Welcome

Chase down brand new adventure
Step up, step out and enter it
There's no time, no time for stalling
The wild, wild, is calling
You're risking all you learned to feel alive

- Honoraries

This trip was never really planned, it just kind of happened. For years I have been interested in traveling to Papau New Guinea to visit some of the native tribes that have largely been uninfluenced by the outside world. However, I was never able to find someone on the ground that could actually get us to these tribes within my definition of "safe". Papau New Guinea did not seem to have much of an infrastructure. Then I discovered the other side of the island, West Papua, which is part of Indonesia. West Papua also has many tribes largely uninfluenced by the outside world. They had a slightly better infrastructure then Papau New Guinea in that I was able to find a guide and vehicle that seemed "safe". Plus, West Papua would open up the trip to all of Indonesia making for a more balanced experience. After sharing my thoughts with my former travel companions, my sister Kim and my nephew Riley, they wanted in as well. Which was awesome as we always have a lot of fun traveling together. Kim only had two weeks vacation which meant this was going to be a very fast paced trip with little rest. Indonesia is an island nation with 17,508 islands and in order to see all we wanted to see we would be embarking on a total of 12 flights, but with the excitement of a new classroom ahead we were ready to start packing. [Begin the Indonesia journey]

Home
Whistler

Previous Destinations
Australia
Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam)
The Alaskan Wilderness
Peru
Africa (Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya, South Africa)
Northwest Asia (Bhutan, Myanmar)
Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, South Korea)
Africa (Namibia, Uganda, Botswana)
Ayahuasca in the Amazon (Peru)
Mayan Cosmology (Belize, Guatemala)
Philippines
Jordan
San Pedro in the Sacred Valley (Peru)
Mongolia

Next Destinations
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- phynntravels@comcast.net

Reflections

Indonesia was diverse and amazing, but you are doing it wrong if you view it as a vacation spot, it is meant to be a classroom, a place to learn and grow. Life isn't about things, it's about experiences. Things feed the ego, experiences feed the soul. This trip would satisfy our soul's appetite in ways we could have never imagined. Whether it was walking around in nothing but a penis gourd, drooling red juices down your face because the Betel Nut made your mouth completely numb, or just trying to decide if you want to take a dip in your private pool before or after your massage, it was all part of a chapter that I had to write. We are the creator. What chapter are you going to write? But don't wait too long to get started. Remembering that you are going to die again is the best way to avoid thinking you actually have something to lose. You are already naked, penis gourd or not, so start creating.

"Free yourself and see the world"
-phynntravels@comcast.net

The Journey Home

I got up this morning and went for one last walk on the beach. We could see the airport so I decided to see how long it would take to get there via the beach. Turns out only about 20 minutes without carrying your luggage.

I never did figure out what this was but it was not the control tower. I thought it looked like that statue in Lost, but then I started to worry about our flight home so I instantly cleared my mind of that thought.

I got back to the hotel to learn that Riley broke the fun meter last night and in keeping with his many "first(s)" he was experiencing his first hangover.

We would soon head to the airport for our first flight to Taipei. After clearing immigration we headed to the lounge to wait for our flight. We first stopped at the Premier Lounge where I asked Riley if he wanted a drink, he did not.

It was a nice lounge but we also wanted to check out the T/G Lounge which turned out did not have as nice of a drink selection but had a much nicer food selection.

After eight domestic flights in economy it was nice to again travel like a civilized human being on EVA Air's Royal Laurel Class.

We were on the Hello Kitty branded plane.





We watched EVA Air's strange safety video that uses interpretive dance to tell you how to survive in the case of emergency and I realized I was screwed if anything went wrong.

We changed planes in Taipei to board our final flight to Seattle. I had a little trouble with the menu.

But whatever I ordered for each course was tasty. Not Cuca tasty but acceptable.

I changed in to my Jason Wu pajamas and curled up in my comforter and started to recline, wondering how Kim and Riley were doing.

The journey home is actually faster then the journey to get there. In fact we landed before we even took off. Arriving in Seattle on Tuesday, July 30th at 7:50pm but we didn't take off until Tuesday, July 30th at 9:45pm. Knowing that I already arrived safely I fell asleep closing this latest chapter in my life. But this book is far from finished.

Uluwatu and Accidentally Finding Cuca

We were back to our early morning schedule as we had a 7:45am flight back to Denpasar. This would be our last domestic flight. Back in Bali our guide would take us to Uluwatu. It is kind of the postcard picture most commonly associated with Bali. It's a temple high on a cliff.

