Wilderness cities in Asia’s final frontier

A woman cleans the inner bark of a sago palm tree, preparing to turn it into a makeshift basin that she will use to wash ground sago pith. PHOTO: LI-ANN TAN AND JON SONG

A FRIEND once declared emphatically: “If you’ve been to only Bali, you’ve not been to Indonesia.”

Having spent three months in the stunning wilderness of Papua recently, we will readily add: “If you’ve not been to Papua, you’ve not seen the best of South-east Asia.”