Three Weeks in the Archipelago: A Journey Through Indonesia's Many Worlds

I had been in Indonesia for three days before I understood that I had been thinking about it entirely wrong. Standing on the rim of Mount Bromo at dawn, watching sulphurous smoke rise from the crater while the sun illuminated a landscape that resembled nothing so much as the surface of another planet, I realised that Indonesia is not a destination but a category error. We speak of visiting Indonesia as though it were a single place, when in fact it comprises 17,508 islands scattered across 5,000 kilometres of equatorial ocean, home to 700 languages and several distinct civilisations. Visiting Indonesia is like visiting Europe and expecting coherence.

This multiplicity is both the challenge and the gift. The challenge lies in choosing — three weeks allows perhaps four islands, five if you rush, and rushing defeats the purpose. The gift lies in returning, knowing that you have barely begun, that the islands you did not reach this time will wait. Indonesia rewards the traveller who accepts incompleteness, who understands that the goal is not...