AN IRISH BACKPACKER ASKED ME, in the Kuala Lumpur airport the other day, where I was headed. “Brunei,” I told him. He didn’t hear me. “Phucket?” No, Brunei, I repeated, on the jungle island of Borneo. He looked confused. “Never heard of it,” he said. “What country is it in?” Brunei is accurately and often exclusively described as a small oil-rich Islamic state in Southeast … Continue reading Brunei, of Slums and Sultans
THERE ARE LITTLE THINGS that slip between cracks when trying to keep up a blog. V and I have met a lot of genuine people, some for even just a few moments, who made an impression on us but whose stories got left behind after we moved on; they felt too short to justify full-length blog posts, or we were rushed and simply forgot. I’ve … Continue reading Stories Left Behind in Indonesia
I DO NOT REGRET spending a total of $50 (40 for the ticket, 10 for the taxi) on the Borobudur Sunrise package, even though it’s almost twice the regular cost of admission, and here’s why: It’s literally unrepeatable. The much-vaunted experience is monopolized by the Manohara research group, which I know very little about but understand to be a team of people who exclusively study … Continue reading Borobudur at Dawn
NOTHING ONLINE INDICATES that Ken Park, a huge swath of land in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, is actually abandoned. But you’d be blind to think it isn’t. There are signs for hotels that don’t seem to exist, enormous dollhouse-style corridors devoid of people, restaurant stalls left unattended. And it feels even emptier because of how silly it is to try to cross the park by … Continue reading Photo Essay: The Nearly Abandoned Theme Park of Surabaya, Indonesia
THE REALIZATION THAT YOU WILL spend the next six hours (maybe seven? It’s not really clear) on a bus that certainly, at one point, has transported convicts to death row, and is indeed still probably haunted by their ghost terrors, is a sort of badge of honour in the travel world, something to offer a quick anecdote around the hostel dining table. “Oh yeah?” pipes … Continue reading The Bus Across Java That Tortured Us Mentally, Physically and Somehow Culturally
THE BEST PART of the Santi Agra Visata coffee plantation is not the coffee, nor is it the stunning view of the sloping valleys of crops and wildlife behind their backyard picnic tables. What makes Santi worth a visit is the refreshing honesty of its owner, Wayan, a young Balinese man with gelled hair and a quick, tacky charm. We did not know who he … Continue reading Conversations Over Coffee at the Santi Agra Visata, Bali
“IF YOU WANT TO SEE REAL BALI, Ubud is the right place,” our driver, Lemon, told us en route from the airport. It’s not like Kuta in the south, he explained — “That is not my culture,” he said, shaking his head at the notorious northern party beach — but a genuine place overflowing with kindness and culture. It is not entirely clear to me … Continue reading Welcome to the Bali Show
YOU CAN ALWAYS TELL where you are in Jeju from where the mountain is. And you always know where it is, and you always know which mountain. Though Korea’s largest island is home to many peaks, only one might be called “the” mountain — Hallasan, the tallest in South Korea. It is the centerpiece of Jeju Island, visible from almost anywhere, looming in the distance, … Continue reading Postcard From Jeju Island, Korea
IT WOULD BE AN EXAGGERATION to call the DMZ tour a waste of time, but the fact that I knew anything about North Korea beforehand definitely, surprisingly, diminished my enjoyment of the experience. One would think that, having seen the acclaimed film Joint Security Area and read the excellently crafted Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick, now seeing the infamous hermit kingdom in person might fill in some … Continue reading The Korean DMZ: Look Ma, a North Korean’s Spying Me
THE ANCIENT VOLCANIC SEDIMENT that rises up alongside Jeodeong’s coastal walkway is a reminder of how tiny and insignificant we are on, my God, this island alone, not to mention the world or its history. The bilingual leaflet that describes the island’s jagged edges is too overwhelmingly scientific to be educational to anyone without a degree in geology; we plebs have to settle for merely … Continue reading Everyone in Korea Must Visit Ulleung-do (Before it’s Too Late)
A Long Way Back 