The demon guard at the entrance.

While the views are breathtaking the temple is at best average. Plus we were getting tired as this has been a very fast paced trip.

Dawning the appropriate skirt we posed for another picture.

After a short visit we went to check into our hotel, Open House. It was a nice little boutique hotel right on the beach. We enjoyed some wine and enjoyed the sunset.

However, we were not the only ones with that idea.



We then walked down the beach in search of a place to eat. We found this place called Cuca that had an amazing tapas menu. It was a bit pricey but we figured it would make for a great last meal in Indonesia so we went in.

The food here was mind-blowing. You could really detect every flavor that made up each dish. Some of the dishes we had included: BBQ Octopus - asian gazpacho, fresh apple, caramelized cauliflower, coriander.

Baked Scallop - lombok scallop, mashed cauliflower, toasted butter crust.

Bali Soft Tacos - homemade brown rice tortillas, slow braised mushroom, chili salsa. On the right side is the Cuban Corn.

Ricotta Gnocchi - cheese dumplings, roasted watermelon, sun-dried tomato pesto.

Black Squid Risotto - hand cut squid grains, vegetable slaw, garlic cream, popped rice.

We had a few more items that were also great. We didn't know it at the time but it turns out that in 2018 Cuca was rated "The Best Restaurant" in all of Asia by Trip Adviser. Yes, we had just eaten at the number one rated restaurant in all of Asia according to Trip Adviser. And if you tasted this food I'm sure you would agree. Plus it was just dumb luck that we ended up stopping here. Even the chef, Kevin Cherkas, came out at the end to see what we thought. We had a great conversation with him and he even invited us back into the kitchen, which was in open view to the dining room.

We had a great dinner at the Plataran Borobudur Resort, then we had an even more amazing dinner when we cooked with Mr. Dewa, but tonight was truly mind-blowing and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to top this dining experience.

As it was the last night in town we polished off a couple more bottles of wine and then walked back to our hotel. I went to bed while Riley went down to the bar for an additional night cap or two. While the drinking age is 18 in Indonesia no one really checks ID here, so it is no problem for a 17 year old to get served.

More Snorkeling and Finally Time to Shave

I got a good nights sleep and got up early this morning. After a very adventurous shower I waited for the sun to rise.

Looks like our neighbors are getting up as well.

It was a beautiful calm morning.



Today we would head to Komodo Island in hopes of going 2 for 2 in finding the dragons. Again it's a big island and they could be anywhere.

We again got assigned a guide and started hiking. But in no time at all we found our first dragon.



As close as we wanted to get. In 2017 some stupid tourist tried to take a selfie with one and got killed and eaten, so our guide took this picture.

We felt that we were in good hands as our guide carried a stick in case any dragons attacked. At least it was a big stick.



We pushed on and quickly ran into this active guy. It's always better when they run away from you instead of towards you.

We then spotted a meal and had high hopes.

And there was a dragon near by....

And he spotted it.....

Oh yeah, looks like he is hungry.....

Yes! This is going to be so awesome!

Well crap, I guess he was just yawning. The deer would get to live another day.

Our time was again up on the island so we returned to our boat for some more snorkeling. We went to the pink beach first.





Again the water was crystal clear.

Just a beautiful area and I wondered if there were any available plots on the island.

Nice sandy bottom.

Lots of amazing coral.







The reason this is a pink beach is because of this coral. It beaks down into tiny fragments and washes up on shore mixing with the sand and making it appear pink.

We went back to the boat and were hoping to find and swim with the giant Manta Rays. We jumped in the water and waited with the fish.



But they never showed up. So while we were lucky with the dragons it appeared our luck ran out when it came to the Manta Rays. Still good snorkeling though.





It looked like a bunch of baby sharks so I figured it was time to get out of the water.

We returned to the docks and said goodbye to our captian and crew. We would be staying in Labuan Bajo tonight at the Bintang Flores hotel. I was super excited not because it was located right on the beach but because it was named after the local beer.

Riley and I did one final beard check after which I was happy to finally shave. Riley just went and got a washcloth to remove his.

Nope....

Definitely not....

Much better!

The hotel had a nice pool right on the beach and we relaxed, talking about our favorite parts of the trip as the sun fell from above.



Tomorrow we would travel back to Bali and then fly out the following day for home. What a perfect way to wind down our travels.







We went into town to get dinner at this funky beach side restaurant with a great relaxed vibe. Riley enjoyed a very stiff adult beverage. No problem getting him to sleep tonight.