Original subtitles

NARRATOR: The island of Belitung.

At first sight it is paradise.

But for most of the inhabitants

life on the island is everything but,

because they work in an industry

that is very mysterious to us...

The tin mines.

With bare feet and just their hands the men rummage around

in knee deep mud searching for tin in the toxic mud.

This search doesn't only destroy the island

but also their bodies.

But it is their only way of making money.

The small Island off the coast of Sumatra

has 160,000 inhabitants

and almost half of them work in the mines.

Like most others here,

Ivan and his family live in a sheet metal hut.

His pride and joy are his mobile phone

and his motorcycle.

That both of them are cheap replicas doesn't bother him

and he isn't aware of the fact

that maybe he himself one day quarried for the tin

in these machines at the risk of his own life.

Ivan is 22 years old,

but his skin and hands look a lot older,

as Ivan works in the tin mines of Belitung.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: Like almost all miners, Ivan is self-employed,

but self-employed the Indonesian way.

This means, that he only gets paid if he finds tin.

But he can't decide himself where he wants to dig for it.

He has to go to the big tin companies' mines

and even there he can't just search for the precious metal

anywhere he wants.

A kind of foreman allocates three-to-four-man teams

to a designated area and during the course of the day

checks whether everyone is really working

where they are supposed to.

With the help of just water and their bare hands

the workers dig up to ten-metre-deep and thirty-metre-wide holes

and search for tin in them.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: This is no surprise,

as the demand for tin is ever-growing.

But for most consumers,

where it really comes from is a mystery.

After China,

Indonesia has the biggest tin reserves in the world.

In 2009, the island state produced one third

of all the mined tin in the whole world.

The companies in Belitung have already cleared

most of the 5,000-square-kilometre island of all its trees.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: Their only tools, two old and rusty diesel pumps.

Ivan and his co-workers have to pay for the fuel themselves,

but without this machinery, mining here would be impossible.

The principle behind it is simple.

One pump pumps water out of the hole they are digging

and another pumps fresh rainwater back into it under high pressure.

Through the power of the jet of water

the lumps of earth turn into mud,

and this makes it much easier

to forage for tin stones using just your hands.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: To be completely exact,

the men are actually looking for cassiterite,

a mineral that tin is made from.

For the untrained eye,

it is barely distinguishable from a regular pebble,

but the miners know immediately.

Ivan is paid by weight.

He earns five to ten euros per kilogram.

So two little stones by themselves

are almost worthless.

The men will have to find a lot more.

But for now they have only found shards of glass, stones, and scrap.

There are no set positions or jobs here.

Everyone has to do everything.

With their hands, they rummage around in the mud.

And the tropical heat doesn't help either.

If they don't find anything they won't get paid.

And the search is tedious, as tin stones are rather small

and hidden deep in the ground of Belitung.

They are often even smaller than a pebble.

It is the famous search for the needle in the haystack here,

but the men will not give up.

Always driven by the dream of hitting the jackpot.

Ivan still speaks fondly of a lucky find he once made.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: Inexplicable blisters, deformations,

and a skin like leather.

The list of ailments is long.

Ivan is 22 years old

and the average life expectancy for a miner on Belitung

is 43.

Most die young from cancer or respiratory diseases.

But the long-term effects are just one aspect.

Another is the acute danger

that the miners are constantly faced with.

The water loosens the ground around them wherever it can.

It seeps into and under-washes the sidewalls

that can then collapse.

Sometimes this is what the workers try to do on purpose,

but it can also quickly become very dangerous

when the sidewalls are in motion.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: When a six-metre-high wall of earth is in motion

there is no escape.

Just in this mine alone,

ever year ten miners die due to landslides.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: But when they are standing inside a hole

it is nigh on impossible to notice if something is about to happen.

It is already early afternoon

and the men have only found a couple of grams.

But then suddenly chaos spreads all around.

(man shouting)

Like a shot, everyone drops their primitive tools

and begins to run.

(diesel pump stops)

(man shouting)

A man's shouting stops the work.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: The foreman that allocates the miners to the holes

has noticed something.

When we take a closer look it becomes clear,

the men have dug dangerously close to the next hole.

It is completely filled with water,

and it is pushing against the thin wall of soil

with all its might.

In many places, the water is already seeping through,

and the walls are becoming increasingly unstable.

It's only a question of time until the dam breaks.

For today, nobody is allowed to work in the hole anymore.

Ivan and his colleagues are disappointed.

They have only found a couple of grams,

far too little to sell.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: Since he was 15 years old Ivan has been working in the mines

and, on average, only finds ore every three days.

On days like this, when he hasn't earned anything,

Ivan has to save where he can.

This is home-made petrol.

When Ivan gets home there is no time for affection or kind words.

