Right off the tourist track, it resembles many of the small agriculture-based tropical townships one finds in the Caribbean, South America, parts of Africa and the Pacific. A photograph of the town in the l930's and one taken today would show little change. Horse-drawn carriages, mostly with bright decorations replace taxis as the main form of public and commercial transportation.
People are friendly and the atmosphere is laid-back.
The breeze is as warm as the smiles of the inhabitants, and nothing ever happens in a hurry. As we drove into town Captain Herman told us something about the Perintis. The ship changed hands, to be finally bought and operated by Kupu Kupu Barong Resort. On the way from the airport to the harbor, we stopped at the Sultan's Palace, a somewhat imposing building the contents of which sadly did not live up to our expectations. Under Dutch pre-war rules the Sultan, who reigned over this area, was quite powerful by local standards, but he was far from significant internationally, with very few possessions worth displaying.