard to find our way in or out of here.
14:58The Iban live on the rivers, which they navigate with skill and prediction.
15:03They are a long way from the main city, the city of Kuching,
15:07where the Iban people live.
15:09The Iban people are the people who live on the rivers.
15:13They are the people who live on the river.
15:16They are the people who live on the rivers.
15:19They are the people who live on the rivers.
15:23The Iban live on the rivers, which they navigate with skill and prodigious physical effort.
15:31Nevertheless, this is as far upstream as we can go.
15:35We've reached the village of Nanga Sumpah.
15:39The centre of the community and heart of their nomadic culture is the longhouse.
15:44This one has been here all of 12 years, making it almost an ancient monument.
15:49The centre of the community and heart of their nomadic culture is the longhouse.
15:53The centre of the community and heart of their nomadic culture is the longhouse.
15:58This one has been here all of 12 years, making it almost an ancient monument.
16:11It's a 28-door longhouse, meaning 28 families share it.
16:19Money and food are not shared,
16:21but the large open spaces such as this are communal.
16:37Many of the elders are profusely decorated.
16:40Hello. Good morning.
16:42Yeah.
16:43Admiring your tattoos.
16:45Yeah.
16:47Yeah.
16:48Come on.
16:52That's admiring these.
16:53Now, what are they meant to be, first of all?
17:00This is crepe.
17:01It's a crepe pattern.
17:03Yeah, creeper.
17:04How would it be done?
17:10How do you call it? Soot?
17:11Yeah, soot.
17:12They mix it with...
17:18..mixed with sugarcane juice,
17:20and then they use it...
17:24..to have it in.
17:25Yeah, yeah.
17:27Did it hurt?
17:32I got that.
17:33I got that.
17:34It hurt like hell, he said.
17:36Is it...? Have you got any?
17:38I don't have.
17:39Just a T-shirt.
17:41Not the same.
17:43All right.
17:45The Iban are not isolated.
17:47The young men are encouraged to travel,
17:49and these woven blankets are quite likely to end up
17:52in Los Angeles or London.
18:07There's little mistrust of the outside world.
18:10They're curious about our curiosity.
18:13Yeah.
18:15Get your finger through it.
18:17It's always useful, isn't it?
18:19Get your finger through your ear.
18:23Oh, dear.
18:24I hope I live to be as old as you.
18:26Good luck as well.
18:35I asked the head man and another elder, both in their 80s,
18:39about the contentious issue of headhunting.
18:42What was the importance of having a head?
18:45What was the value of the head?
18:55They said, not really.
18:57It's just chopping people's head,
18:59take the head back and smoke the head,
19:02and keep it to show the whole people how brave they are.
19:05Only bravery.
19:06That's all?
19:07So it's just how many people you can...
19:09That's right, yeah.
19:10And after that, they have to celebrate Kenyalang Festival,
19:14which means Hornbill Festival, to ask for a longer life.
19:17They ask for a longer life from God, or else they have a short life
19:21if you don't celebrate that celebration.
19:23Really?
19:24So they have to pray for the people whose heads are chopped off?
19:27Yeah.
19:37He said today is very good.
19:39Today there's no more fighting.
19:41So he said that's very good.
19:45The other thing that's very good is that I've discovered the bathroom.
20:07There are one or two fewer pigs around this morning.
20:13There is to be a feast in the village.
20:16It's to be held in honour of the visit of a famous government minister.
20:20I'm very much looking forward to seeing him.
20:22If he doesn't come, then I, as second most important visitor,
20:26have been asked to kill the ceremonial pig.
20:37On another fire, rice is pressure-cooked inside branches of bamboo.
20:47I breathe a huge sigh of relief
20:49when the top man's canoe is at last sighted.
20:59The top man is James Massing, the Minister of Tourism.
21:03He's the first Iban ever to hold such a high office.
21:13Some politicians have to kiss babies,
21:15but if you want to win votes in Sarawak,
21:17a passing knowledge of butchery is more useful.
21:21After a quick word with the spin doctor,
21:23the minister prepares to do what a minister has to do.
21:34HE WHISTLES
21:37Between ceremonial duties, he seems happy to talk.
21:40James, you were born and brought up in a longhouse yourself.
21:44How similar was it to this one here?
21:46What are your memories of longhouse life?
22:03I spent the first six years actually 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 that 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's slightly different,
22:27and the wood that they use is slightly different,
22:30more kind of modern design, but still the longhouse structure.