He is too ashamed in front of his wife and family

for not bringing home any money again.

IVAN'S WIFE: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: The men in Indonesia see this differently.

Here the man has to provide for his family

and if he cannot do so, he is regarded as a failure.

This happens in many homes here,

evening after evening.

NARRATOR: A new day dawns.

Maybe today will be THE day

where Ivan makes money in the mines.

Overnight, most of the water has trickled away.

The workers aren't allowed to carry on working in this pit,

but they turn on the pumps once more

to suck out the remaining mud.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: Tin is heavier than sand and soil.

The suction pipe runs uphill on purpose

so that the pieces of ore

are collected at the bottom of the pipe.

Now the men turn the pump up to full power.

With extremely high pressure they clear the pipe.

The water then pushes the tin stones out

and the men collect it at the top.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: The water is coming out of the pipe

at full pressure now.

After the hard and strenuous work yesterday

it's now time for the more delicate part of the job.

First the men hold back the tin with shovels

while the lighter sand is carried away by the water,

then with their hands and feet.

In the end, they can actually fill a small bag with tin stones.

But there is still sand in the tin,

and it is impossible to sell it like this.

But this is about to change at Ivan's friend's house,

because only good quality guarantees a good price.

Every grain of sand has to go.

An unpleasant and laborious task,

where every grain counts

as the purity decides the price of the tin

and therefore how much the men will earn.

The middlemen here are relatively rich.

They buy the raw material for a very low price

and then sell it to big companies with a huge mark up.

Ivan is anxious.

The bag weighs over four kilograms,

but how much pure tin is inside?

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: With the help of scales, water, and a calculator

the middleman can exactly determine

how much pure tin is in the bag.

The better the workers know the middleman,

the less they are cheated by them.

This is because they are not able to double check his calculations.

MIDDLEMAN: (in Indonesian)

IVAN:

NARRATOR: About nine euros per kilogram.

That means they almost get 36 euros for their four-kilogram bag.

This is not only an extremely good wholesale price

but, for Indonesian standards, also a lot of money.

But the three miners have to share the profit

and for two days of incredibly hard and life-threatening work

13 euros doesn't seem that much in the end after all.

But it will be enough for Ivan to feed his family

for a couple of days

and also to treat himself to a hot meal.

IVAN: (in Indonesian)

NARRATOR: The tin mines of Indonesia.

We use what is dug out of the ground here

every day in our technical appliances.

A mysterious place,

that does have a lot to do with our daily lives after all.

Our journey continues to a mysterious place in England.

We've caught a plane and are travelling to Manchester.

From there, our journey continues for another two hours

until we reach the small town of Knaresborough

with its 15,000 inhabitants.

Apparently, here we will find a magical spring

and a strange wall of rock,

which are also the oldest tourist attractions in the country.

Our search leads us past a cave

which is surrounded by legends.

It is said that in this mysterious place

the fortune-teller Mother Shipton was born in the 15th century

and allegedly she predicted the big fire in London.

At the end of the 104-acre-large park

we're meeting Fiona Martin,

the owner of the so-called magic spring.

- So, I'm looking for the origin of this picture.

- That's just down the steps.

Erm, and at the front of the petrifying well

the water coming down here... - Mm-hm.

- ..which is a mile underground,

it's supposed to be a hidden lake,

and it travels along, up an aquifer

and down, and produces massive amounts of calcite.

- OK. Let's go. - OK.

NARRATOR: For a long time, the spring was regarded

as a mystical place.

Many of the locals didn't dare go near it

because branches and birds turned to stone there.

- Ah, so there is it!

NARRATOR: We've made it.

Here we are at the 6,000-year-old spring.

In just a few months, all kinds of objects ossify here.

In a dripstone cave this would take centuries.

The teddy bear tradition has developed over time.

SIRI: Is that a real lobster? FIONA: No.

SIRI: (laughs) Could you tell me something about the tradition

of hanging teddy bears over there?

FIONA: I wasn't around in 1630, when it was first opened.

They used to hang visitors' items up there.

And they used to have a tag with a number on

so they can relate to who's was who's

but sometimes it does flood,

and it all collapsed down

and the items were swept away along the river.

NARRATOR: Even some VIPs have hung up a personal item here.

And it is possible to admire the most famous people's fossils

in a museum next to the spring.

Like John Wayne's hat, or queen Mary's shoe, for example.

In the past years, many other stars came to the spring, too.

- So what is the most famous thing hanging there?

- At the minute, it's, erm, a cap,

which was left by a man called Sy Liebergot

who was the mission controller

who took the call, "Houston, I think we've got a problem"

NARRATOR: In theory, the teddies are stalactites.

A little memory aid: stalactites look like drops of water

and they hang off the ceiling in dripstone caves.

