Less than five minutes from Tomohon, North Sulawesi, rows of wooden houses stand on stilts along a two-kilometer stretch of road. There are small two-room abodes and larger five-room constructions. But none are occupied. Visitors can enter freely and, if they like what they see, bring the buildings home.

West Sulawesi's Got Talent

More than 10 gunny sacks of cacao kernels were arranged in a row in the front room of Comextra Maora's storehouse in Maumere on the island of Flores in Sikka regency, East Nusa Tenggara. Agus Layni, coordinating team leader of the cacao exporting company, told two employees to examine the sacks' contents. He just wanted to make sure there were no sticking kernels and that they were intact and without epidermis and fungi.

Maria Village, Protector of the Uma Lengge

A smooth and shiny concrete road extends from Dasan Lekong hamlet to the center of Barejulat village, West Nusa Tenggara. It covers a distance of only 600 meters. However, for Efendi, a driver delivering gallon tubes of drinking water, the village's big problem has been solved. "Formerly, my truck frequently got stuck in waterlogged mud holes," he said. Local people no longer need to take a detour on rainy days.

THE cool mountain air grew cold with the rain in Salimpek village, Solok regency, West Sumatra. But the weather did not keep residents from congregating around a small plot of land, about the size of a volleyball court, next to wet onion fields in late August. They were too curious to witness something they had never seen: a fight between a local silek master-silek is Minang for silat, which refers to the martial arts indigenous to Indonesia and Malaysia-and a tall, large European man.