38 DAYS LATER

6-5-13

I'm back in LA, back to work, back to writing, back to reorganizing my apartment, working out, running, visiting with friends.

In fact I've been back more than a week now.

Already the trip is fading.

Not permanently, (I'm not senile yet! :), but the intensity of it.

Sure, I look at the photos and peek through my journal and see all the amazing things I did and felt and saw. When I see Alicia back here in LA it's fun to reminisce and think of what we did. We're so fortunate to be able to take trips like this and see the world that is out there.

I wanted to type up a "in conclusion" of the trip. Something that sums up the observations... but it's strange how some of them are probably already lost to time. Still, I'm going to do my best to give some final thoughts on the Southeast Asia Odyssey 2013.

1.  TRAVEL is AWESOME!

If you haven't figured that out yet, I haven't done my job or expressed how I feel. :)

Pick your destination. Buy your ticket. Pack your bag and go.

Trust me, it's possible to find the time. It's possible to have the money. If I can do it, so can you.

It's a matter of prioritizing what's important. If your $5 starbucks a day gives you more joy than a couple weeks in Indonesia, then keep drinking the Starbucks. (By the way, they have those in the touristy spots over there so you won't be left out.:) But that $5/day ads up to a plane ticket very quickly. And the memories of those two weeks will likely be better than that caffeine fix... just a guess.

2. INDONESIAN thoughts

I love Indonesia. I never thought it would rank so highly in the cool places I've visited. Sure I only saw a fraction of the 17,000 islands, but I saw enough to make me love it. From the safe, yet exotic Bali to the wild west of Flores. It's my kind of place. So many things to do, beautiful places to see and wonderful people to meet. You can be as rough and tumble or safe and pampered as you'd like. The price is right, the place is paradise. Go.

3. MALAYSIA thoughts

Who knew? Malaysia is way more modern than I expected. Nice roads. Great food. Wonderful people. It consistantly surprised me at every turn. I would arrive someplace, think "hmmmm, this isn't what I was hoping for" and be 100% on board in less than a day. Every single time.

And the food! Yep, so good. Go. Eat. If you're a foodie you've gotta go there. Yum Yum.

4. And both these places are predominately Islamic.

And no I didn't feel unsafe. No there were no "terrorists" lurking at every corner. No Islam does not make one evil.

It baffles me from both sides of this stupid battle between Islam and Christianity. The religion does not make one evil, or close minded, or violent or radical. It's the people who choose to use religion as their war cry. Neither of these religions preach murder. And every time I visit these wonderful places with wonderful people who might believe something different than me I am grateful to see their faith. To see that they care so much about what they believe in.

And it was really interesting to see how each country embraced it differently. In Indonesia it seems like they don't just do the call to prayer 5 times a day over the loud speakers. They do the whole prayer! 20-30 minutes. I heard far fewer calls in Malaysia. In fact there was a heavy blending of religions there. Even though the country is official Muslim, all religions are welcome. Believe what you want.

Isn't that how it should be?

5. SINGAPORE thoughts

With only the 1 day it's hard to say I really saw Singapore. It was a great experience since I've heard so much about Singapore and how clean it is (true) and how many rules it has (also true) and how many strange laws they have (also true. No gum. No Urinating in Lifts. No this. No that). But again. Nice people. Sure it's a big city and things are moving along rapidly. But it was a fascinating mix of different cultures (Chinese, Singapore, Indian). And of course, having a friend there to show me around made it even more awesome. Friendship around the world. That's a great reason to travel too.

6. HONG KONG thoughts

Love it. New York meets Asia. Energy. Excitement. I love the weather: bring me a thunderstorm any day. The harbor is amazing. The trains rules. And Disneyland. Oh yeah. And I barely saw a fraction of it. So much more to see. I'll enjoy catching up on my Hong Kong cinema now that I've been.

