To a MUCH larger (and warmer) land that has a special place in my heart. (“Saya tao Indonesia Sabang ke Merauke”)
Here is a Quora post that give a quick glimpse of Indonesia, it’s geographical size, it’s large population and ethnic diversity:
Lots more pictures and more facts about Indonesia in the rest of the Quora post: https://qr.ae/pC5yJg
PS: I’m used to compare it to across the Atlantic, from Cape Finisterre to New Orleans:
The straight-line distance between Cape Finisterre, Spain, and New Orleans, USA is approximately 3,600 miles (about 5,800 km).
I did a voyage in “Liberty Wave” from New Orleans to Djakarta (where “Moku Pahu” lay near us in the anchorage). After a couple of days of getting a leg up on the rest of the voyage, took a launch ashore, and went to a butterfly reserve with the Third Mate and the First Ass’t to find the ground littered with dead butterflies killed by the violent rainstorm the night before. Drove through entire villages flooded out, with locals cheerfully gathering up mattresses that were floating around in waist-deep water. Happily, the road was raised above all that. The Third Mate, a friend to this day, jumped into a raging stream just for kicks, while I shouted “Get out, you’re gonna get a parasite!” We docked, and spent a week discharging, during which time I bought a gamelan on a street of gamelan makers. Little kids wanted to help carry it back to the ship, hoping for some pay, so I ended up with a string of children each carrying one of ten gongs while I carried the carved wooden frame. I evenly distributed a bunch of cash among them, and they ran off, to a sweets shop, probably. Another day I bought a gigantic twenty-pound jackfruit, and may still have scars on my right shoulder from carrying what no-one else, wisely, wanted to lug for me. Riding around at the fore end of a three-wheeled motor rickshaw was a sometimes terrifying experience. Left there and discharged the rest of the cargo in Makassar, where the locals were not nearly as friendly.
Edit: turned out I did not care for jackfruit, nor did anyone else in the crew.
PS: Back home in Hull I assume. (Presumably to a warm and wet welcome from his challengers, all those years ago.)
Lots more here: The Optimist. He set out to walk around the world. After 27 years, his quest is nearly over
Source: . https://wapo.st/4iCIL4F (Gift article, no paywall)
Back to “Amazing places”, or rather confusion about an “amazing place”, The United Kingdom" (UK). What is it and how did it come about?:
Here is the map of early “UK”:
The Kingdom of Scotland was founded in the 9th century. The Kingdom of England was founded in the 10th century.
The border between England and Scotland shifted around a lot over the centuries as each tried to invade the other.
But things settled down as the two kingdoms came to be ruled by a shared monarchy — a Scottish monarchy — in 1603.
Yet another century later, in 1922, most of Ireland seceded from the UK to become an independent Irish state, although the northern part of Ireland opted back in. Hence, for the last hundred years, both England and Scotland have been two of the four nations (along with Wales and Northern Ireland) that make up what is currently the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Source:
Another amazing gift article from WAPO. This time about an piano playing octopus: This musician taught an octopus to play the piano
The task required hundreds of hours of problem-solving and patience. Musician Mattias Krantz said it was worth it.
Märket, the world’s smallest island split between two nations, is a 3.3-hectare Baltic islet shared by Sweden and Finland. In 1885, Finland accidentally built a lighthouse on Sweden’s side—but as good neighbors do, they simply redrew the border in 1985 to fix it!
Since the topic has shifted to interesting borders, here is a unique place. Although claimed to be the most powerful waterfalls in Europe it doesn’t stack up to many of the spectacular waterfalls around the world or even waterfalls easy driving distance from my home. For me, what is even more interesting is the German/Switzerland border just a few kilometers up the road from the falls. No checkpoint or fanfare at all when hopping between the 2 countries. Just an unceremonious street sign saying you are leaving one hamlet & entering another. The picture is of me in June 2025 straddling the 2 countries. The link is from a blogger who considers the place charming, wondering if it’s the world’s most beautiful border?
“….while Büsingen is under German sovereignty, it is included in the Swiss tax and customs area, so VAT and other taxes are managed as if it was on Swiss territory. Likewise the Swiss Franc is the currency in use in Büsingen (although I guess the Euro is also commonly accepted). Both Swiss and German postal and telephone codes are also in use.
There are also no border controls coming in and out of Büsingen form Swiss territory. There is some border control infrastructure in the border between Switzerland and the German mainland east of Büsingen, although these are not manned (at least at the time of my visit), since Switzerland is now part of the Schengen area.”
