With so many things in our lives there is a build up. The weeks leading up to Christmas. Months planning a wedding. Getting ready for a trip across the world. We prepare ourselves and look forward to these moments as they approach. Then they happen and life continues. I remember as a kid loving the Christmas season. Watching as everyone got more and more excited by putting up lights and decorations. The number of presents under the tree subtly getting bigger as we got closer to that big day. By Christmas morning excitement was at its highest and that's when the bass drops, usually leading to wrapping paper everywhere. The rest of the day you kind of bask in the afterglow of that level of joy. The next day you wake up and it's behind you. Hopefully it hasn't been disappointing, but not matter what experience you have, the moments we look forward to the most will eventually be in the past and on their way to being memories. A part of me wonders if that's why the idea of heaven is so appealing to people. It's a place where you get to be with all your loved ones and live your best moments for ever. I think most people would classify that as wonderful, even if they don't believe such a thing makes any kind of logical sense. I suppose the natural inclination is to start looking forward to something else, which in itself isn't a bad thing. It's good to have upcoming things in your life that you are excited to become reality. Maybe that's what life really is about. Moving onto the next thing while enjoy what came before.
The world is a strange place when you return to it. At least that's how it can feel if you've been away for any longer than normal amount of time. I look around at the things that are familiar and yet somehow foreign. It's been said that you can't go home again because it's not the place that has changed, but rather you that is different now. When some people leave the familiar all they can see are the differences in what they see now compared to what they've always seen before. This isn't exactly a bad thing, but focusing on that can make it harder to appreciate something new. I'm not saying one should just accept something because it's different. It's like learning a language though, where you will have an easier time if you stop translating and just start accepting the new word for the old object.
Still it's not until you've been away from something that you really see it for what it is or maybe what it once was. I remember coming home from college my first year and seeing the house I grew up in. It was the same place it was six months ago when I had left it, but I felt like I had seen and done so much in that small amount of time that it felt smaller on a fundamental level. It was still very comfortable. In the years since then I've returned home several times and each time that house is something different to me. It still has all the old memories. The context for me being there changes though, which in turns means I see the entire place differently each time. It's hard to imagine that one day the home I grew up in won't be available anymore and I'll never be able to return to it.
We often don't realize when something is coming to close. Sure we can see the last day of school coming or know when it's time to say goodbye to our visiting family members. There are times when we know we won't see someone again or won't do something again, but more often than not the last of something sails by us without much notice until later, when we realize that we'll never get another chance at it. People often say live life like each day was your last. It's when we know that there will never be more that we embrace how special something is, even if it's normally not special at all. It's next to impossible to lead a normal life living that way. That kind of sentiment is usually saved for characters in movies and those unfortunate enough to know that their days are limited so it's best to actually live like there aren't a lot of tomorrows, because there might not be. Most of us though will get up tomorrow and probably not think about how yesterday was the last time that ever was going to happen. Sometimes that's a good thing though. That could mean yesterday was the end of what came before and while it's sad that you won't get to go back and experience it again, tomorrow is the beginning of something new. Maybe it's the first day rather than the last one.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Travel Log: The Last Frontier
We are the stories we tell. The past is just this long narrative that's been shaped by our own feelings. History becomes how we remember it, even if it didn't quite happen that way. Everyone has a story and everyone is a story to someone else. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like if we could experience even a part of someone else's story from their perspective. We may not always be the hero of the tale, but we tend to try and justify why we do something. If we're human then there are plenty of times when we look back and realize just how far off we've gotten. Even the public story we share with others is either a highlight reel or tweaked for mass consumption. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's easy to forget there is more than what's on the surface.
I never thought that I would bring someone to see my childhood home. I had reached a point where it seemed like any person in my life who hadn't been there once already would be too far removed to make the trek up to see it. It's not like you meet people as an adult and then ask them to travel a thousand miles to see where you came from. Instead it just becomes part of the story we tell other people when we meet. Sure there are pictures and that sort of thing but an image of a thing doesn't compare to the feeling of standing in a place. To understand the placement of things and how they fit together. Now when you tell a story about that time in the backyard they can see it more clearly. The story is a bit more complete.
