When I arrived at Pantai Bira (Bira Beach) in southern Sulawesi it was dead, but I saw a small gaggle of white people and asked them what’s doing. They were “boaties”, they called themselves, and had been living here for … Continue reading
Category Archives: hitchhiking
First, the bad news. The downside of hitchhiking is when you are subjected to the bad habits of the driver. A few days ago I was tortured with several songs by Michael Learns to Rock, which is the world’s worst … Continue reading
I made a second visit to Bumi Sehat Foundation, this time meeting with the founder herself, Ibu Robin. I’d barely arrived before I was led into a room where a woman had given birth 25 minutes earlier, I was told, … Continue reading
Last time I wrote, I took a $29 flight, including all taxes, from Surabaya to Bali. I discovered that the alternative, a bus/ferry/bus combination, was $19 and takes 15 hours, usually as an overnight journey. I mentioned this to three … Continue reading
Pop quiz! Name the top 6 countries that send the most tourists to Bali. I bet you can get only 3 of them, and I bet you can’t guess #2. Answer at the bottom of this post. Since my brouhaha … Continue reading
Could I have hitchhiked down from Chiang Mai to Bangkok? I did it twice already in northern Thailand, once from the edge of a mall parking lot in Chiang Mai and once back from a temple in Lampang, both very … Continue reading
Talk about inimitable style. Look at the size of Philip’s bag. He says he is “only traveling for three weeks”, but who does this? The most substantive part consists of two pants, two shirts, one swimming shorts, a sarong, a … Continue reading
I see a trickle of white people in my beloved Ee Beng Vegetarian Restaurant, which is the beginning of the end. Nothing good results when white people start horning in. My Irish friend, Philip, counsels me indirectly that I shouldn’t … Continue reading
Short, very Malaysian story: my friend, Melissa, leaves the house to go off the work. I stand at the door to close the gate by remote control and wave goodbye. She gets in a taxi and tells the driver to … Continue reading
The bus from Kuala Lumpur to Penang made me crazy—it doesn’t take much to make me crazy these days—so I decided to hitchhike the 350km back. Easy. Japan is far and away the best country in Asia—and the world, in … Continue reading