- So, could we have a look at the bicycle?

Yeah, sure.

- It's really impressive. Did someone get stuck in there?

FIONA: Well, this was placed about a year and a half ago

because we had the Tour de France that came to Yorkshire

which was a massive deal for England.

NARRATOR: So the extremely mineral rich water

is the secret to this place.

Apart from calcium, magnesium, and sodium

the water also contains limestone and iron.

And all these are the reason

for the turbo fossilization that takes place here.

- It will get covered with the water

and then as it drips down,

the calcite will remain on the teddy bear

and then over time, it will harden. - Wow.

How long would it take? - A good nine months.

The longer you leave it on there, the better,

the thicker it will become.

NARRATOR: Everything that touches the water fossilizes.

For the little teddy, the process will take about three months.

Of course, we too place a Teddy in the fossilizing spring.

And after just two weeks in the "magic" water

it has almost become a piece for eternity.

Here in China, there are some very odd holes in the ground.

Apparently, they are meant to be houses.

We have to find this mysterious place.

But the first houses we see are all above ground.

We've arrived in Miaoshang

and really, this is where the underground houses are!

This is one of 40 villages of its kind

and there are about 10,000 of these cave-like structures in China.

Here, Guan lives with his family.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: This small tunnel is the only entrance.

Guan dug it with his own hands.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: While it is 38 degrees Celsius outside,

the inner courtyard is relatively cool at 26 degrees.

And yes, it's true, the walls are made completely of soil.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: The bed made from cement is maybe a little hard,

but Guan likes it that way.

The only real problem is the television reception

which often isn't great due to the extremely thick walls.

The signal unfortunately doesn't come via cable.

But still, Guan likes it here.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: His house has eight rooms

and only cost 150 euros to build.

Guan lives here with his parents,

his sister, her husband and his two nieces.

In the centre of the courtyard the family grows vegetables.

Tomatoes, chillies, and grapes.

This means that they only have to go to the market once a week.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: 12-year-old Ren, Guan's niece

also lives in the subterranean earth house.

REN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: Guan's mother Zhang

has quite a different opinion to 12-year-old Ren.

For her it is unimaginable

to ever move out of her house in the ground.

Every day in the kitchen she cooks in the same way

as the people here did 200 years ago.

With the help of her ancient stove.

It is, like everything here, made of soil too.

With an old bellows made of wood

she constantly has to pump air into it.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

ZHANG:

GUAN:

ZHANG:

GUAN:

ZHANG:

GUAN:

NARRATOR: The only use for the room now is storing tools.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: The new toilet is now located at the surface.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: Altogether, 35 families live in this subterranean village.

Each of them in their own house,

which are all built according to the rules of Feng Shui.

Guan is a professional Feng Shui master,

and he knows exactly where it is possible

to build a new earth-hole house.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: The men know this all too well.

In the past, houses have collapsed

and these accidents always bring lots of casualties with them.

Therefore, they work extremely precisely.

With the help of cords and the Feng Shui compass

they are able to plan the new dig incredibly precisely.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: With the help of his geomancer compass

Guan measures the energetic quality

of the soil on the new property.

The alignment of the new structure

is incredibly important for Feng Shui.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: But regardless of Feng Shui

the ravages of time are gnawing away at the houses.

Cracks keep appearing in the walls.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: Because if it rains heavily here,

the inhabitants have a big problem.

But they try to manage.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: The underground water tank

has a holding capacity of 2,000 litres.

But when it rains heavily, it can still sometimes overflow.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: Guan and his brother in-law

have to mend the damaged walls

before the whole house starts to crumble.

The mixture is easy to make and doesn't cost a penny.

Soil is simply mixed with straw and water.

The reason for the straw

is that it makes the soil stick to the wall more easily.

Normally the muddy mixture is a fix for about two years.

But the weather here is getting more and more extreme,

and the population have to somehow deal

with the consequences.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: Guan loves his life in his subterranean house.

Especially when the whole family gathers in the courtyard

in the evenings to have dinner together.

GUAN: (in Chinese)

NARRATOR: But the Chinese government wants to preserve

at least some of the subterranean houses

and use them as hotels for adventure seeking tourists.

So in the future, everybody will be able

to sleep underground for at least one night.

NARRATOR: Probably everyone is familiar

with our next mysterious place, Rio de Janeiro.

The town where probably

the biggest party in the world takes place.

The parties in the streets of Rio

are backbreaking work for many people.

For some, even dangerous.

And a wild party almost without any rules.

The carnival in Rio already begins in the early hours of the morning...

..in the small alleys and backyards

like here for example.

Alina already starts to prepare

for the biggest party of the year in the morning.

And that first of all means getting into her costume,

as "little red samba riding hood".

Alina is a real "Carioca"

that is what the inhabitants of Rio are called.