7. Food.

Did I mention the food on this trip was amazing? I'm not a foodie. I don't get all googly-eyed over food. But damn, this was a tasty place to eat. So many types: Indonesian, Balinese, Lombok-ian, Malay, Indian, Chinese, Dim-Sum, Indian, Western, Indian... did I mention how good the Indian food was? :)

8.  Perspective

Every time I travel I like to get out of my comfort zone. (Leeches, here I come!).

I think it's important, I'd even say critical to my life.  And honestly for everyone's lives, to get out of our comfort zone.

It's easy for people to have their worlds shrink. Mine can. If I'm in LA to long I'll lose some of my gusto. Some of my free spirit. I think it's just part of how human beings are wired. If we aren't getting out there, seeing and doing new things, then what we will be OK tends to become less and less. I'm not saying we'll get in fights or run away in fear if something new happens. But we'll shrink away. We'll choose the comfortable path. I know I do it. I doubt I'm alone in this.

So getting out to see the world is my way of forcing myself to expand. To open up to all the amazing things the world has to offer. To interact with people that I might shy away from in normal life. Sure, there were times on this trip that I was uncomfortable. That boat ride with 25 people. The first afternoon I was not feeling it. I knew it was going to be cramped and their was no place to sit and chill... but a strange thing happened. By the 2nd, and 3rd and 4th day I was suddenly fine. It was okay to be in such close quarters with people. Sure, there were times with a bit of annoyance or need for space. But it's awesome how I could find my own space when there wasn't any. How we got comfortable being right on top of each other. Sure, by the end of it I wanted to get the heck off the boat, but now I know that I will be fine if I'm in such close quarters with people.

And the leeches. The jungle. The nasty.

It was dirty. Wet. Stinky. Awesome.

Very quickly the jungle makes you it's bitch. And being able to adapt in that environment was great. If I'd had another day I think I really would have gotten comfortable with that level of uncomfort. :) Yes, it's nice to have a perfectly climate controlled house and car and have everything clean and a shower. But its surprising how important dry feet become when that's all you can get. Just dry feet. It's good to be aware of how little I need to be happy...

That's always a great lesson I learn and relearn. When I'm backpacking I have so little with me. So few clothes, so few items. I always, on every trip, feel like I have too much stuff. When I'm packing I think "I'll need this and that and this and that", but once I've got my See Legs and am on my way, I think I could get by with half the items. And I only have a small bag to begin with. :)

Maybe travel isn't your way to find perspective. Maybe you like to cook, or draw, or play sports, or meditate, or... But listing off all those things. None of them do for me what Travel does. Not even close.

So I will urge you to try it. Push you even. Do it. Get out there. Don't be afraid. And if you are... face your fear down. Stare it in the eye and tell that fear to kiss off. Your confidence will grow. Your heart will grow. Your mind will grow. YOU will grow.

See what you're made out of. Likely you'll be surprised.

This is Craig Ouellette,

Last surviving member of the Nostromo

Signing off.

Flores.

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

--> May 21, 2013

We've got fun and games.

We've got tons of leeches

Sucking your bloody veins.

Ahhhhhhh the jungle.

Wet.

Muddy.

Filled with bees and bugs. Vines and trees. Leeches and leeches and oh did I mention leeches?

So in Taman Nagara National Park I decided to do a two day / 1 night Jungle trek where we sleep in a fricking cave!

There were 7 of us and the guide. Three folks were doing two nights. The rest of us the one.

We showed up with our packs and some extra clothes and then found out we had to carry our own food and supplies. Normally one might prepare for this, but it was a bit of a surprise, though completely obvious that we should. Who else will? The jungle men?

Loaded up, I had an extra backpack on the front and we go to the boat. It slips us up the river and to the canopy walkway. I think it's the longest in the world or something, but half of it was closed. Still, it's 100 feet off the ground and very shaky and cool.

2 hours more on the boat and we begin our hike. Everyone is sweating, but it's fortunately not that hot. We are careful to avoid the muddiest patches and walk on roots and rocks to skip streams... until we hit the first creek. It was a foot deep and 10 feet wide and we're getting wet. From this point on it was really pointless to try to dodge the mud or water and I can tell you, that speeds up the pace a lot! There comes that point in a nature journey where you just have to accept how filthy you will get, and once you do it's much more fun!

