In a couple of weeks I'll set sail (or rather take to the air) for the amazing Indonesian archipelago - a chain of over 17,000 islands located in Southeast Asia. Specifically, I'll be spending time in Sumatra, the Western most big island, with Medan as my home base. Medan is Indonesia's third-largest city. It has been an international port and trading center for centuries and, as a result, celebrates a blend of many cultures: Indonesian, Chinese, Indian, Arabic, and those of indigenous groups such as the Batak and Aceh.
In preparation for my travels, I've been reading some wonderful books including The Buru Quartet by literary giant Pramoedya Ananta Toer (This Earth of Mankind, Child of All Nations, Footsteps, and House of Glass), the fantastic (in the truest sense of the word) Ring of Fire by Lawrence Blair, and The Indonesian Reader: History, Culture, Politics, an edited collection of texts organized chronologically and covering a broad range of topics compiled by Tineke Hellwig and Eric Tagliacozzo. If I were to sum up my learning from these books, it would be that Indonesia is an incredibly diverse nation (culturally, biologically...) with a complex and interesting history. I highly recommend all of the texts above if you want to begin to understand some of this diversity and complexity.
