The Janssen Family World Travels: Indonesia

Beijing was a stressful place, with so many transitions and the incredible effort it took for Traci to get a new Chinese visa. It was with relief that we arrived in beautiful, stress-free Bali. We planned 3 weeks in Indonesia, with about half focused on exotic animals and the latter half studying and relaxing on Bali’s world-famous beaches. First up…Komodo Dragons.

Komodo Dragons are the world’s largest lizards, reaching lengths over 10 feet and weights over 200 kg. We took a short flight to Flores Island, about 300km East of Bali, and there boarded a small boat for a 2 day quest for dragons at the neighboring islands of Rinca and Komodo. We were joined by 2 women from Cincinnati, Pam and Kacie, who were absolutely delightful. Much to the dismay of all, however, the boat accommodated 6 people, with 6 tiny twin bunk beds. My quick math said 5+2 does not equal 6. It wasn’t like the rooms or beds were built for two either. Each single bunk was in a miniscule room about 6’x5’ with no room for any type of luggage, and the ceilings were about 5’6” tall. Perfect. Hayden solved our dilemma by offering to sleep on the floor. With a semblance of a solution, we cast away.

Our first stop was Rinca Island. For the entirety of our trip (aside from our 3 glorious months in Austria that I’m not counting) our weather has been fantastic, with the exception of an absolute deluge in Pompeii and a couple of light showers elsewhere. After spending 20+ years in Seattle, when you have 175 sunny days out of 180, that’s a nice change. The tropical thundershowers we experienced at Rinca Island made up for any perceived drought. It poured for several hours, then when it appeared to slow we set off on our hike through thick, sticky mud. After a short hike to the ranger station, we were treated to the sight of dozens of komodo dragons lounging around the grounds. They aren’t fed there, but instead gather outside the kitchen, savoring the smells. They are huge and incredibly prehistoric. We then had a fabulous, muddy hike 1.5 hour hike around the island in search of “wild” dragons (aka those that aren’t tempted by the smells of the kitchen) but apparently most of the big lizards go into hiding in the rain. Still, seeing them around the ranger station was plenty exciting. They are used to humans, but still dozens of people manage to get hurt by them each year. In addition to having a nasty bite, they also are venomous and their bite also can leave a lingering infection which can be deadly as well. Thankfully we were protected by rangers who carried with them fearsome weapons: 6’ sticks with a “Y” at the end to push them away! Thank goodness…the police! We still felt safe, except for when after the hike, while most were sitting in the snack shop, Halle and I were playing “call Dad over and pull on a wet tree branch above his head and further soak him” and we wandered a bit close to a sleeping komodo dragon that we hadn’t noticed. Thankfully one of the nearby park rangers who was enjoying one of his 67 daily cigarette breaks saw this, jumped up and shouted at us to return to the shop. No harm no foul. We weren’t fazed, or at least Halle wasn’t.

After Rinca Island, the boat repositioned to a nearby reef and we enjoyed snorkeling in downpour. I’ve never before had to dive underwater to attempt to keep dry but that’s what I did. The waters are an incredibly clear blue and the reefs are chock full of colorful fish and coral….nearly as good as watching “Finding Nemo” in 3-D. Our second day of dragon hunting took us to nearby Komodo Island where we encountered a huge male and a very active female while on our hike. We also enjoyed another couple of incredible snorkeling sessions. It was more effort than we anticipated finding the beasts, but we met 2 wonderful women, the boat crew was super friendly, the snorkeling superb, and it was fantastic to see the Komodo Dragons up close and in person. Been there done that. Check.

Next up were the Orangutans, on the Island of Borneo. First it was back to Bali for a short night’s sleep, then….Happy Anniversary! May 15^th was a wonderful, romantic way to spend our 19^th anniversary. We were awakened at 3:15 a.m. by the errant alarm clock in our hotel. I spent a groggy hour being incredibly peeved at Traci for setting it at that time (my peevishness exacerbated by being disrupted from a blissful state of deep ROM…and she having similar feelings or worse feelings about me….at least she wasn’t snoring). So with neither of us falling back asleep, at 4:15 we dragged ourselves out of bed (realizing that neither of us had set the alarm, it was somehow preset as a bad joke or something by a previous guest…I’ll have to remember that one). We then scrambled, threatened, beat and shouted the kids out of bed to catch a 4:45 shuttle to the Bali airport where we learned that our 6:30 flight was delayed until the very sane hour of 8:30. Nothing like sitting at a third-world airport at 5:30 a.m., knowing that if the airline had deployed and we had a semblance of modern technology, we could still be blissfully asleep. At least the airport Circle-K had free Wi-Fi and cheap hot water for instant coffee. Oh the small things in life! Living large with the Janssens! Next we boarded two flights, on different airlines, to get to a city called Semarang in central Java. Since we were on different airlines, we had to retrieve our checked luggage after arrival and recheck in for the second flight, assuring us not only another security screening, but also enjoying the privilege of paying another airport departure tax. We arrived in Semarang tired and with a bit of trepidation. Our itinerary warned us that we had to spend the night here before catching a flight the next day to Borneo. We were less than assured by the itinerary saying there wasn’t much to see, that the town was pretty much occupied by the Chinese, and that we were going to be put up in “the nicest hotel in town.” We were sure we were going to have one of our worst nights of the trip in a roach hotel, and we set low expectations for ourselves and for the kids. Instead, however, the town was a vibrant city of a couple million people and our hotel was very nice. Great showers, strong and free Wi-Fi, a swimming pool, and to top it all off it was connected to a shopping mall that was the Indonesian equivalent of Bellevue Square. McDonalds for lunch, Pizza Hut for dinner, popcorn for an in room movie, and root beer floats. The greatest taste of Americana in 10 months! The kids enjoyed an evening movie while Traci and I had a lovely romantic dinner and shared an overpriced but delectable bottle of champagne. Quite a wonderful day that finished strong and way exceeded expectations. My wife and kids are incredible. I am one lucky man. Off in pursuit of year 20!