Alaska has always been a been a bit of a pause for me. I know you can't go home again, but this place was always where I came to try and reset back to zero. I'm generally a nostalgic person already because I like my past, even though it's not all rainbows and triumphant musical cues. It's still where I came from and it made me who I am today. So when I come back to this place a part of me is remembering what once was and what it has become since I left. It's strange to think about, but I've lived in other places longer than I ever lived here. I have a new home, but even that home was chosen because of its similarities to my original home. I live where I live now because it's a place that has all the best parts of where I came from and a lot fewer of the negatives. Still we're at the end of this long trip and as per usual the end brings about a bit of an existential crisis. I start to ponder what it all means and if I want to return to reality. Reality where I have my friends around me. Where you go to work on a regular basis and generally behave like a responsible adult doing adult things like paying bills, building things not out of Legos, and telling yourself that you shouldn't get quite so excited about a movie coming out where the main character has the ability to shrink down to the size of an ant in order to fight industrial corruption and the weaponization of science. Reality also means that time is moving again. It always has been, even while sitting in my childhood home, but when I go back that means I'm going to keep getting older and we'll be further and further away from what was. Then again it means we're getting closer and closer to what will be.
This last part of the trip though has a reunion of the past. Facebook is one giant spoiler alert when it comes to our lives today. Thankfully though it means that rather than waiting twenty years to see how someone is doing, I can check their wall and see how their kids are doing or how that barbecue went on Saturday. On the other side there are people I haven't physically been in the same room with since high school who have seen the inside of my house and watched the work we've been doing for the past couple of years. It's a bit comforting to know that my friends and the people from my past are still there in some ways. Still it will be nice to see a bit of the stories of others as not told through funny links and carefully chosen totally candid pictures of life. I know that reunions today aren't anything like they have in movies. It will likely just be a bunch of people with a shared past getting dinner and drinking beer together. I am excited to see who shows up because even with Facebook, there are plenty of people who have lived their lives without it, meaning a person like me, who loves technology, has very little idea what's been happening for them. It's funny how twenty years is a long time and yet the world has felt relatively the same. If I could go back and tell my high school me that the world would be an amazing place, but not for the reason you'd think (sorry the flying cars thing is still not happening), I think my younger self would feel a little let down by the prospect of life being just life. The older me thinks about how reassuring it would be to know that despite all the mistakes and lunacy that things will work out. Sometimes it's going to feel like a giant vat of chaos has been spilled at our feet. In the end though I prefer this life to whatever silly dreams my former self had thought up. Except the one where I learned how to fly. That one is still the best and I'll keep hoping that somehow I remember the trick to flight. Until then we'll have to see what comes next...
I never thought that I would bring someone to see my childhood home. I had reached a point where it seemed like any person in my life who hadn't been there once already would be too far removed to make the trek up to see it. It's not like you meet people as an adult and then ask them to travel a thousand miles to see where you came from. Instead it just becomes part of the story we tell other people when we meet. Sure there are pictures and that sort of thing but an image of a thing doesn't compare to the feeling of standing in a place. To understand the placement of things and how they fit together. Now when you tell a story about that time in the backyard they can see it more clearly. The story is a bit more complete.
Alaska has always been a been a bit of a pause for me. I know you can't go home again, but this place was always where I came to try and reset back to zero. I'm generally a nostalgic person already because I like my past, even though it's not all rainbows and triumphant musical cues. It's still where I came from and it made me who I am today. So when I come back to this place a part of me is remembering what once was and what it has become since I left. It's strange to think about, but I've lived in other places longer than I ever lived here. I have a new home, but even that home was chosen because of its similarities to my original home. I live where I live now because it's a place that has all the best parts of where I came from and a lot fewer of the negatives. Still we're at the end of this long trip and as per usual the end brings about a bit of an existential crisis. I start to ponder what it all means and if I want to return to reality. Reality where I have my friends around me. Where you go to work on a regular basis and generally behave like a responsible adult doing adult things like paying bills, building things not out of Legos, and telling yourself that you shouldn't get quite so excited about a movie coming out where the main character has the ability to shrink down to the size of an ant in order to fight industrial corruption and the weaponization of science. Reality also means that time is moving again. It always has been, even while sitting in my childhood home, but when I go back that means I'm going to keep getting older and we'll be further and further away from what was. Then again it means we're getting closer and closer to what will be.
