Program 730: Wandering Indonesia; Italian Lessons; Czech Towns

As one of the world's largest countries, Indonesia is full of surprises. On the next Travel with Rick Steves, we look at what you can expect to find, when exploring its 13-thousand islands.

An Italian journalist tells us how his fellow citizens coped with the earliest days of the covid pandemic, by pulling together as a nation. He explains it's part of an Italian way of looking at life.

And get tips for visiting historic towns and sites in the Czech Republic.

• Elizabeth Pisani, author of "Indonesia Etc." (W. W. Norton) 
• Journalist Beppe Severgnini, author of  "Italian Lessons: Fifty Things We Know About Life Now" (Vintage)
• Czech tour guide Jana Hronkova  
• Cameron Hewitt, co-author of Rick Steves "Eastern Europe" guidebooks 

• Elizabeth Pisani wrote Indonesia Etc and is published by W. W. Norton, and by Granta Editions in the United Kingdom.
• Elizabeth is the founder of Ternyata, Ltd., a public health consultancy to international governments and health agencies.
• Beppe Severgnini is an editor and columnist for Italy's largest-circulation daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera. His latest book is "Italian Lessons: Fifty Things We Know About Life Now."
• Beppe described the discipline of his fellow Italians in combatting the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy, in early 2020, in a column for the New York Times.
• Jana Hronkova's tour company is called Prague Discoveries.
• Cameron Hewitt provides tales from his European travels in his book The Temporary European. He shares photos and thoughts from his recent travels in his blog entries as well.
• The Rick Steves online guide to the Czech Republic.

• "I've got Indonesia on my list of must visit places, particularly Bali. Years ago I saw a PBS documentary about water temple festivals in Bali and how they helped regulate the use of water in the rice fields." (Dennis in Juneau, Alaska)
• Caller's family comes from Kutna Hora and asks how to get there from Prague. (Randi from Parsons, Kansas)
• Writes about visiting Plzen/Pilsen, home to famous Czech Pilsen beer, to tour the brewery, and staying for three days. (e-mail from Steve in Elgin, Illinois)
• Caller visited Lidice, where Nazis murdered the town's citizens in retaliation for resistance fighters shooting a cruel Nazi general. Adds that Lidice is sister city to Phillips, Wisc. He found that people in Prague under age 40 didn't seem to know about this. (Ray in Merrill, Wisconsin)

• John Martyn, "Bless the Weather," No Little Boy / Mesa
• Partopi Tao Group, "Huabing Maho Butet," Instrumental Original Tapanuli, vol. 2 / GNP
• Evergreen Ensemble, "Seduk Maru 3," O Bali / CBC Records
• Gender Wayang Pemarwan, "Abimenijoe," Music for the Gods: The Fahnestock South Sea Expedition-Indonesia (collection) / Smithsonian Folkways-Mickey Hart Collection
• Ibu Candri & Ensemble, "Gender (excerpt)," Amiata's Secret World vol. 2 (collection) / Amiata
• Gamelan Semar Pegulingan, "Gambangan," Music for the Gods: The Fahnestock South Sea Expedition-Indonesia (collection) / Smithsonian Folkways-Mickey Hart Collection
• * Zakir Hussain, "Balinese Fantasy," Trance Planet, vol. 1  (compilation) / Worldly Music-Triloka Records
• Aria, "Un Bel Di," Aria, vol. 1 / Cafe del Mar Music
• I Giullari di Piazza, "Canto d'Aphrodite," Earth Sun & Moon / Lyrichord
• Andre Reiu, "'Intermezzzo' from 'Cavalleria Rusticana' (Mascagni)," Tuscany / Denon
• Bad Examples, "Il Napoli," Slow Music / Ala Tak
• Renato Carosone, "Piccolissima Serenata," Italian Café (collection) / Putumayo
• * Nino Rota, "Otto e Mezzo," Otto e Mezzo (soundtrack to the Fellini film '8 1/2') / Creazioni Artistiche Musicali (Italy)
• Czech musician Tomas Kocko and Orchestr, "Svatojan," EBU World Music Workshop, vol. 2 (2003) / Radio Netherlands Music
• New York Philharmonic, Kurt Masur, conductor, "Slavonic Dance op. 72, no. 2: 'Dumka' (Dvorak)," Sensual Classics, Too / Teldec
• Prague Castle Orchestra, "Maly Myslivecek," Ta nase pisnicka ceska / Bua International (Czech)
• Dela Dap, "Le Shin," Euro Groove (collection) / Putumayo
• Prague Castle Orchestra, "Te Deum (Charpentier)," Ta nase pisnicka ceska / Bua International (Czech)
• Oumou Sangare, "Ah Ndiye,"Africa Fete 3 (collection) / Mango
• Eneida Marta, "Mindjer Doce Mel," Acoustic Africa (collection) / Putumayo
• Thomas Mapfuno, "Hanzvadzi," Music of the Coffee Lands (collection) / Putumayo

* Indicates filler music used during breaks

• Rick opens segment A noting that the pandemic gave Beppe Severgnini time to think about how Italians look at life, and at 12:38 promotes Elizabeth Pisani's online posting from the early months of the covid pandemic in Indonesia.
• At 14:23, Elizabeth notes how the population of traditional hunter gatherers in Indonesia is shrinking, as it loses its forests.
• Rick refers to "Italian Lessons" as Beppe Severgnini's "latest book" several times in the segment B interview. Rick and Beppe also describe how different communities coped with the early 2020 months of the Covid pandemic.
• Beppe describes, starting at 24:28, how remote working is starting to fall from favor in Italy. At 32:08, he adds that younger people in Sicily are not putting up with mafia threats, like their parents have.
• At 34:40, Beppe says that his ten-year old book "Mamma Mia" has been re-released, after the death of Silvio Berluscone, the subject of the book. Beppe warns that Donald Trump's loyalty to Putin and anti-NATO stance remain a larger threat to the world than Berluscone's political legacy.
• At 48:45, caller Ray describes what he found in Czechia "last October."

Pgm #730 Africa Haiku

Zambia bush land
rainy season frogs so loud
I watch from my door

One more hostel bunk
do I need earplugs tonight?
turn to my left....ahh!
— Jane Hellman, Floyd County Virginia

In Kenya we saw
the "big five" on safari
and weaver birds, too.
— Eileen Patch, Endwell, New York

Africa like a
Ballerina on her toes
between two oceans
— Catherine Hawkes, Douglas, Georgia