Baliem Valley

Bird of Paradise

---

June 22nd 2011
An old man who was wearing just a hollowed out Penis Gourd and a few feathers caught my eye, said 'pagi' and stretched out his right arm in order to shake hands. I stopped and put my right hand in his hand. He smiled, I smiled and he shook my hand, moved his hand and thumb around in my hand and kept shaking, shaking and shaking. Five or ten minutes later I managed to disentangle my ha ... read more

Asia » Indonesia » West Papua » Wamena

---

The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century; the islands were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. Indonesia declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it required four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring hos... ... read more