This last part of the trip though has a reunion of the past. Facebook is one giant spoiler alert when it comes to our lives today. Thankfully though it means that rather than waiting twenty years to see how someone is doing, I can check their wall and see how their kids are doing or how that barbecue went on Saturday. On the other side there are people I haven't physically been in the same room with since high school who have seen the inside of my house and watched the work we've been doing for the past couple of years. It's a bit comforting to know that my friends and the people from my past are still there in some ways. Still it will be nice to see a bit of the stories of others as not told through funny links and carefully chosen totally candid pictures of life. I know that reunions today aren't anything like they have in movies. It will likely just be a bunch of people with a shared past getting dinner and drinking beer together. I am excited to see who shows up because even with Facebook, there are plenty of people who have lived their lives without it, meaning a person like me, who loves technology, has very little idea what's been happening for them. It's funny how twenty years is a long time and yet the world has felt relatively the same. If I could go back and tell my high school me that the world would be an amazing place, but not for the reason you'd think (sorry the flying cars thing is still not happening), I think my younger self would feel a little let down by the prospect of life being just life. The older me thinks about how reassuring it would be to know that despite all the mistakes and lunacy that things will work out. Sometimes it's going to feel like a giant vat of chaos has been spilled at our feet. In the end though I prefer this life to whatever silly dreams my former self had thought up. Except the one where I learned how to fly. That one is still the best and I'll keep hoping that somehow I remember the trick to flight. Until then we'll have to see what comes next...
Friday, June 12, 2015
Travel Log: Intermission
We are back home for about a week before we head off to the last frontier. It's very surreal being home. It's good to be home, but very strange how quickly you fall back into old routines. It doesn't feel like two months have passed and yet everything around us shows that the world kept on without us, which we knew it would. While traveling the real world became this abstract thing that you're aware continues to exist. It's hard to divide your mind into two places at once though. It reminded me of when I left home for college. For a long time I kept thinking about things in terms of how they would have been if I were back home. Summer was supposed to be like this and I would normally be doing that. Eventually though you let go of where you were and accept where you are. Now we're back and this massive trip is behind us without any real fanfare. That's how it goes though. These large moments in our lives quickly go from something you're experiencing to a thing you did before you can really grasp the concept that it's become the past.
Strangely enough being home and knowing next week we're going to be off again makes this feel a bit like a really long layover in our own town. We've unpacked and started doing every day things like stressing out about the house or what type of sandwich to make that compliments the beer we bought. The jet lag is still playing tricks on us though even though we managed to go to bed at what would be considered a normal time locally. Our first day back we were up at 4AM because even though we had been going for 30 hours without sleep, our bodies were like 'three hours of sleep is plenty, time to get moving'. We found out that the grocery store is very nice at 6:02 AM on a Wednesday to do grocery shopping. We also found out that you can't buy beer before 7AM. It's something I never really thought about, but now that I know it makes total sense. You have to stop enabling people at some point. Still it's not our fault that our brains and bellies were operating 17 hours in the future.
While we're home we hope to see who we can before we scamper off again. We really need to get better at being able to answer the question of 'what was your favorite?' It's hard to answer because of how long the trip was. It's a perfectly fair question though because when someone goes on vacation you ask them what they liked about it. For us though we essentially lived in South East Asia so it's a bit like asking someone what was their favorite moment from a two month period. Thankfully in addition to this travel log I've decided to log all the highlights from each area. It's interesting how quickly things you do start to fade. Hopefully with a memory appendix I'll be able to map my way back to the various points in the trip and come up with a more meaningful answer to the question.
Up next: The Midnight Sun!
