Hibiscus and Dragonflies Hi guys thanks for sharing these lovely photos - they bring back many pleasant childhood memories.
I remain jealous of your endeavours, so enjoy. I have just spent a week in Santa Barbara and realized how I miss the heat of the Sun. Here it is still cold and wet, but a swim is planned at Heather's on Gabriola this weekend. I can't go as I allowed work to get backlogged - too much Sun.
Enjoy - Joe
White Rose Dumplings and knees Hey,y'all! I gotta say that my favorite picture in this set is the White Rose Dumplings. Looks yummy! And, although I am not a coffee/cappuccino fan, that picture of the cappuccino looks good, too. However, in that picture I notice the closeup of Matt's knees and, I must say, he has his Grandpa Townsend's knees - kinda skinny and hairy. Just keeping it real. Love you both. Have fun and stay safe.
Home Sweet Home Home is where and with whom you make it. So happy you have found a place to settle down together at least for awhile. This post on privacy was a very informative and interesting one Roberta. It should make us all stop and think about our own relationships and interactions with others. Hope you can find some peace and time together in Vietnam while also getting to know the locals. Miss you.
And so why don't you have children? :-) Our reply is normally that we have a dog instead and that the global population is now over 7B and we don't need to add some more, but that won't work in that part of the world. Coming from Africa I'm familiar with the concept of extended families where children (many-many) are seen as wealth. Anyway that is the pleasure of travelling in interesting cultures - sounds like you found a nice place now.
Here we have more snow and rain - miss you guys.
Joe
You two are pretty adorable! Hooray! Thanks for the pics of your smiling faces. So glad to see you! Looks like quite a change from where you've been. Loooooove the picture of Roberta on the beach....beautiful. Also loved the picture of Matt getting a shave and having that Anna nose moved out of the way. Miss you and love you both!
Oh - Did I forget to tell you about the LEECHES!!! Haha sorry about that, they are nasty little things and in no short supply! I had so many on me when i went. And thanks for the shout outs, haha. I can't believe you guys saw a Tarsier, and nabbed such a cool pic of it. Was it obviously low to the ground? Crazy. I hope you guys travel some more of Borneo, where to next? I am off to Honduras today actually...keep livin the dream!
What a treat!! I had a question about the mating tree frogs, but it will have to wait until we meet again!
What a wonderful diversity of life - what are the knobblies on the tarsier's finger tips?
Are the saltwater crocodiles related to the African fresh water crocs? I'm so envious - have a wonderful time!
Oh, and we are going to swim in Cultus Lake - does not really compare with Borneo, but thought I will just drop that in the conversation. Maybe we might see some algi.
Oh boy... While Orangutan's are my favorite animal of all, I'm not sure all of them in the world would be enough to get me to wade through millipedes, leeches, JUMPING spiders and other sorts of bugs. While I'm sure it's beautiful and amazing, and Matt probably cannot get enough of all the creepy crawlies, I think I'll leave this leg of the trip off my wish list, atleast compared to your previous experiences. By the way, your photos are amazing, Matt. Between Roberta's captive writing and Matt's beautiful photos, you guys have a really great blog going on here.
Fantastic! Amazing post and photos! I've always wanted to go there and see all the animals. Love the tarsier, hornbills and so much more. If you ever get a chance to read "Into the Heart of Borneo" it's pretty funny. Take care you guys!
Bali Hello Matt & Roberta, what a great vacation - really life experience - you two are enjoying. Thanks for sharing. I'm beginning to see an itinerary for ourselves when we eventually get to that part of the world (maybe I'll have to retire first).
We are having a dry winter and little bit colder than normal. We are beginning to draw a crowd at our swims as we lie on our backs completely unaware that we are in 5C water. People can't believe that we are not only swimming but playing around in the cold water.
Enjoy Vietnam and thanks for sharing a wonderful blog.
Missing You You seem to be having better and and better times - the diving photos are great. We are still swimming and snowshoeing, but the numbers are low. The weather has been warm and sunny with too little snow for the skiers, but at least we are having fun. We are trying a Cultus Lake swim in two weeks - might be too cold.
Cheers Joe
Cold swimming Hi Joe! Thanks for the comment - if we were there we'd be out there!! Matt says Cultus lake at this time of year will be really cold (he works out there) but with your new wetsuits it may be just fine! Miss you guys lots but I have the photo you gave us with the book and it's tucked into our bedroom mirror. So we're there in spirit! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming...
Love it...AWESOME PHOTOS the photo looking up at Roberta from the Liberty is so cool...and ya the jellyfish are brutal there, just wait until you get to the Gilis, even worse!! Also wait til you see all the plastic in the water there too, its so sad...I am reliving my trip through you guys, thanks!
Amazing! I've been thinking about you guys and how I miss your posts Roberta. I figured you were having to much fun to stop and post on the blog. It's looks like I was right! This looks absolutely amazing! And you first paragraph about Matt...I can totally picture it. Made me feel like I was standing right behind him, and made me miss him a little less for just a minute. So excited and happy for you guys that you are doing exactly what you love.
Thanks Kristin! I miss you too! Part of the reason we haven't been posting as much is our internet is so slow in Amed. How bad is it? I literally just this moment found out the Broncos are in the Superbowl! Now I'm frantically trying to find out when the Superbowl is: was it yesterday? Next week? ARGHHH!!!
you guys will like this...found this in bali yet? http://www.lifebuzz.co/the-abyss/?utm_source=iajsiaspal9920&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=012914-urlabyssfeed-desktop_IOS_broad
Ahhhhhhh...... I'm so happy for you guys. This looks so absolutely and totally lovely. I'm writing this comment from my office desk. I'm totally jealous. That is all.
Wonderful! So happy for you! I love this post -- I can really picture you there and it sounds magical. Love that outdoor shower. We're doing the swim/soup/snowshoe triathlon again tomorrow and will think of you with the butterfly fish et al.
Yepper! Hi! Matt & Roberta. Was browsing when i came across your pictures. They are lovely! Looks like you have had an unforgettable trip. Good stuff. I too just returned from touring all the east coast beaches for over a week. Amazing! Cheers! Btw, I live in Sri Lanka
Time to Buy Another Bird Book Matt... the people, the food (although I ate Mie Goreng every day), the ecology, Indo is magical...dont overlook Malaysia and Singapore as you can get sweet deals on international flights (<$30)...you made a good choice visiting Indo...places we did not get to see but really wanted were the Togean Islands in Sulawesi and Kalimantan (Tangjung Puting NP)...have fun, S.
BTW... By the way, I neglected to say in my previous entry that the two of you looked so marvelous in the photos from the birthday party. I'm not sure I've ever seen both of you look so healthy, relaxed and happy. Made my heart swell with joy!
Matt and I met while we were both traveling in Puerto Rico in 1998. He worked on a research site in El Yunque Rainforest on the main island and I worked as a divemaster on Vieques.
After 10 years living a settled existence in Vancouver, Canada, we felt a real need to get back to traveling. So we sold our house, put our stuff in storage and set off in search of great places to freedive and new adventures.
Right now plans are to explore SE Asia until we feel the call to move on...... full info
Joe Steyn
non-member comment
Hibiscus and Dragonflies
Hi guys thanks for sharing these lovely photos - they bring back many pleasant childhood memories. I remain jealous of your endeavours, so enjoy. I have just spent a week in Santa Barbara and realized how I miss the heat of the Sun. Here it is still cold and wet, but a swim is planned at Heather's on Gabriola this weekend. I can't go as I allowed work to get backlogged - too much Sun. Enjoy - Joe