22:33So what you're seeing now, in fact, one of the very few that's been left.
22:37What are the religious beliefs of the Iban?
22:41The Iban, people call them animist, practice animism,
22:46believe that every living thing has spirit.
22:49Animals have spirit, trees have spirit, the rivers have spirit.
22:53So that because of that, before you clear a farm, for instance,
22:58you do an offering to pacify whatever spirit there is.
23:02So that is an Iban belief.
23:06The passing of a white cockerel back and forth
23:08is believed to be one effective way of pacifying the spirits.
23:12So before the eating and drinking can get underway,
23:15the minister must do the honours.
23:22To be honest, the drinking has already started, around breakfast time.
23:29The Iban love contests, like this hard, fast drumming round
23:33in which the first one to lose the beat is out.
23:49In fact, Iban hospitality itself is a contest.
23:53It's the host's duty to provide far more food and drink
23:56than the guests really need.
24:02I've seen this being prepared lovingly all day long.
24:06And it's the duty of the guests to polish it all off without falling over.
24:14Come with a bit of fish.
24:21It is good.
24:23Yeah, it is good.
24:32Some bits there. Some choice bits.
24:39Everything is done in a most egalitarian atmosphere.
24:43In Iban society, everyone, whatever their rank or status, sits down together.
24:53MUSIC PLAYS
24:55MUSIC CONTINUES
25:20I can't help wondering what sort of place there will be
25:23for this pleasure-loving, unauthoritarian people
25:26in the stern, purposeful, industrialised New Malaysia.
25:38600 miles due south of Borneo,
25:41I'm across the equator and into the southern hemisphere.
25:46Java is one of a chain of Indonesian islands.
25:49I hope to find a sailing ship to take me through them and on to Australia.
26:00I'm driving across Java in the company of Eko Binaso,
26:04a trekking and mountain guide.
26:07It's the start of Ramadan,
26:09the Muslim month of fasting and self-restraint.
26:12Jakarta, largest city in the southern hemisphere,
26:16is hot, wet and quiet.
26:22Our plan is to drive the length of the island to the port of Surabaya.
26:29The road soon winds up into foothills
26:32and as cool and moderate a climate as back home.
26:35In fact, I'm dying for a cuppa.
26:37Eko says he knows just the place.
26:40This is the Gunung Mas tea plantation.
26:46Hello.
26:48Oh, after you.
26:50I'm sorry. Hello.
26:51Good. Hello. Michael.
26:53How do you do?
26:54Can you just tell me what's going on here?
26:56These are obviously the teas. When were they picked?
26:59I'm testing the tea produced today.
27:02That is for the, test the quality.
27:05Was that, they've been tested quality?
27:07How can you tell the good quality tea?
27:10The good quality tea,
27:12How can you tell the good quality tea?
27:15The good quality, for example,
27:18we test the appearance.
27:20There is the particle.
27:22It's clean.
27:23Particles.
27:24Size of particle.
27:25Yeah.
27:26And second, we test the smell.
27:29Oh, I see.
27:30What do you do with these?
27:31You pour water, hot water through them?
27:33For the testing, water, this is water from here.
27:37Oh, I see, yeah.
27:38Can I have a little sniff?
27:39Yeah.
27:40Yeah.
27:41This is smell.
27:42And the good tea smell is breeze.
27:46This is what?
27:47What's a good smell?
27:48Yeah, good smell.
27:50Good tea is a good smell.
27:51Is it strong?
27:52Yeah, strong.
27:53Is that what you're looking for?
27:54Yeah.
27:55And then the taste.
27:57We taste the tea.
27:58Can I try and taste some myself?
28:01Yeah.
28:02So which should I taste?
28:03Which is a good one?
28:04Good one.
28:05This one here?
28:06Yeah.
28:07You just take a little bit, rather like soup.
28:10Yeah.
28:11You must shoot.
28:12Try a bit more.
28:13So you bring it up.
28:14Ah, yeah, yes.
28:15It's good.
28:16Oh, I swallowed it.
28:17Lovely cup of tea.
28:18I love coffee.
28:19I love tea.
28:20I love...
28:21The tea pickers look serene.
28:23almost effortlessly bored with the job.
28:26In fact, they're experts.
28:29Coffee, I love tea, I love the java jiving in the...
28:35The tea pickers look serene, almost effortlessly bored with the job.