Strangely enough being home and knowing next week we're going to be off again makes this feel a bit like a really long layover in our own town. We've unpacked and started doing every day things like stressing out about the house or what type of sandwich to make that compliments the beer we bought. The jet lag is still playing tricks on us though even though we managed to go to bed at what would be considered a normal time locally. Our first day back we were up at 4AM because even though we had been going for 30 hours without sleep, our bodies were like 'three hours of sleep is plenty, time to get moving'. We found out that the grocery store is very nice at 6:02 AM on a Wednesday to do grocery shopping. We also found out that you can't buy beer before 7AM. It's something I never really thought about, but now that I know it makes total sense. You have to stop enabling people at some point. Still it's not our fault that our brains and bellies were operating 17 hours in the future.
While we're home we hope to see who we can before we scamper off again. We really need to get better at being able to answer the question of 'what was your favorite?' It's hard to answer because of how long the trip was. It's a perfectly fair question though because when someone goes on vacation you ask them what they liked about it. For us though we essentially lived in South East Asia so it's a bit like asking someone what was their favorite moment from a two month period. Thankfully in addition to this travel log I've decided to log all the highlights from each area. It's interesting how quickly things you do start to fade. Hopefully with a memory appendix I'll be able to map my way back to the various points in the trip and come up with a more meaningful answer to the question.
Up next: The Midnight Sun!
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Travel Log: Vivid Days
Sydney wasn't originally part of the plan. It was supposed to be a layover. However, about halfway through it became something more and we're so glad we made the change. Asia was fun for what it was. It was certain type of adventure that helped you appreciate what you have and what's important. Like a cool room without ravenous insects crawling over your lifeless body as you sleep. We were happy to leave Indonesia when we did. Months of traveling in foreign countries can be wonderful, but also taxing after extended periods of time. I've learned that there is a limit to how long I can be away from the familiar.
First thing to note if you're flying to or from Australia and using Virgin Australia as the carrier, download the entertainment app before you get on the plane. That's something I wish they had told me while I had been spending hours in the Bali airport. Almost got it right. It was very strange going from summer to winter in a matter of hours. Even stranger is people talking about winter in June. The oppositeness of this country is something I've known about but didn't really pay attention to. As I changed from my flip flops and frantically pulled on a hoodie in the airport I tried to remember everything I could about this country that I hadn't seen in a movie.
Sydney is full of beautiful people. Beautiful, well dressed people, who are in a hurry to be somewhere. I was suddenly aware of how much of a country bumpkin I looked like. The clothes I had for Asia had seen plenty of wear and weren't really suited for the men in suits. The first order of business was getting a few essential pieces of clothing to get us through the next week. It's when we were downtown that I noticed things felt vaguely familiar. The city feels like a combination of San Francisco and Vancouver BC, but that wasn't it. We were in The Matrix. That building over there, that's where Neo fought Mr Smith. Over there is where he saved Morpheus. I half expected things to go into bullet time when crossing the street.
This part of the trip was different also because we had someone here we know. A local! A town is so much different when you know someone there. An added plus for us is that she is an aggressive tour guide so we're packing in all the highlights Sydney has to offer in a short amount of time. With our new coats we walked into the botanical garden and kept marveling at the fact that we we're in Sydney. There are some places where movies make it seem more magical than it really is. Sydney isn't one of those. Everything feels like it's out of a postcard. The Opera House is exactly like I imagined and now I understand the seagulls from Finding Nemo. Those guys are crazy lunatics, who are willing to crawl over someone's head in order to get a piece of discarded French fry.
The accents here are confusing and that's from a guy who loves accents. I can't tell where anyone is from because it's all so muddled. Thankfully though everyone we've run into is nice and helpful. It could be because this is a town of great food and plenty of drinking. It's easy to be nice when you have a belly full of deliciousness and half the bottle of wine has disappeared. It's amazing how this has become a place full of people from other places. I think about one in five people we've met are actually from Sydney, much less Australia.
