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| ASIAN
GEOGRAPHIC JOURNAL |
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 Nature |
| Where Less is More |
| Journey to the Far-flung Indonesian Islands of Nusa Tenggara |
| TEXT Khong Swee Lin |
| PHOTOS Carl-Bernd Kaehlig |
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A Buginese schooner, called a pinisi, transported us to the distant reaches of the isles of southeastern Indonesia - into a world of long-lost kingdoms, ancient rituals, dances, dragons, coloured lakes and coral gardens. |
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| The Lesser Sunda Islands, or Nusa Tenggara, literally "southeastern islands", is a chain of more than 500 islands stretching about 1,400 kilometres from Bali in the west to Timor in the east. The inner arc, principally comprising Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, Flores and Alor, is volcanic, contrasting with the outer, Sumba, Savu, Roti and Timor. But what the Lesser Sundas lack in terms of size compared to the vast Greater Sundas of Sumatra, Java and Borneo, they - or rather the population of just 11 million - make up for in cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity. For this plethora of islands and islets, variety is everything, no more so than when one sees the differences in traditional architecture.
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