28:40In fact, they're experts.
28:42A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup.
28:46I love java sweet and hot.
28:51Woops, Mr. Moto, I'm a coffee pot.
28:55Shoot me the pot, now pour me a shot.
29:00A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup.
29:03It looks easy enough, but it is quite a skill.
29:06You've just got to get the very...
29:08These little top bits, I think, I've noticed the way they're doing it.
29:11Sending lower down is completely useless.
29:13It doesn't taste very nice.
29:14These little succulent tips are the ones you have to get.
29:22Custom-made shears, you see, very nice.
29:24I don't think you can get these available at home.
29:27They have to be bought here in Java.
29:31And I presume the more little succulent tips you get,
29:37the more you get paid, but I'm not sure about that.
29:39Do you get a bonus for good, you know, getting the best?
29:43Yes.
29:44Yes? Good, right.
29:45Well, I'll stay here a while then.
29:47There's one.
29:49And I look a bit like a butterfly collector, don't I?
29:52There we are.
29:53Ah, there's one.
29:55There's a cup of tea.
29:56Ah!
29:57Ah!
30:13Java is the most densely populated island in the world.
30:17110 million people live in an area the size of England.
30:22Increasing afloats is bringing increasing traffic
30:25to roads never much wider than this.
30:29As the road system is largely free from motorways and express routes,
30:32so much of the countryside is free from huge farms and agribusiness.
30:37This warm, wet land is still farmed by local people
30:40with incredible delicacy and precision.
30:48It's tempting to stop in every valley and every village,
30:52but we have a tight schedule,
30:54and I insist we only stop if Echo sees something I really mustn't miss.
31:08Just outside Yogyakarta, he spots something.
31:11It's a fruit.
31:13Just outside Yogyakarta, he spots something.
31:16It's a fruit that, despite its startlingly foul odour,
31:19is one of Southeast Asia's most sought-after delicacies.
31:23Can I have a look at one?
31:25It's a famous durian fruit that we've been looking for,
31:28which is so smelly,
31:30that they won't allow it on aeroplanes.
31:32In fact, I saw a hotel the other day that said,
31:35no durian fruit allowed on the premises.
31:38But apparently it tastes good, does it?
31:40Yeah.
31:41Smell it.
31:43Oh, yeah.
31:44It smells pretty rich.
31:45Now, how do you eat it?
31:47How do you eat it?
31:48Well, they will open it, but you can't...
31:50Open it, yeah?
31:51Yeah.
31:52It can be strong, right?
31:53Soft like banana.
31:54Well, this is a first.
31:56You don't see durian tasting often.
31:58You're going to have some as well?
32:00I'll have some if you have some, Echo.
32:04OK, here we go.
32:05One, two, three.
32:07Yummy.
32:08Mm.
32:09Mm.
32:10Oh, God.
32:12That is a very strange taste, you know?
32:18I really can't describe it.
32:20It is very... The first taste is a bit nauseating, I have to say.
32:24Yeah.
32:25It does make me feel sick, the very first taste.
32:28And then...
32:29What about the second?
32:30Well, the second I haven't been sick,
32:32so I feel slightly more confident about it.
32:34Mm.
32:36Now, I know it makes a terrible smell wherever it's stored,
32:39but do people really price it?
32:41Yeah.
32:42So it's quite expensive.
32:43Yeah, the price also depends on the smell.
32:46It's actually nice. It's like a rich custard, isn't it?
32:48Like a rich, smelly custard with a bit of sort of burnt rubber tine.
32:52Mm.
32:53One each.
33:05The main road winds on, deeper into the heartland.
33:09It's impossible to hurry, but that doesn't stop people trying.
33:23The row of volcanoes that forms the backbone of Java is never far away.
33:28I feel they're benevolent,
33:30guardians keeping an eye on us at the end of a long day.
33:46They call Yogyakarta the cultural capital of Java.
33:50It's a little bit of several cultures,
33:52Dutch colonial buildings and a street named after the British Duke of Marlborough.
33:57We've been asked to a private home to hear some gamelan music
34:01and watch the puppet show that goes with it.
34:05One of the fighting scenes. Yeah.
34:07This is hitting. Yeah.
34:10And you're moving both arms as you do that as well.
34:14Yes, it's great.
34:16How many different puppets would you use in a story like that?
34:19Say, in one night, at least,
34:22say, in one night, at least,
34:24Adalang uses 35 to 40 puppets.