Today is our last day here and we're both excited and sad to be leaving. The town is amazing and full of great things to see and do. On the other hand Facebook cuts both ways. While we've been here our friends and families have been posting things that we didn't get to be a part of. We're missing the people in our real lives and it will be good to get back to them, even if the upcoming week is really an intermission on the trip before we head off to Alaska. Our own bed. Our own kitchen. Not having to ask for the wifi password. Being able to drive yourself to the thing you want to do whenever you want to do it. These are a few things we really appreciate now that we've been away from them. At least now there is no question the things that are important in our lives.
First thing to note if you're flying to or from Australia and using Virgin Australia as the carrier, download the entertainment app before you get on the plane. That's something I wish they had told me while I had been spending hours in the Bali airport. Almost got it right. It was very strange going from summer to winter in a matter of hours. Even stranger is people talking about winter in June. The oppositeness of this country is something I've known about but didn't really pay attention to. As I changed from my flip flops and frantically pulled on a hoodie in the airport I tried to remember everything I could about this country that I hadn't seen in a movie.
Sydney is full of beautiful people. Beautiful, well dressed people, who are in a hurry to be somewhere. I was suddenly aware of how much of a country bumpkin I looked like. The clothes I had for Asia had seen plenty of wear and weren't really suited for the men in suits. The first order of business was getting a few essential pieces of clothing to get us through the next week. It's when we were downtown that I noticed things felt vaguely familiar. The city feels like a combination of San Francisco and Vancouver BC, but that wasn't it. We were in The Matrix. That building over there, that's where Neo fought Mr Smith. Over there is where he saved Morpheus. I half expected things to go into bullet time when crossing the street.
This part of the trip was different also because we had someone here we know. A local! A town is so much different when you know someone there. An added plus for us is that she is an aggressive tour guide so we're packing in all the highlights Sydney has to offer in a short amount of time. With our new coats we walked into the botanical garden and kept marveling at the fact that we we're in Sydney. There are some places where movies make it seem more magical than it really is. Sydney isn't one of those. Everything feels like it's out of a postcard. The Opera House is exactly like I imagined and now I understand the seagulls from Finding Nemo. Those guys are crazy lunatics, who are willing to crawl over someone's head in order to get a piece of discarded French fry.
The accents here are confusing and that's from a guy who loves accents. I can't tell where anyone is from because it's all so muddled. Thankfully though everyone we've run into is nice and helpful. It could be because this is a town of great food and plenty of drinking. It's easy to be nice when you have a belly full of deliciousness and half the bottle of wine has disappeared. It's amazing how this has become a place full of people from other places. I think about one in five people we've met are actually from Sydney, much less Australia.
Today is our last day here and we're both excited and sad to be leaving. The town is amazing and full of great things to see and do. On the other hand Facebook cuts both ways. While we've been here our friends and families have been posting things that we didn't get to be a part of. We're missing the people in our real lives and it will be good to get back to them, even if the upcoming week is really an intermission on the trip before we head off to Alaska. Our own bed. Our own kitchen. Not having to ask for the wifi password. Being able to drive yourself to the thing you want to do whenever you want to do it. These are a few things we really appreciate now that we've been away from them. At least now there is no question the things that are important in our lives.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Travel Log: Dragon Quest
There have been several points on this trip where we've had to scratch things off the list. They've either been too expensive, too time consuming, or too much of a pain in the ass for what we'd be accomplishing. For the most part these have been few and not always noticeable because there have been so many other things happening while on this trip. Sometimes it's hard though when you know that there is a good chance that this may be the only opportunity, so passing it up may mean it's gone forever. That is what we had started to think about going to Komodo National Park. The travel book we had indicated that trips to the island weren't exactly easy or cheap. So we had resigned ourselves to getting incredibly close to the place, but likely not going. Then we arrived at the Gili Islands, where right outside our hotel was a little kiosk with a sign that said Komodo Adventures.
