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January 12th 2008
Published: January 13th 2008
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The LibertyThe LibertyThe Liberty

Snorkelling through a wrecked WWII ship, torpedoed by the Japonese. Now it´s covered with coral and full of fish.
So, back from Indonesia. I had forgotten how slow the Internet was in Indo and decided to wait to post until returning to La Paz. The holidays were great with the family, and while it took a bit to adjust to that style of traveling it´s not a bad way to go... with necessary intermittent breaks.

There is too much to write about last month so here´s the truncated version (for more pics and descriptions of these places check out the first few entries on the blog; they are from my trip last year). Unfortunately my camera decided to die half way through the trip so most of them are from my Dad´s camera. We started out with several days in my brother´s Jakarta marble palace as the rest of my family streamed in from wherever they were. After a pause in Bali to swim in some trash we headed to Florez (something about 200,000,000+ people with a littering obsession on a few moderately sized islands reaps havoc on the waters during the rainy season). In Florez, paradise on Seraya Kecil, frolicking with komodo dragons and water buffalo, swimming with manta rays (AMAZING CREATURES, so fluid and fitting, if you
My Sister and I: Indonesian RockstarsMy Sister and I: Indonesian RockstarsMy Sister and I: Indonesian Rockstars

On top of Monas, a phallic monument nicknamed ¨Suharto´s last erection¨ after the former dictator with a pension for self indulgence. We were mobbed by these adorable kids who asked us to sign their books.
ever have the chance, take it!), and loads of amazing snorkeling. We made a great palm Christmas tree with shell and coral ornaments and palm strips for hangars, complete with a lava rock tree skirt and a braided palm garland. But no presents, it was great. Too bad I don´t have any pics.

Then back to Bali where the ocean had cleaned up some with the changing winds and more swimming. I rented a bicycle and biked for three days through the rice patties and up the volcano as a sort of primer/test run...turns out I like it, a lot. Bali really showed me its hospitable side on that trip. I ended up running out of money and missed a connection with my family and people let me borrow small amounts on faith, took me into their homes, and fed me amazing food. If I could pay them back, great. If not, that´s karma for you. I even had people going 30 minutes out of their way to show me where a place was when lost (which happens frequently on Bali's winding, signless, but otherwise almost perfectly maintained roads.

Before leaving Jakarta we made a quick hop on
Me using my environmentMe using my environmentMe using my environment

Probably writing ¨la vida es bueno¨ or the same thing in other languages...that or ¨please don´t litter¨!
the train out to Yogjakarta (Jogja) to see Borobudur, the world´s largest Buddhist temple. I´ll let the pictures speak but the engravings were fantastic.

Well, that´s enough I s´pose. I am now status post a 3 day air trip with two and a half overnights and a hell of a altitude shock at 4000m. I´ll spend this week getting my bike together and reacclimating and then I´m off. Not sure where to but south. Or southeast. Or east. (We know where the WMDs are, they´re North, West, South, East of Baghdad... signed donny). Alright friends, take care of yourselves.



Additional photos below
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Much bigger than it looks (20kg?)Much bigger than it looks (20kg?)
Much bigger than it looks (20kg?)

Red beach in Komodo Nat´l park.
MantasMantas
Mantas

We saw about 15 of these in an hour. Maybe the most graceful animal in the ocean. It´s so hard to show scale, this guy is about 10 feet wide, give or take, and some of them were bigger. When you seem me back in the states ask me and I can show you some videos.
Clown FishClown Fish
Clown Fish

The lil´bastards actually dart out of the anenomies at you.
I call this one pretty fish.I call this one pretty fish.
I call this one pretty fish.

¨Look at me I´m pretty¨!
Balinese dancingBalinese dancing
Balinese dancing

Couldn´t use a flash but you´ve got the idea.
New Years Seaman styleNew Years Seaman style
New Years Seaman style

God we´re weird, and so is half of my Dad. Believe it or not his other side is sauvely holding a glass of cognac and looking distainfully at our foolishness.
The story of SiddharthaThe story of Siddhartha
The story of Siddhartha

Built somewhere between 600 and 800 AD. This wraps all the way around from east to west in a walk-through mandala. There are nine levels in all, the stages of enlightenment according to this particular brand of Mahayana Buddishm. He becomes more and more buddha-like as you climb and the top is nirvana.
My first Buddhist ButterflyMy first Buddhist Butterfly
My first Buddhist Butterfly

There are many buddhas.


14th January 2008

This is Humbling.
So, up untill about five minutes ago I thought of myself as a Tall Person. Then you went ahead and posted a picture of me and I appear to be roughly the same height as Indonesian SCHOOL CHILDREN. Also, I like how you left out the part of the trip where you got scared and peed your pants on Komoto Island.
3rd February 2008

shit, you found your computer!
i had previously accepted it as fact that i could pretty much write or post whatever the fuck i wanted to about you as you would never read it... now it appears i will have to be more careful. in regards to the pants peeing, i have accidently peed-pants a few times in America del Sur, but i think most of my pee on Rinca made it safely to the soil. hows everything back in AK (ahh, mucho frio! i can´t say the word Alaska any more without hearing that phrase)?

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