Day 1- Friday: Tanjung Puting is a national park in Indonesia located in the southeast part of West Kotawaringin Regency in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan (Central Borneo). The nearest main town is the capital of the Regency, Pangkalan Buun. Kalimantan is very different than the other  islands we have visited in Indonesia. It’s very humid.…

I went scuba diving! Ok so now you know what I did let me tell you the back story and the adventure. When I was 16 years old I got certified to scuba dive. At the time I smoked cigarettes. Smoking gave me sinus infections that made diving nearly impossible. So I never pursued the…

We were aware that there were three ways to get from Mataram, Lombok to Labuan Bajo, Flores: air, land or the sea.  We ruled out the travel by sea (3 or 4 days on a live aboard or a fast boat which includes site seeing and sleeping on the boat) and did not want to…

Sadly, we departed Gili Meno. We could have stayed longer but so far we have said that about everywhere we have been, here in Indonesia. We had contracted with this guy we met on the beach to get us to our next stop. He was nice enough but even he didn’t seem to know what…

We had intentionally started our travel at Bali (most westernized of all of the islands in Indonesia ) to get acclimated with the weather, loosen up our bodies by doing yoga and getting massages, and get a bit of acculturation, before heading out to the other island and what I have come to call “…

As far as we understand there are three Baha’i communities, with Local Spiritual Assembly (LSA), in Bali (Ubud, Bedung and Denpasar.)  We were lucky to be able to meet some of the friends in two of these communities.  We wrote about the small but vibrant community in Ubud earlier (chapter 21).  Thanks to our newly…

Sanur is a quieter beach town than the more famous Kuta.  Most of the village seems to be about 1mile long. The local Hyatt hotel is under renovation when it’s completed this will bring a much needed spark to the village. It is a nice beach village. It has a 2.5mile promenade along the beach.…

We planned on leaving Ubud on the 14th but we decided to stay for The Caka New Year (Nyepi or Silent day) celebration. The festivities begin several days – if not weeks – in advance as each community group builds a papier-mâché effigy called ogoh-ogoh (evil and destructive figures.) Some are smaller but most are…

Cluster Reflection Gathering Ubud’s Baha’i community is very small, 9 adults, hence an LSA (Local Spiritual Assembly), and 2 children.   We were lucky to be here to join 5 of the adults and the two precious children for dinner (and breaking the Fast) and their Cluster Reflection Gathering.  The joyful gathering was filled with stories…

When we travel and feel comfortable in a new area Missy and I occasionally split up and go exploring on our own, otherwise we are pretty much together throughout our many awesome experiences. We are feeling very comfortable in Ubud, so this past Sunday I went exploring Ubud one way and Missy, another.  Several hours…