Dodola island

While in Ternate I had several options about beautiful spots to visit but the only one connected by regular fight, in a reasonable time and famous to be beautiful was Morotai island.
Actually Morotai has very little, if nothing, to visit or do, do not search for good restaurant nor nightlife in Morotai island because the island is very small, the roads to the other side of the island very bad. Let's say I and my friend Francesco just enjoyed to meet very lovely and friendly college students and of course, Dodola island which is the only reason to come to Morotai, where it's possible to do decent dives with many II WW remains.
The beach of Dodola island is just amazing, stunning, emerald warm waters with white sands and a perfectly relaxing atmosphere.

Ternate: a pearl of beauty

It was long time since I had planned to visit this island but when I read an article about the ancient dutch colonization of these wonderful archipelago of Moluccas and the trade of cloves which was such a worth item in Europe.
As I landed in Ternate city I immediately felt a humid warm and scented hug which made me so excited to be there.
Maluku has a huge array of islands, even from Ternate it's possible to see the huge Halmahera but also the small Moti, Maitara, Makian and the twin island, almost the same sze, of Tidore that I visited in a day with its wonderful Fort Tahula with its steep ladderswhich lead you to a majestic view overlooking all the island, not to mention the lovely, well mantained garden and colourful flowers all around the old stone walls. Just great!
Muara Hotel is nothing special, apart for its strategic position near the nice Benteng Oranye (Dutch Fortress) and the city center of Ternate city center, but there I had the chance to meet Didi, the restaurant manager who was so nice, friendly and helpful to take me around the many island highlights by his motorbike as well as to give me plenty of tips about a possible island hopping future plan, considering that this is definitively not a touristic place thus islands connections are not easy nor frequent.
Ternate highliths, all visited in a daily motorbike tour, are: Sulamadaha beach, very popular among the locals who come here to enjoy the weekend, to eat something in the food stalls and swim in cristal water where most of corals are sadly dead or broke,  Jiko Malamo beach which is maybe less scenic, less crowded but even nicer since it's a small sandy beach and possible to see many corals and colourful fish with a very easy snorkeling, Danau Tolire Besar is a huge spectacular volcanic lake emerging from a green tropical forest, it's funny because little boys sell you small rock to throw there for a few rupias, Kastela Benteng is a fortress built in the 1950 by the Portugueses and then destroyed by the Spanish(the spices market was aspired by many) and discovered in the 1920, despite its mostly collapsed walls it retains a kind of ancient charm, Danau Ngade is another lake with a terrific view, from there Didi pushed his motorbike to a steep ascend and from there a 16min walk to a wonderful spot overlooking Ternate city. Finally we visited Benteng Kalamata anothe nice fortress next to the sea with a rusty shipwreck around which many lovely kids were jumping, swimming and enjoying a marvellous sunset.
In general I loved the friendly mood of locals so friendly and keen to meet this Italian guy able to communicate with a basic and primitive bahasa but also a local english teacher who asked me to chat with some of his pupils at the entrance of the mall.
Last but not least, around the fruit and fish market, in the bus station, in the night time there are a couple of big stalls who prepare the most delicious grilled fish so fresh and good, here too around these long tables it's possible to meet new friends from other Indonesian tourists or from locals who offer you to take a tour of the city.
I really loved Ternate.

A new Birthday has gone

One more and one more birthday has passed...so what?? Well a mixed feeling of becoming more mature???or just older but no problem, as far as another heavy, shattering, tense tourist season is gonna finish in a positive way, as far as God gives us a good health we must be happy and grateful and enjoy every second and every breath of this wonderful life. So what better way to celebrate it if not having a birthday lunch to Caffè Roma where a perfect and professional host like Walter and his marvellous cook Ramona prepared for a delicious fish meal with Tagliolini allo scoglio, mixed salad, fried fish, good white wine, caffè and a strong and scented mirto flavoured grappa.
I received so many lovely presents(T-shirts, shorts, books, after shave, and so on) but the very best one was the presence of my friends and my family. Pity that my aunt, cousins and daddy were not there, anyway these are really those moments which makes life worth to be lived ;-)

Return to Jakarta

After more than one year I was craving a return to Indonesia and finally, alone this time, I returned.
When you move from one area to a different one, in a huge metropolis like Jakarta, it's like to make a travel inside a travel, thus Pancoran was a real new experience in a real new "world" compared to Sudirman. As usual I gradually started to roam around the alleys and roads of the area, discovering small mosques, tiny eateries, high standard kindegarten and luxurious villas.
Pancoran is not a charming place but has its good sides maybe negligible but made my walks very nice: a couple fruit seller with delicious guava, sweet rambutan, tasty red dragon fruit or amazing dukuh who made my breakfast just a dream of healthy morning meal or thanks to a buttery avocadoes a great ingredient for my dinner salads.
But above all, in Jalan Raya Kalibata, an easy 30 minute walk from my place, from 7pm there was not only a small area with good and cheap food vendors but also so many Durian vendors, selling so many types of this stinky but delicious fruit coming from every corner of Indonesia but also from Thailand.
Another good reason to appreciate Pancoran, was the Duren Kalibata train station which allowed me to travel around Jakarta in a very fast, safe and efficient way but also to meet so many locals, from students to english teachers, from lawyers to housewives, all of the extremely friendly toward this solo bule traveller. It was so relaxing to travel by train, crossing the city in a different way, stopping at unknown stations, mingling in this huge warm humanity, no matter how crowded it could be, every trip was fine, every station a nice stop, even if a rain downpouring was ravaging outside.
What else made living in Panchoran fine??? maybe the small Kalibata Mall  despite I am not a fan of Mall lifestyle, or even  the poor, modest but cheap and genuine PGC.
Let's see where I will stay next time, because there will be a next time in Jakarta...insy-Allah.

