Inside FORT AMSTERDAM | With The Maluku Tourism Office
hello there from north Ambon so today we're gonna go check out one of the oldest forts here in the Maluku's before we go there we're gonna have some lunch and i just stopped off at this Padang restaurant not really sure how you do this okay yes can you help me? yes, curry, boleh, maybe (lol) look at that, look at all the sauces. there are three different sauces being poured on there no no okay sure no. i guess you just mix all the sauces together egg? let's do this one ok one fish of course yeah let's take a picture fried or grilled chicken? it looks delicious yeah no I'm saying where is this? no this is actually this is from Padang this is Padang, in Sumatra maybe that's a sign, I have to Sumatra next i want to introduce these guys, they're from the tourism company hello nice to meet you, sorry i'm late what is the difference between padang and campur padang is mixed with a lot of other vegatables so basically more vegetables to me, nasi campur and nasi padang are very similar padang is very spicy and campur has a Javanese taste okay some of the best curry i've ever had wow grilled chicken. kind of reminds me of texas barbecue in a way the spices that they use on here, kind of smoky flavor nice smoky flavor I'll explain who I'm with and uh what I'm doing today later but I'm gonna eat some of this food wow i like nasi padang sorry, americans like to use a lot of napkins even though we keep getting our hands dirty we use a lot of tissue all right the best padang in Ambon right here the if you're here in northern ambon come eat here it's delicious all right we're gonna pile in the cars and we're gonna go to the fort and there it is the oldest fort in Ambon, and of course, it's been renovated over the years but the structure itself the foundation is still original and i'm with this team of people today i lucked out just another one of those things i got super lucky last night at my hotel there was a table of people sitting down at the restaurant and the manager at my hotel, he was sitting there and we were chit chatting he was like oh yeah these are some of the other managers from the other hotels and whatnot one of them really liked my youtube channel and wanted to help me out and help me get around the island a little easier and so i kept telling them like i want to come see the fort, i want to come see the fort, and he was like i got you don't worry, and so they came and picked me up they drove me here and they got a hold of the tourism organization here in ambon and so maybe doing a little collaboration today but again just being lucky and meeting the right people all right can we go in yeah? yeah let's go, let's go in let's go in, this is the area, so based on the story, there was a tsunami uh like this height uh higher than the walls. higher than the walls? there was a tsunami? it's just there is information i got from my boss. okay okay any idea what year? during 16 century. yes yeah okay so before this was built or after
okay after this was built and the water flooded inside yeah wow all the way to.... so this is Hila area mass destruction right there yeah okay so it was uh recorded as the as the first tsunami in Indonesia. are you serious? wow and this is, it look at that but all these are the original walls from when it was built huh? the ruins also yeah all around here so like like this one right here, you can see that this is the original building okay so there would have been a wall here a little higher yeah of course there have been some renovations you can see that this is yeah that's a long way down can i go see up there first maybe? yeah let's go take a look at the ocean first and get an idea of where we are so like I was saying it was the Portuguese who first came over here the first Europeans to discover the spice islands before you had the Arab traders from the middle east you had chinese traders that would come here and do trade but it was a Portuguese who came here the first Europeans and at that time from what i understand it was it was basically if you came over here and you made it over here you wanted to build a structure you wanted to build something and basically just call dibs, raise your flag and say I'm here it's mine very cool yes hello my name is nick. he's the fort keeper the fort keeper, it's very nice to meet you he's been here for 38 years he's been here 38 years guarding the fort. wow that's a long time
so any information. any information he knows. yeah he knows every square inch of this place okay okay and how much of it has changed in 38 years in 38 years, they've only renovated the fort once a big renovation? yes so they did a total renovation because there was no roof on the fort 38 years ago the roof was already gone at the time oh 38 years ago? yeah (there were only the walls left of the building and they were covered by the roots of the banyan trees, the trees were eventually cut down and the roots on the walls were taken off and the walls repaired so this area that we're standing, is this where they would put the cannons here is what is called the "bastion" every fort has 4 bastions Fort Amsterdam only has 2 because it was previously just a warehouse they only have two because the original function is for the warehouse okay so it wasn't actually for military defense it was used to store the cloves and the nutmeg right? yeah. like you said