After a very restful and long night of sleep, we caught a mid-day flight from Semarang in Java, north to the island of Borneo. In the south of Borneo (Indonesia’s largest island…now called Kalimantan) lies the Tanjung Puting National Park which is one of the world’s last havens for wild orangutan. We stayed in a simple place called “Rimba Lodge”, which is only accessible by boat and that the kids will always remember for it had pool and ping pong tables. From there the following two days we took boat excursions up the river to various ranger stations in the park. Serious jungle “Heart of Darkness” type river touring. Our first station was “Camp Leakey,” established by Louis Leakey in 1971. As we walked the boardwalk through the jungle, we encountered 3 of the local Orangutans. These were “semi-wild” as they live right around the camp and are thus very used to people. One young male named Percy entertained us all as he attempted to pick each of the kid’s pockets in search of food. Our guide Ami had an infectious smile and laugh, and we learned a lot about these amazing apes from him and from the visitor center. Later in the afternoon, we attended an “orangutan feeding” deeper in the woods. These feedings are fairly controversial as the research camps such as Camp Leakey want the orangutans away from people, yet the government wants the people to see them in order for tourism and conservation efforts to be funded. They compromise and each ranger station in the park feeds them a couple of huge buckets of bananas once/per day. Much better than a zoo experience, but the dozens of tourists clicking cameras for a staged feeding wasn’t exactly what we had expected. Still, it was amazing to watch the orangutans climb through the jungle canopy. They are the largest tree dwelling (arboreal) mammals, and they spend very little time on the jungle floor. Males are about ten times as strong as a humans (females about 5X), and the ease with which they climbed trees and vines was stunning. They also are unique in that the mothers care for their young longer than any other species (except for the Janssens), with the babies clinging on or near their mothers for over 5 years. We saw dozens of females with clinging children, which was very hopeful considering they only give birth about once every 8 years.

While the orangutans were incredible, my favorite Borneo memory will be the cannon-balling monkeys. Every couple of hundred meters on the river we’d see a tree full of about 20 Proboscis Monkeys. When they decided to cross a river, they would climb a tall tree nearest to the shore and leap as far across the river as possible, landing in a cannonball. Our boat was very close to this the first time we witnessed this and I thought we were under attack by cannon. Very surreal to see a troop of monkeys doing what your children would do. The dominant male in the group, went last, letting the children and females go first to ensure there was no danger of crocodiles. Another fine example of wild male animals having a pretty posh lifestyle. I often wonder why human males have such a different experience compared to females and their lives of luxury….but I digress. Borneo was a great jungle adventure, but after 3 days and nights of heat, humidity, mosquitos, and unappetizing local food (how many ways can you fry a whole fish?), we were ready to return to civilization. Back to Semarang for another night in the “hotel that far exceeded expectations” and the next day we were off to Bali and our beach villa in Pemuteran for 10 days.

