Author Archives: ianburnet

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About ianburnet

Author of the book, Spice Islands. Which tells the History, Romance and Adventure of the spice trade from the Moluccas in Eastern Indonesia over a period of 2000 years. Author of the book, East Indies.Which tells the history of the struggle between the Portuguese Crown, the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company for supremacy in the Eastern Seas. Author of the book 'Archipelago - A Journey Across Indonesia'. Author of the book 'Where Australia Collides with Asia' Author of the book 'The Tasman Map'. Author of the book 'Eastern Voyages'.

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival – An Indonesian Trilogy

Posted on October 28, 2016 by ianburnet

A large crowd gathered at the Festival Club at Bar Luna on Thursday evening for an island-hopping adventure across Indonesia with voyager and historian Ian Burnet. The moderator, Toni Pollard, interviewed Ian about his three books on Indonesia – Spice … Continue reading →

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Manuk Island – A Bird Sanctuary in the remote Banda Sea

Posted on October 10, 2016 by ianburnet

The last stop on our East Indies Spice Exploration Voyage 2016, before reaching the Banda Islands, is the tiny island of Manuk which is just the tip of a volcano which pokes itself above the Banda Sea.   Manuk is … Continue reading →

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Ian Burnet at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2016

Posted on September 26, 2016 by ianburnet

The 13th UWRF will be held 26–30 October, 2016,  celebrating the theme Tat Tvam Asi or ‘I am you, you are me’. This powerful ideology is crucial to the collective identity of Indonesia – uniting people from incredibly diverse religious, ethnic, cultural and historical backgrounds … Continue reading →

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Chance Encounters of the Indonesian Kind

Posted on September 13, 2016 by ianburnet

We travel from Solo to Blitar by bus while on our 14 day ‘Journey Across Java’ tour. The bus is held up by a colourful street parade in a village as part of the Indonesian Independence Day celebrations. It is … Continue reading →

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Sari Temple in Central Java

Posted on September 8, 2016 by ianburnet

One of the many highlights of our recent ‘Journey Across Java’ was a visit to the Candi Sari temple near Prambanan. It is quite unusual for Javanese temples as it also provided accomodation for the Buddhist monks and served as … Continue reading →

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President Soekarno – The Artist

Posted on August 16, 2016 by ianburnet

In celebration of the 71st Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia the Galleri Nasional is hosting an Exhibition of paintings from the Presidential Palace, collected by Soekarno the first President of Indonesia. Including many famous paintings by Indonesian artists … Continue reading →

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Bill Dalton’s ‘Archipelago’ Book Review

Posted on July 20, 2016 by ianburnet

In this final saga of the author’s three books about his 30 years in Indonesia, Ian Burnet combines his love of adventure and travel with his knowledge of the region’s history to take us on a personal journey through geographic … Continue reading →

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Pulau Kumba is erupting!

Posted on July 12, 2016 by ianburnet

Kumba Island lies in the Banda Sea of Eastern Indonesia and north of the island of Lembata. The island must be sitting over a hot spot in the earth’s mantle as it seems to have been active over many years. … Continue reading →

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Kertanegara – A demonic King?

Posted on June 9, 2016 by ianburnet

A Javanese chronicle relates that King Kertanegara was buried at Singhasari in East Java in 1295, three years after his death, and deified as a Shiva-Buddha. His temple tower is divided into two parts, the lower one Sivaitic or Hindu, … Continue reading →

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Candi Sewu (The 999 temples of Princess Loro Jonggrang?)

Posted on May 18, 2016 by ianburnet

Many people visit the magnificent ninth century Hindu Temples of Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu at the temple complex of Prambanan outside Yogyakarta in Central Java. But not everybody visits the eight century Buddhist temple known as Candi Sewu which is … Continue reading →

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