Travelling to Salento: a beautiful friendship with Ale and Bisbinto

Finally me and Ale succeeded to find a couple of free days from our busy and stressful working life in order to visit our friend Bisbinto. It's unbelievable how full is our lives, we almost travel around the world for 1 or 2 months a year, which is a great privilege, that's sure, but once we come back home, no time to visit anywhere of our wonderful country.
Me and Ale loved this very short trip because our generous guest showed us so many beautiful spots like Otranto with its huge mosaic made of 600.000 tiny pieces representing the Tree of Life, Santa Cesarea Terme and its Morocco style Sticchi Palace, Castro and it's pristine deep rocky coast or the lovely historical Brindisi city center not to mention the magic atmosphere of Lecce cathedral by night which was just breathtaking, something UNIQUE that everyone must see in his life.
The food of Puglia region is well known all around Italy but I could never imagine it could be so tasty, genuine at inexpensive from bread to mozzarelle, from the huge sandwich called Puccia to Cicoria and fave purè, from handmade orecchiette pasta to dry burley frisa bread.
However what will always stay in my heart is the magic and warming feeling I had admiring the Palascia lighthouse (on the eastermost tip of Italian peninsula), during a terrific sunset in the middle of wild flower carpet breaking into a rocky coast. I thanked God for our strong and good friendship hoping it will last forever. Thanks so much Ale and thanks so much Bisby, lets nourish our great friendship day by day.

Flavio and Pino: journey to Krakatau

Before deciding to take him with me to Indonesia I had many doubts about my good friend Pino as a traveller companion. He doesn't speak any language other than his Taranto slang and has rarely travelled abroad before. Would have he been able to adjust himself to different situations, different food, a different language and a totally different culture not to mention possible predicaments.
With my big surprise, he proved to be a great travel buddy, a patient friend and a responsible traveller.
We have been invited by our friend Gigi to join her and her friends to an excursion on the Krakatau extinguished volcano, which the 26th August 1883 occasioned one of the most powerful explosion ever heard on our planet. The sound arrived until Australia (3500km faraway) and Rodriguez islands (4800km) and expelled 21cubicKm of ashes, stones and pumice stones.
Nowadays we do need a big amount of imagination just to figure out the catastrophic events that changed in such a nasty way the lives of so many people.
The excursion started in a weekend evening, we met at one of the Jakarta train station and immediately before Gigi's arrival met so many nice and friendly guys, most of them younger some older than us. We both loved all these folk which confirmed once again how friendly and lovely Indo people are. No need to say that the trip was long and uncomfortable, the train chairs in economic class seemed designed by one of the main genial officials of middle age inquisitions...a real torture for our backs and buttocks. Despite that I could only see happy, smiling and sometimes sleepy face.
Being a food choosy, on the vegetarian path, I really suffered the very poor food selection we faced on our destination, on the other side I loved our simple accommodation with big rooms separated between girls and boys as well as the funny bath provided with "gayung" system which means you have to scope water from a big bucket on your body instead of a normal shower.
I and Papi, as Pino was nicknamed, loved each moment of this excursion, talking with the guys, taking photos, snorkeling on the pristine waters, doing yoga under a terrific sky full of stars while flirting on the beach with the cruel company of tiny mosquitos greedy of sweet Italian blood.
Pity that Pino could not communicate with our new friends, anyway I was his official translator and at the end of the week end we felt sad but at the same time happy for the many new friends met.
Terima kasih Indonesia .

Hypocrisy Pinoy Style

We all around the world, not only politicians, are subject to behave in a hypocritical way many times per day but when I was travelling around The Philippines I noticed a very subtle, almost refined, I might say joyful fashion to say/write something and behave in a totally opposite way.
So many times I read words like "Be even if the others are not, will not, can not" not to mention the so many statues of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Maria in the schools, in the squares or at the entrance of a village. Despite I am a catholic and comes from a very catholic country like Italy, I was astonished to take a ride with a taxi driver listening on the radio to a mass, as well as watching a mass celebrated inside a mall on  a temporary church. So you would expect a country populated by devoted catholics where you can breath honesty all around the streets, a kind of Japan where you can leave your bicycle unlocked  or where your forgot belongings will be immediately given back to you like it happened to me in Chiang Mai (Thailand). But the reality is totally different, it strikingly different because if you forget your wallet or your glasses on a restaurant table, you have the same chance to get it back as you would have in Brazil, because if you enter a wrong poor area of a big city you should be as careful as you were in Ecuador. Yet, as my friend Michael suggested me, the biggest and most widespread epidemic known in this country is that of young, if not very young, single mothers who have been, forgive me the rude verb, fucked and then kicked away by their young sweetheart or by their old uncle or neighbour. When locals or my friends who lived there I could not believe it, I mean, when you talk with those lovely, sweet, young students they are polite but they are or pretend to be so shy, modest, devoted to their family and to their future husband that I could barely believe how the real situation is. Elio, 35 years in The Philippines, told me that at the end of the month in Dumaguete City you can see many young students "waiting" on the street side in the hope that a foreigner or local man stop there offering a "monetary help" for their University fees in exchange of some good sex. Please be careful, I am NOT judging these girls, certainly poor, in a negative way, I just say that in the hypercatholic Philippines thefts, assaults and sex are not a taboo at all. On the other side, this is probably, along with Thailand the country where people were so enthusiast of the Francisco Pope arrival (every TV and radio program was for the pope and Manila airport was closed for His arrival), gays and transexuals are openly accepted, even youngsters show openly their sexual tastes and seem absolutely happy and at ease with their life. In this case many countries, Italy included has so much to learn from The Philippines.