34:28Yeah, in one night. Really?
34:30Usually, more or less. Yeah.
34:32At least 35 voices.
34:34Male and female voices. Yes.
34:36So, like, this is one example.
34:40Ah.
34:49Has it sort of been affected by the age of television?
34:54I mean, has television kept people away from the puppet shows?
34:57Some people say so,
35:00but now there is a private television
35:04which broadcasts Wayang Kulit every Saturday night.
35:09Ah, I see. So they couldn't beat them, they joined them.
35:12So they've got their own puppet channel. Right.
35:19Wayang Kulit, as they call the shadow puppet show,
35:22is not for the faint-hearted.
35:26Loosely based on the great Indian epics,
35:28a full-length performance lasts eight hours.
35:32The dalang, the puppet master, works without a break
35:35to bring 40 or 50 different characters to life,
35:38accompanied by the soft, strange tinklings of the gamelan orchestra.
36:02After an hour or two, my brain falls into a trance-like state,
36:06from which it is only rescued by a full-scale battle.
36:19With its in-jokes and subversive references,
36:22many Javanese still regard Wayang Kulit as essential viewing,
36:26and children still grow up wanting to be puppet masters.
36:31MUSIC PLAYS
36:41A little way off the road out of Yogyakarta
36:44is one of the world's great monuments.
36:47It's enormous, yet easy to miss,
36:50squatting amongst fields and coconut groves
36:53like a half-finished mountain.
36:55This is the Buddhist temple of Borobudur, built in 800 AD
36:59and rediscovered 1,000 years later, half-submerged in volcanic ash.
37:04Borobudur represents the cosmos,
37:07a model of the universe set in stone.
37:13We have to walk round all these levels, is that the idea?
37:16Yeah. Follow Buddha's progress.
37:19What's happening if you belong here?
37:21They all look rather sort of...
37:23slightly racy...
37:25Mm-hm. ..things going on.
37:27The terraces form a path to enlightenment
37:30that runs around the monument for a distance of almost two miles.
37:35The relief panels show details of the Buddha's journey,
37:39complete with setbacks and seductions.
37:4299.
37:44100.
37:4660 more. 60 more.
37:48Well, this is still the story.
37:52Still the story of Ramayana.
37:54Yeah.
37:56Where are we now?
37:58We are at the third level.
38:02We're almost in heaven now.
38:04The lotus position.
38:09They've called to prayer.
38:11300 years ago, Islam swept into Java and the Buddhists retreated.
38:16I'll search for enlightenment.
38:20As I've already found on other sacred mountains of Asia,
38:23enlightenment requires effort.
38:32It's only when you get to the top
38:34that you're suddenly aware of the location of this place,
38:37and you're playing with a circle of volcanoes all round.
38:41I mean, was that intended, do you think?
38:45It was built just absolutely right at the centre of an area
38:50surrounding by five mountains.
38:53That's very significant where we are now.
38:55We're in the centre of the temple,
38:57which is in the centre of the ring of mountains,
38:59which is in the centre of the universe, is that it?
39:01Yes, of course.
39:02OK. Where was it, the centre of the universe?
39:04Centre of galaxies.
39:05Yeah.
39:06Well, I think we deserve a drink.
39:09Sorry.
39:11You were the guide, you brought me here.
39:13You first.
39:14No, you.
39:15OK.
39:17I'll have a whisky, please.
39:20Not far from Barobudur is a 1,000-year-old Hindu temple,
39:25another man-made image
39:27of that key to life and death on Java, the volcano.
39:32It's hot today, Echo.
39:35Are you ready for climbing, Mike?
39:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
39:39Anything to get off this road, I tell you.
39:42Echo is determined that I should climb a volcano,
39:46preferably one that's still active.
39:48Come on, come on.
39:50Go, go.
39:52I'm going to climb a volcano.
39:54I'm going to climb a volcano.
39:56I'm going to climb a volcano.
39:59He suggests Mount Bromo.
40:02He says it's just round the corner.
40:12Eventually, we find the turn-off
40:14and begin the long climb towards Bromo.
40:20Farming is precarious here, in every sense of the word.
40:24The local people are descended from Hindus
40:26who were pushed to this far end of the island
40:29by the Islamic conquest.
40:31Surprisingly for the tropics,
40:33they can grow crops like cabbages, onions and leeks.