Bali is a pretty small island, about 100 miles wide East-West, by 50 miles North-South, but the roads that traverse the island are narrow, winding, and crowded with every sort of transport vehicle ever invented. The airport is in the southeast of the island, and Pemuteran where we decided to make our home for 10 days is in the northwest, so it took over 4 hours to drive to our digs. The benefit of this is that not that many tourists make the effort, and so Pemuteran was exactly what we were looking for: affordable, quiet, private, with a great beach, access to diving, multiple dining options, WiFi and a swimming pool. It delivered on all of those fronts. While we’ve enjoyed the myriad of out travels, I think that we’re most fond of our down-time in between. I’ve been thinking that, if I were to plan the year differently, what would I have changed? I think that having longer periods, in fewer places, may have been better. As soon as I think that though, if I just follow that logic to the extreme, we would have spent the entire year in Bali. So I again digress, but suffice it to say that we LOVE our down-time. Each day the kids had some really great, intensive studies, yet those studies were broken up by incredible activities. We all went scuba diving and snorkeling multiple times. The dive sites here are world famous. One place, called Menjangan Island National Park has Bali's most beautiful wall-diving. The walls descend to about 60m but we hung out around 12-15 meters and were swept along the walls in an incredible slow drift by the currents. So instead of using your fins, you just hung out, perfectly buoyant, and drifted by amazing corals and fishes. Imagine sky diving, with your arms and legs extended, and floating along seeing a kaleidoscope of fish and coral pass by. That is what it was like. The visibility was incredible, about 30 meters compared to the 2-3 meters often experienced in Puget Sound. We saw hundreds of fish species, moray eel, coral of every imaginable color, a reef shark, and a huge sea turtle that we could have touched. Above the water, we were able to run along the beach (happy wife = happy life), do a bit of body surfing (with the kids it was more body pummeling), and swim in a great pool. With the morning and early afternoon focused on studying, there wasn’t much pure relaxation but we all craved a consistent schedule more than dead time. One added bonus was a local, female yellow lab very aptly named Coral. She greeted us on the beach whenever we walked by, and often accompanied us back to our villa where she would grab any spare sock, shirt, frisbee, shoe, shirt, etc. and then proudly play keep away with us. Reminded us all how much we miss our dog Lucy in Seattle. Important universal observation: Labrador Retrievers have a lot in common no matter where they reside on our planet: chin on crossed-paws while resting, retrieving anything (who’d have thunk it!), great swimmers, stealing even the smelliest socks (such as those of an unnamed 10 year old boy), wagging their tail at you no matter what, and greeting you each and every time they see you as if you’re the greatest thing at that moment that ever happened in their life.

My only recommendation for Indonesia would be to bring your own instant coffee. Being addicts, but not snobs, Traci and I wholeheartedly agreed that Indonesians have the world’s worst coffee. I think they are major growers and their coffee itself would be incredible, but their method of preparation is what I would call “pseudo-instant”. They pour the coffee in hot water but only about 50% of the grounds dissolve. You are thus each and every time left with a 50/50 water and coffee ground mix. I thought the first place that served this made a mistake, but after experiencing it dozens of consecutive times, we realized it was endemic. Bali coffee sucks, but the caffeine addiction is slowly fading and constipation is a distant memory, blissfully confused with the Southern Cross, Milky Way and Sagittarius.

Bali is a beautiful place. We only saw a few small pieces of it but here there is everything that anyone could possibly desire (except snow and related activities). The cost of living is cheap; there are incredible beaches and even more incredible sights underwater. There is a strong, unique, local culture. And the people are incredibly friendly, probably the most friendly and sincere people we’ve encountered during the year.

Time keeps ticking. We have 8 weeks left on our 54 week adventure. It has all flown by, but lately time seems to be accelerating. Our next stop is Australia. We’re spending a couple weeks there, with 5 days on a remote island in the Great Barrier Reef, and the remainder split between a couple of Northeast beach towns (Cairns and Cooktown) and their many activities, and a 4 days in Sydney. We’re heading into the peak of their winter, so for the most part we plan on keeping to the warm, northern climes. We’re so excited to spend 2 weeks in an English-speaking country and the associated subtle but incredibly important nuances.

Happy Memorial Day weekend. There are lots of reminders in this area from World War II (ship wrecks, famous islands and beaches) that have often made me think about all of those who gave their lives so that we could be free.

Our guide and boat at Komodo Island. The hemp logo on his cap was a real show of professionalism and alleviated all safety concerns

Traci and Halle in one of the bunks. They actually enjoyed a sleepless night together in that bed.

On Rinca Island in search of Komodo Dragons, in a rainstorm, with new friends Pam and Kacie.

On Komodo Island we encounter our first "wild" dragon!

Thought this would give a bit more perspective about the size. Note the fearsome weapon/stick held by the ranger!

Unexpected Minotaur sighting

So cool!

While waiting for a flight back to Bali, we explored a cave on Flores Island (near Komodo Island) and encountered dozens of these lovely, poisonous spiders inside the cave. Note size relative to Hayden's hand.

Off in search of Orangutans in Borneo in our lovely boat.

You stink. There ain't nuthin' in there!

Seriously! What's wrong with you people!

"Where is the love? I swung and walked about a mile and you have nothing to give me?" I love this picture
of Percy...his facial expression is just classic. So human and full of thought (and malice)

This orangutan was inconsolable after finding out that Lady Gaga's concert in Jakarta was cancelled due some some threats from a few muslim extremists.

Seriously strong and flexible

A tree-full of proboscis monkeys

A proboscis monkey attempts to leap across a small river

The male proboscis monkey watches his brood cross the river. Such a giver.

another leap of faith

Traci thought this looked like me barking at the kids to do their homework

A rabid proboscis monkey lands on board and prepares to attack. Thankfully we had all received all of our essential vaccinations and it quickly went away when we asked it to do some math homework.