This beautiful mountain is called Inirie, which means ‘Mother Rie’. I have to say that she looks like a mean mother. She stands at 2245 meters, and we’re going up tomorrow morning at 5 am. We’re pretty sure she’s inactive, but we will give a full report here once we come down. Stay tuned! [...]
Komodo National Park is made up of four islands. Komodo is the most well known of the group, but Rinca is where the beasts can most easily be found. What struck me first about the islands is it’s landscape. It’s hot, arid and you’d almost expect a dinosaur to saunter on by you when you’re [...]
The Trans-Flores Highway cuts a seriously meandering path through this mountainous island. Along the route, there is a total lack of modern amenities. During our 10 hour romp from Labuanbajo to Bajawa, we didn’t see one single Caltex, Mobil, Shell or Flying J. If we had, it would have been a total surprise – this [...]
The other week I handed in my last surviving pair of pants to a laundry service. They used to be khaki, but they came back looking like this: some sort of sick peachy orange. I’m less than happy with the new color. Guess it’s better than pink.
There are reptiles that give me the creeps. Geckos are my buddies, but get much bigger and I start to get a little squirmy. Iguanas make me feel yucky. Take that yucky and multiply it by a really big number. The result: Komodo dragons. They are deadly, scary creatures. Here are some facts we learned [...]
If you checked out the contents of my backpack you would find a 3 to 1 ratio of tank tops to t-shirts. I packed this way with Indonesia in mind. I figured it would be the perfect place for the tank tops; a less is more kind of a climate. I couldn’t have been more [...]
Yep, that’s my hand after a day of snorkeling. A palm reader’s paradise. Even the boat captain laughed at me.
Over the course of a one-year long trip, not every day feels like the best day ever. There are snags, troublesome logistics, awkward meetings and exhausting touts to deal with. Yet, some of the days are just SO good. Today, we saw the Komodo dragons, one of the most fearsome predators on Earth. On [...]
I referred to a Mandi in my rat post – but figured it was best to provide a photo to illustrate how we’re washing ourselves these days. The aqua tile-lined part is the mandi, which holds the water you wash yourself with. The mossy lower basin holds the water you use to manually flush the toilet. [...]
Sometimes getting off the beaten path takes only a five-minute taxi ride. Our fixer on Lombok, Mr Ragil, took us to his village outside Mataram. Apparently, the way to celebrate independence day in Indonesia is to have a whopping children’s parade. We were given the best seats in the house, a box full of candy [...]
We all know that Martin has a no-dance policy. Much to my enjoyment, he was let off the hook in Mataram, just this once, due to extreme amounts of peer pressure – by the parade master of ceremonies and the local military official. Awkwardness ensued.
Indonesians gained their independence from the Dutch on August 17th, 64 years ago. We were in Mataram during this year’s celebration. We had the pleasure of joining a local man in his village for the festivities, which included a parade of school-aged children doing marching/dancing/chanting/singing performances. Check out this clip:
I woke this morning to the sound of Martin performing a giant swat in the darkness. The noise had boomed over to me from across the room. The room we had booked for the night had two single beds. “Is everything alright?” I asked, still half-asleep. “I think a gecko fell on me, [...]
We arrived here on Lombok to find it completely full of people: tourists and local people alike. It’s so choked here that we’re actually struggling to find hotel rooms. Last night we arrived fairly late to a place called Senggigi. Guidebooks and internet sites had whispered sweet things in our ears about long, abandoned white [...]
During our recent stop in Stockholm, Sweden, we had the pleasure of visiting the headquarters of the Swedish National TV, SVT. We were brought there by our friend, Mr Danny Wattin (who’s third book is about to hit the shelves, we hear). At that time Danny’s friend Gustav was working as a producer for [...]
You know the saying, “to fly by the seat of your pants?” Well, that's been our philosophy for most of our adult lives – before and after meeting, falling in love and marrying. We're now taking that idea on an extended round-the-world trip. Follow us as we share the good, the bad and the downright nasty of life on the road.