And almost all of them

transform themselves into their dream character.

ALINA: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: Apart from gleaming colours

and a fancy outfit

even little red riding hood

needs to take some very worldly things along

such as a phone, cash, and condoms.

It is best to carry all these things as close to the body as possible

so that no one who shouldn't can get to them.

ALINA: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: Now fully equipped

it's time to head to Rio's city centre.

- (conversing in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: Alina's mother knows that at the carnival

anything can happen

and hopes that her daughter will be safe.

- (laughing)

NARRATOR: Alina's destination?

The so called "Bloco" party.

In one hour she wants to be there.

At the same time, the first visitors who are already there

are slowly beginning to warm up.

But not everything that looks like a costume really is one.

Bumba's outfit is real!

He is in charge of cleaning up.

But there's always a little bit of time for some partying.

BUMBA: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: During the carnival,

tonnes of rubbish have to be cleared away,

so aside from all the hard work during the carnival

for Bumba and his colleagues

at least they get to have some fun, too.

- (upbeat carnival music)

NARRATOR: Little red riding hood Alina

has almost arrived at the party.

ALINA: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: Alina is meeting her friends at the station.

Rio's trains are relatively safe, but during the carnival

one should always be on the lookout for pickpockets.

- (squealing, laughing)

NARRATOR: So that Alina and her friends can feel safe,

15,000 police officers are on duty during the carnival.

One of them is 32-year-old Rafael.

He's been a policeman for five years...

..in this town where gang wars

cost over 6,000 people their lives every year.

RAFAEL: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: Police officer Rafael has learned over the years

that during the day it is mostly peaceful.

It only gets really dangerous in the evenings

when pickpockets and drug dealers begin to roam the streets.

For now it's party time!

All in all, there are about 5 million visitors

that come for the festivities each year.

- (indistinct chatter)

- (Alina and friends cheering)

NARRATOR: Last stop the corner shop

because drinks at the party itself are twice as expensive as here.

Two buckets of ice, a cooling box Brazilian style.

- (upbeat music)

NARRATOR: Now the group is ready for the party of the year.

Time to join the crowd and dance!

- (crowd singing in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: But parties and festivities

also mean a lot of rubbish on the streets.

Officially there are fines of up to 115 euros for littering

but in reality, almost no one is ever fined.

BUMBA: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: 2,000 road sweepers

bring as much waste as they can to the collection points

for the dustbin men to collect later.

400 million litres of beer

are sold during the carnival.

That means a lot of bottles and cans,

and means a lot of business.

For example, for Andreia. Since lunchtime,

business has been booming for this drinks vendor.

ANDREIA: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: In her normal life, Andreia works in a call centre

and makes about 200 euros per week.

During the carnival, she earns the same amount in a day.

When she has sold her last can

she has to get more from the supply lorries.

But the queue is long.

ANDREIA: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: Andreia stays cool

but some vendors are not at all happy about the wait.

- (shouting in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: Meanwhile, the street party

is really starting to take off.

- (singing in Portuguese)

- (whistles)

During the carnival, the overflowing streets and alleys

provide perfect opportunities for pickpockets.

You have to be very vigilant, as Alina knows.

ALINA: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: Officially, there are around 8,000 cases

of theft and robbery during the carnival in Rio.

Road sweep Bumba has also found some sinister things in Rio's bins.

BUMBA: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: It is no surprise

that Bumba and his co-workers went on strike two years ago

in order to receive hazardous duty pay.

Since then the road sweepers make 400 instead of 180 euros per month.

In the meantime, Alina is busy practising her flirting skills.

ALINA: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: In such a big crowd it's always easy to meet new people.

For drinks vendor Andreia, the tables have turned.

The carnival is the biggest money maker of the year for her.

Road sweep Bumba is in a good mood.

And Alina is thoroughly enjoying the carnival season.

So everything is in perfect order?

We will only know after sunset.

In the city centre of Rio the samba schools of Rio

are presenting themselves in all their glory.

And in the streets, police officer Rafael

is still hunting for small time criminals,

prostitutes, and drug dealers.

RAFAEL: (in Portuguese)

NARRATOR: They are the white knights of the carnival.

Drunk party-goers are the smallest problem here.

Whereas conflicts between gangs are quite the opposite.

But today, everything seems to be calm.

On the whole at least.

- (woman screams)

RAFAEL: (in Spanish)

WOMAN:

RAFAEL:

WOMAN:

RAFAEL:

NARRATOR: Rio de Janeiro roughly translates

as "The City of God"

and tonight he seems to be watching over his town...

..at least until the next morning,

when Bumba gives it his all again

and starts cleaning the streets.

And with the next day of carnival dawning

everything starts over again.

Subtitles by Sky Access Services