The package included a four day, four night boat trip to the island, with other adventure stops along the way. The price wasn't inexpensive, but considering they would be covering our meals, accomodations, and transport, it seemed like it would be worth the cost. We booked for the day after next, so that we could actually enjoy the island that we just arrived at. An island so small that it only took an hour and a half to walk around. That was with us going slow and taking pictures. Still it was a nice relaxing place to be with less than a week left for this portion of our trip. This trip has had one constant, which seems to be once we've gotten used to a place, we leave it. It's not because we don't like it. It's more to do with the fact that there was so much to see and do that it didn't feel right being in a place long enough to get bored with it. We were looking for something that would more or less take away the decisions and planning that would be required for some of the final days. I can see why people book all inclusive cruises or hotels. There is something nice about knowing that the heavy lifting has been taken care of and your only responsibility is to enjoy it.
We had to wake up early and catch a boat off the island to the neighboring island. It's always a little bit of of a bummer when you have to leave a good place early, especially when you know you've been enjoying it up until that point. As usual with travel days there was a lot of hurry up and wait. We scrambled onto what must have been the locals morning commute boat as there were enough people on board that we were close to sitting on each other's laps. Thankfully the ride was quick and I even managed to strike up a conversation with a fellow traveler, talking about where we've been and where we're going. At this point in the trip talking about the trip is as easy as talking about your hometown. When we arrived our booking agent met us at the pier and had us walk to a little cafe. Apparently our ride misunderstood the concept of picking people up at the pier as him and the booking agent exchanged some words about, which I didn't understand, but got the general meaning. We got to the cafe, which was the meeting point for all other travelers on our trip. The only problem was that it was 8:30 in the morning and as we sat down they told us we wouldn't be leaving until 11:30. I know I'm a stickler for time and that's just not how things are done here. Something that's supposed to pick you up at 7:30 means anywhere within thirty minutes of then is good enough. Still this was pushing it. It didn't make sense that we had to catch the early boat over to the cafe if we were going to just sit around for three hours. We could have done that at our hotel, which we had paid for through noon. It gave us time to talk to other travelers and form alliances for our deadly game of boat living. Three hours didn't so much fly by as they limped along. When it was finally time everyone was told to walk back to the pier. Efficiency isn't the strongest trait for the travel industry here. At least we were on our way towards the dragons.
The boat we were going to be living on was...smaller than the photo in the brochure. It was also a little bit shabbier. While I don't want to offend the fine people of Indonesia, there are times when you realize what a developing nation really means. Both Thailand and Malaysia had their quirks and you become accustomed to a certain level of care and maintenance. Indonesia is no different. Some places are nice and some, well they at least seem to be trying. If I had to sum it up into a single word, it would be 'Almost'. They almost reach the level of quality they're trying for. Honestly it's part of the charm of this country because the people are usually so friendly and easy to smile. You appreciate what they're going for. This boat was not one of those times. This was one of those times when you've found something online that looks amazing and then when you go see it in person you find out that the custom paint job is faded to the point of being irrelevant. It was ok though. We had stayed in worse places and it's all part of the adventure. Right?
I don't want to use this to complain about the trip because we've been very fortunate to be on this trip at all. It can't all be unicorns farting rainbows filled with candy sprinkles. Our cabin was a sauna resting on a waterbed attached to a rollercoaster. The first night we sweated ourselves to sleep. The second night we dreamed about how would we manage to get off a sinking ship and get back to safety. The third night was filled with music, beer, and water so still you'd think you were on dry land. The fourth day we wandered through the jungle looking for dragons, only to find them lounging around the village like a bunch of lazy cats. Having seen an animal in the zoo and then seeing it in the wild are two very different things. These dragons did their best to bridge the gap by making sure to lay still long enough for everyone to get photos. Some even were brave enough to get close to have their picture taken with the dragon, from a safe distance of course. Our rangers had sticks in case one of the dragons got unruly, but they had no interest in us as we were a group of thirty white European travelers that were constantly making noise. In the end I can say I've been to the island of Komodo and walked among the dragons.
We've only a couple days away from leaving SE Asia. We're headed back to Bali to find some good food and relaxation in the highest order. As usual, I'm interested to see what happens next.