This is the official "Before" photo...

We hiked 8-10km the first day. About 6 hours worth. It was tiring. And at every stop there were leeches on us. Little wormy, trembling leeches. I've never actually seen one before and it was odd to. They're so small and they move so erratically. Becuase we had pants tucked into socks, they were most often just trying to find a way to our skin. And sometimes they did. I pulled one off my foot and the wound bled for a long time. It didn't hurt. But it's strange to watch. When we stopped near the end of the hike, Monja had a HUGE blood filled leech on her knee. It was nasty. Blood ran down her leg like crazy. It was like a hidden beast under her pants... um, you know what I mean. :) At every stop we would check our feet, legs, and I'd check my junk. I'm not ending up all "Stand By Me" with a huge leech on my balls.

Bloody good fun

We stopped to rest in a little cave and the bees came out. Hundreds of them. Attracted to the sweat on our packs. I tried to go zen and not have them effect me, but eventually the buzzing became to much for everyone and we grabbed the packs and hustled away. Only to stumble into a wasps nest.  I'm not sure who touched it, but they went crazy. Buzzing around. Starting to sting people. We were bottled up at a creek / rock crossing and no one could move as Tek from France started crying out as he was stung. I jumped down into the mud and hustled along and others followed me. We all made it through. Fortunately these weren't the bad kinds of wasps and the stinging went away quickly... versus the person being paralized or dying.

Make a wrong step and you're knee deep in the mud. Hell, make a right step and you're knee deep in the mud.

We reached the cave at 6pm. It was getting dim and dark. But it was super cool to stay there. There were bats, but few insects. We all went down to the stream and rinsed off. It was fun. We were all careful at first, just rinsing our hair or arms, but then went for it, and were washing our clothes wearing only underwear. What the hell? We're covered in so much mud. We were going native!

We ate in the cave and slept on camp mats. No need for sleeping bags, as it was so hot and humid. The cave was probably 100 feet tall and was mostly two big chambers with some small off shoots. And a large opening near the upper wall which would let light in... sort of... during the day.

Home sweet home

Sleep came easy even on the hard ground.

I woke up in darkness. Total darkness. The candles having burned out. I switched out my headlamp and walked over to pee. On my way back four eyes stared at me from not 10 feet away from our sleeping bags. They watched me, glowing in my headlamp. They would jerk around. My light isn't bright so it was hard to make them out. Rats? They'd be reallllly big if they were. Porcupines? Probably, that's what Sam (the guide) said would come to eat the left over food. I watched for awhile, and it was creepy to be there alone with them. But finally I laid down to sleep...

... CRASH!

I sat up. And so did Sam. He turned on his very bright light and indeed the porcupines were eating the food. Along with a rat with the longest tail I've ever seen. Others started to wake up and watch. I was creeped out at first with the rat, but then thought: In this situation, what's the difference between the porcupines and the rat? This is their home.

I had a lot of wild dreams.

The cave was dim as we woke in the morning, slowly ate, packed and headed out. The hike was 6km. About 4 hours. Over roots and mud and creeks and more. We smelled TERRIBLY in just one day. our clothes ripe and nasty. I can only imagine what it would be like to be in the jungle for weeks on end. Whew.

When we reached the jetty and the boat picked us up it felt great. So nice to take off shoes and head back towards civilization.

Yahoo, the boat! We won't have to eat each other!

We stopped at an Oran Ansi village (original people) to learn about the blow pipe. And I was struck with the strange image. They're Black. I wouldn't have expected that in Malaysia, but they looked almost African. Fascinating how people have moved around our world, or perhaps developed independently yet similarly in different places. The Blow Pipe was cool, I want one.

Back in town I took a hot shower and rinsed off the muck and mud. It's amazing how important and wonderful things that we take for granted are when they have been removed for even a couple days.

Craigo