okay. interesting. but obviously, they wanted to you know protect it so they put cannons here does he know why exactly they chose this spot to build a fort i mean is basically, all forts were built by the coast because all trade was done by ships because there were no cars when the Portuguese came, they didn't plan on building a fort but their ship sank by Tiga Island and when they came, there was a Muslim kingdom already here the locals saw a white ship sinking that had white people with blue eyes on board and went and reported it to the king the king gave an order to the people to go and help the Portuguese and bring them here then after the Portuguese asked if they could build the warehouse so... that was a long explanation I'm trying my best.... GO! so it's like the first time they see people, caucasian people no white skin yeah yeah blue eyes right and then uh i don't know he doesn't he did not mention the certain reason why it was built here, mainly because they want to build this spot in the shoreline close to the shore, we haven't been over there but you know it looks like it's on the corner and kind of water on both sides and I guess this was one of the main passageways, many of the ships would come through this area right here because just north here they're is Serem Island right? Serem island and okay yeah yeah so the Tiga Island, it's on different side of Ambon, near the airport okay let's go inside sure, let's uh if you want to go... i mean, i'll definitely go around before before we leave don't worry that's incredible that guy has been watching the fort for 38 years wow that's one thing that always fascinated me when learning about the spice trade expeditions and you know especially the first people who came over here and they're trying to conduct trade they're trying to establish relationships with the people here and for one, the first explorers to come this way you had like a 25 or 30 percent chance of making it back, but if you were one of the unlucky ones, they would leave you here you were called, it's called a "factor" and they would leave you here and it was your job to maybe watch the fort or you know, to learn about the culture learn the language keep relationships good with the people here and I read the life expectancy for these people, for the factors, was probably less than three years and so you, you survive the treacherous journey all the way over here, you survive all the diseases, the weather and then they're like okay guys uh we're gonna leave you here hold down the fort literally and uh we'll be back for you yeah okay let's go inside let's go inside so this is the original stone that they used. you can see the coral here, look at that
this is the original rock wow so this is like the certain rock uh so before they use for the building they would burn it first. okay so it it can be stronger for the building. yeah okay i see i see wow okay it's all coral? i mean rock and coral? yeah yeah i didn't realize you could use coral as a type of cement and bricks rock coral there's anything they could find i guess yeah you can see it yeah and the first original roof was made from this okay okay all right and so in here just a big open room you said this was used as like the warehouse right? so storage for all the spices not only nutmeg and cloves? or anything maybe, any kind of spices huge open room these windows that look out one massive pillar right in the middle of it. you said this is the original? i guess no don't believe everything i say oh so the renovation it was done by one of the experts that also do something to Borobudur, oh really okay interesting what is this room for? gun powder, gun powder. like a dry room basically but when Japan occupied this, they turned it into a jail wow there was some ventilation that the japanese closed on the wall because you can see from outside there there are holes okay but there is none here the Japanese closed it in. yeah to make it into jail wow
and when... speaking of the Japanese when they invaded Ambon, did they come from the north shore this way or did they come through Ambon Bay? so they go by land but when they first made landfall, like when the ships came in did they come in from this way or did they come in from the port you know what i mean? from Ambon Bay, okay so they yeah all their ships came in Ambon Bay wow that would have been a crazy sight to see and there's the rain, hey good thing we're in the fort okay you want to go up? yes all right second-floor second floor this feels a lot like the castles in Japan the wood, the concrete walls, the steep stairs that's your spot right there, man i mean it's pretty cool that it's raining you can see the rain hitting the ocean and the water but it would be nice to come here on a beautiful clear day, but i came to Ambon during rainy season so look at this little perch right here, now that's a view and that's also a long way down oh man just one of those things that, the [ __ ] that went down in this fort and places like this kind of all around the world really it's one of those things that these walls could talk the stories they could tell the nightmares that went on here I'm gonna guess, I'm probably wrong but i think that's a jackfruit tree right there that jackfruit jackfruit yeah okay i was right okay okay so this is a Sukun tree okay i've tried it before you kind of peel it apart jackfruit, jackfruit, it is jackfruit you can take it, how? like this yeah like this. eating jackfruit very good. we have durian also at home it's kind of funky the insides of it and the fruit here, exotic any idea, are these original, like are these trees that have been here forever too are they planted this is this one the big one, is a hundred years old. okay so at least 100 years old other trees around here except this one the big one, he planted.
