Bengkulu
A British East India Company Pepper Post For 140 Years, Traded To The Dutch In 1824 For Malacca; Later The Place Of Sukarno'S Exile, Where He Met The Woman Who Sewed The First Indonesian Flag · Bengkulu, Bengkulu
Bengkulu was BRITISH FOR A HUNDRED AND FORTY YEARS. The East India Company came for pepper in 1685 and built FORT MARLBOROUGH, still standing above the sea, and STAMFORD RAFFLES was Lieutenant-Governor here - the giant flower RAFFLESIA ARNOLDII, first described from these forests, carries his name. IN 1824 BRITAIN SIMPLY TRADED THE PLACE AWAY, swapping Bengkulu for Dutch Malacca in the treaty that also confirmed Britain's hold on Singapore. THEN, MORE THAN A CENTURY LATER, THE DUTCH EXILED SUKARNO HERE from 1938 to 1942. His house is preserved with his books and his bicycle, AND IT IS WHERE HE MET FATMAWATI - who went on to sew the first Indonesian flag, the one raised at the declaration of independence in 1945 - the one raised at the declaration of independence. Her house is preserved too, a few streets from his, and almost nobody visits either of them, in a province that almost nobody visits at all. them.
Bengkulu, Bengkulu Province, Bengkulu, Bengkulu, Indonesia
BENGKULU IS A PROVINCIAL CITY OF ABOUT FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND, with an airport served from Jakarta; it is otherwise a long road journey from Padang or Palembang. FORT MARLBOROUGH opens in daylight with a small entry fee. SUKARNO'S EXILE HOUSE AND FATMAWATI'S HOUSE both keep museum hours, charge very little, and CLOSE ON MONDAYS as most Indonesian museums do. PANTAI PANJANG, the long beach, runs for kilometres along the city and is open always - though THE SURF AND UNDERTOW MAKE IT DANGEROUS FOR SWIMMING and drownings occur. RAFFLESIA BLOOMS ARE UNPREDICTABLE: they last only days, appear in the forest inland, and are announced locally when found - ask at your hotel or through the provincial tourism office rather than planning around one.