The package included a four day, four night boat trip to the island, with other adventure stops along the way. The price wasn't inexpensive, but considering they would be covering our meals, accomodations, and transport, it seemed like it would be worth the cost. We booked for the day after next, so that we could actually enjoy the island that we just arrived at. An island so small that it only took an hour and a half to walk around. That was with us going slow and taking pictures. Still it was a nice relaxing place to be with less than a week left for this portion of our trip. This trip has had one constant, which seems to be once we've gotten used to a place, we leave it. It's not because we don't like it. It's more to do with the fact that there was so much to see and do that it didn't feel right being in a place long enough to get bored with it. We were looking for something that would more or less take away the decisions and planning that would be required for some of the final days. I can see why people book all inclusive cruises or hotels. There is something nice about knowing that the heavy lifting has been taken care of and your only responsibility is to enjoy it.
We had to wake up early and catch a boat off the island to the neighboring island. It's always a little bit of of a bummer when you have to leave a good place early, especially when you know you've been enjoying it up until that point. As usual with travel days there was a lot of hurry up and wait. We scrambled onto what must have been the locals morning commute boat as there were enough people on board that we were close to sitting on each other's laps. Thankfully the ride was quick and I even managed to strike up a conversation with a fellow traveler, talking about where we've been and where we're going. At this point in the trip talking about the trip is as easy as talking about your hometown. When we arrived our booking agent met us at the pier and had us walk to a little cafe. Apparently our ride misunderstood the concept of picking people up at the pier as him and the booking agent exchanged some words about, which I didn't understand, but got the general meaning. We got to the cafe, which was the meeting point for all other travelers on our trip. The only problem was that it was 8:30 in the morning and as we sat down they told us we wouldn't be leaving until 11:30. I know I'm a stickler for time and that's just not how things are done here. Something that's supposed to pick you up at 7:30 means anywhere within thirty minutes of then is good enough. Still this was pushing it. It didn't make sense that we had to catch the early boat over to the cafe if we were going to just sit around for three hours. We could have done that at our hotel, which we had paid for through noon. It gave us time to talk to other travelers and form alliances for our deadly game of boat living. Three hours didn't so much fly by as they limped along. When it was finally time everyone was told to walk back to the pier. Efficiency isn't the strongest trait for the travel industry here. At least we were on our way towards the dragons.
The boat we were going to be living on was...smaller than the photo in the brochure. It was also a little bit shabbier. While I don't want to offend the fine people of Indonesia, there are times when you realize what a developing nation really means. Both Thailand and Malaysia had their quirks and you become accustomed to a certain level of care and maintenance. Indonesia is no different. Some places are nice and some, well they at least seem to be trying. If I had to sum it up into a single word, it would be 'Almost'. They almost reach the level of quality they're trying for. Honestly it's part of the charm of this country because the people are usually so friendly and easy to smile. You appreciate what they're going for. This boat was not one of those times. This was one of those times when you've found something online that looks amazing and then when you go see it in person you find out that the custom paint job is faded to the point of being irrelevant. It was ok though. We had stayed in worse places and it's all part of the adventure. Right?
I don't want to use this to complain about the trip because we've been very fortunate to be on this trip at all. It can't all be unicorns farting rainbows filled with candy sprinkles. Our cabin was a sauna resting on a waterbed attached to a rollercoaster. The first night we sweated ourselves to sleep. The second night we dreamed about how would we manage to get off a sinking ship and get back to safety. The third night was filled with music, beer, and water so still you'd think you were on dry land. The fourth day we wandered through the jungle looking for dragons, only to find them lounging around the village like a bunch of lazy cats. Having seen an animal in the zoo and then seeing it in the wild are two very different things. These dragons did their best to bridge the gap by making sure to lay still long enough for everyone to get photos. Some even were brave enough to get close to have their picture taken with the dragon, from a safe distance of course. Our rangers had sticks in case one of the dragons got unruly, but they had no interest in us as we were a group of thirty white European travelers that were constantly making noise. In the end I can say I've been to the island of Komodo and walked among the dragons.
We've only a couple days away from leaving SE Asia. We're headed back to Bali to find some good food and relaxation in the highest order. As usual, I'm interested to see what happens next.
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