okay so besides the 100-year-old tree, all the other ones he planted? yeah okay. i mean you would think if you had a fort here you wouldn't want the trees here you'd like you'd want to see right? right yeah yeah so he planted the trees here to prevent the wind yeah nice okay smart man smart man and right here you just go right over there's nothing blocking you from going straight over the edge right there yeah be careful that almost like, gives me the goosebumps, and makes my skin crawl just standing there how old are you? so from around 20... wow he's been here since he was like 20 years old wow can you ask him how many people have fallen down the stairs no, not yet i might be the first... who was watching it before him? yeah like who he's been here since he's like 20 years old who young he passed away, but was it a family member? family member my salary was 15,000 rupiah a month (1$) the fee to come in? for him, for one day? whoa whoa for one month? so he will take the salary for once for every three months once every three months so he took like 45 000 so he went for three months first and then he will take the total 45 by the third month yeah that's when he first started? yeah okay in 1986 1983 he was making, i mean that's nothing, like a dollar, not even a dollar a month, yeah not even pretty much or basically a yeah a dollar a month does he make his money now from donations or what from the government? in 1986, there were 90 people who worked here but they left for various reasons and I was the only one left, eventually, the government started to pay me has it ever been vandalized? spray painted or anything like that a lot so to prevent the vandalism he lives here now. right there.
he lives here? what do you mean he lives here? over there the building, okay right there can you see it? in front of the fort okay so he lives right over there now, and so he can hear if anyone comes by okay because he said that there were a lot of people come here vandalism we hate to hear that. he lives there now. I mean, if somebody is vandalizing, like what does he do? does he call the police? does he call... what can he do? hey get out of here he basically handles the things by himself like maybe um call the people off or maybe hit the person. okay. because if he goes to the police. it's too late?
no because he said that the punishment is pretty heavy oh okay just to handle it himself as opposed to letting the law handle it. okay yeah because sounds like a very kind man, kind and gentle person then. huh yeah, with a rough... he keeps you like this looks like a tough dude though, yeah yeah okay so there is a traditional dance called cakalele they usually do the dance to welcome people in Maluku and this is the attributes. these are the weapons huh? this is the shield right this is real this is the real one okay so they asked me if i wanted a dress in the traditional, the what kind of wear? the costume, the wear of what people? the uh the local natives i guess? yes the local people as i said they usually use this to perform traditional dances it's a war dance so this is the crown. can you help me out? i think the red light's on which means it's working. okay like this one wow this is all like real the real one, authentic the skin of what kind of animal? goat and the uh i get the skeleton the uh the vertebrae or the pelvis maybe I don't know, yeah the backbone the lens is on the front so the roots of the tree this is the bones of... fist bones and what are these bones? fish bones, goat bones a little bit everything. yeah so imagine you're doing a dance using these
can I walk through Ambon like this? the sun is coming out too, just in time yes the light is probably better this way yes this is a present to you from us, the Maluku Tourism Office thank you so much thank you so much ok, lots of stuying material this is clove oil, what do you use clove oil for? maybe maybe if you catch a cold or something yeah okay like Vick's vapor rub if you have a stomachache good, that's good thank you so much thank you thank you thank you, awesome i forgot my towel today too this is perfect thank you look at it the sun is coming out it's still kind of raining right here but that's a promising sign right there so i think from here we're gonna go check out the church and the mosque and the church should be just right there and the mosque i think is like 300 meters away so how cool is this the honorary guest of Fort Amsterdam, but yeah i'll leave all this information right here go check it out and show them some love because they're taking care of me that's for sure and that's what i came here to see all the way to Ambon, east Indonesia tell you what though it's a lot easier to get here nowadays than it was in the 16th 17th 18th 19th century just any any you know any period before now yeah it would have been a lot harder to get here i cannot imagine cannot imagine you know for me, I'm like oh it's so challenging to get over to Ambon and then you know it's hard for me to get around the island and do all these things i mean just imagine what it'd be like with no Gojet no Airbnb all the luxuries that we have nowadays, of you know taxis and getting around the island none of that back then tell you what though i lucked out this has been one of the coolest experiences that i've ever done here in Indonesia and just uh just happened to meet the right people again and man it's been great i want to thank the Maluku Tourism Organization for inviting me out here and you know guiding me through all this and giving me the opportunity to do this because like i said it has been awesome and so perfect way to cap off the day with the nice fresh coconut oh yeah delicious, and look at that view yes we're by the coast we just stopped here to chill out and have some coconuts and coffee some fried bananas on a gazebo, in a gazebo this might be the coolest soccer field I've ever seen in my life look where those kids are playing out there you
2022-07-25 14:51