40:42To my great relief, another long day on the road ends,
40:46successfully at the door of Mount Bromo's only hotel.
40:50Are you ready for the horse?
40:52I'm ready for the horse.
40:54I haven't ridden a horse for a while, but let's see.
40:57Right.
40:59That's good.
41:04We have to start this extraordinary hour of the night.
41:08Let's go, Mike.
41:10What are you, 30?
41:12First holiday of the year.
41:14First holiday of the year.
41:16What are you, 30?
41:18First holiday of the year.
41:22How far do we have to go, Echo?
41:24It's about 3km, isn't it?
41:263km. And we're going down now?
41:28Into the crater. Yeah.
41:31The great thing is, it's a clear night.
41:33Yes!
41:35Fingers crossed.
41:37It looks like it could be a pretty good sunrise.
41:40Yeah, I hope.
41:42Looks like...
41:47How long do you reckon? An hour?
42:02Right at the end of the trail. Yeah.
42:05Where do we go now? Up, walk from here, do we?
42:08Yeah. We're going... Step.
42:10Right.
42:12Oh!
42:15Ah, thank you.
42:17Faithful steed.
42:20OK? OK.
42:22I'll get on your back now and you can take me.
42:24No!
42:34The journey has been worth all the effort.
42:38The dawn light reveals an extraordinary landscape.
42:42Oven fresh and still steaming.
42:50When did this blow?
42:52When was this hole made?
42:54How recently?
42:56It's 100 years ago. 100 years ago?
42:58As little as that. It's new.
43:00Very new landscape, isn't it? Yeah.
43:03Presumably, because of what we're seeing now,
43:06that means it's still active,
43:08there's still sort of energy under there.
43:10Could it blow again? Has it erupted since?
43:19Last October?
43:26Yeah.
43:28I think we should go back.
43:30I think we should leg it. Come on.
43:41SIREN WAILS
43:48At last, we've reached Sorabaya, where they moor the penises,
43:52the sailing boats that still carry most of the trade between the islands.
43:56Now we must find one going our way.
43:59Do you want to go to Timor or Lombok?
44:02Lombok.
44:06OK. We'll try down here.
44:09I'm still hopeful.
44:11The boats remind me of the dhows of the Persian Gulf.
44:14There's the same sense of family loyalties and local skills
44:17operating outside the normal system.
44:20But there are problems.
44:23Well, 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
44:30towards Lombok and Timor,
44:32which is the direction we want to go, down towards Darwin.
44:35They say at this time of year, the currents are bad,
44:37and it's too dangerous to go.
44:39So, we have found one, which will take us tomorrow morning
44:44a little bit of a way down towards the end of the island of Java,
44:47and we'll just have to try and get somewhere on through the islands from there.
45:01As far as we go, it's goodbye.
45:04Goodbye, but I'll see you again sometime.
45:06Thanks very much indeed.
45:08Really appreciate your help and patience.
45:10I'll send you a card from Darwin if I ever get there.
45:13Follow me, then.
45:15Bye.
45:25We leave Sorabaya, not quite sure where we're going
45:28and how we're going to get there.
45:34Come on, get in, get in.
46:05For a while, it all seems to be going so well.
46:09With sails hoisted and a fair wind,
46:12we make our way majestically southwards.
46:25The inescapable reality is that our ship cannot risk the open sea
46:29with monsoon winds about.
46:31But if we stay inshore, the wind gets weaker and the sea gets shallower.
46:40After less than a day's sailing,
46:42our captain has no choice but to arrange for local fishermen
46:45to take us off the boat and ashore.
46:57I don't like having to abandon ship.
47:00It's the first major setback since we missed our Coast Guard flight in Alaska.
47:06But we survived that, and I'm sure we'll survive this.
47:12Well, I think I'm sure.
47:31Wherever this village is, they seem very friendly.
47:34In fact, our arrival feels like a homecoming.
47:37As if we've just been round the world.
47:40But don't tell them we only left Sorabaya this morning.
47:50We've made it.
47:52We've made it.
47:54We've made it.
47:56We've made it.
47:58We've made it.
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.
48:29We've made it.
48:31We've made it.
48:33We've made it.
48:35We've made it.
48:37We've made it.
48:39We've made it.
48:41We've made it.
48:43We've made it.
48:45We've made it.
48:47We've made it.
48:49We've made it.
48:51We've made it.
48:53We've made it.
48:55We've made it.