Indonesian Highlights

When we started dreaming up this world adventure I snapped pictures of screen savers on our TV at home. I was drawn to lush green coastlines, moss covered temples, wild jungle forests, brightly colored corals harboring hundreds of different fish. I would dig deeper to find out where these dreamy landscapes could be found and all roads pointed to Indonesia. I had heard of Bali (sadly I thought it was an island near Hawaii or Fiji) and we had an exchange student in high school from there but beyond that it was uncharted territory that had yet to be stamped in my passport. For the past month we have been bouncing around Indonesia enjoying those colorful screen saver corals and dramatic coast lines. I’ve fallen hard for Indonesia.

Indonesia is made up of 17,000 islands that are home to 279 million people, making it the fourth most populous country. It is easily accessible from Australia and most of Asia, creating a backpacker haven and vacation land for many folks on this side of the world. The people of Indonesia seem genuinely happy and are noticeably taking care of their lands, yards, streets and neighbors. One thing that has set Indonesia apart from the other countries we visited is that the people seem happy with their current government. The president is said to have been a commoner prior to taking office and now his son is running along side the next candidate. People live a very simple lifestyle and tend to surround themselves with family. Unfortunately it does appear that the large businesses are foreign owned but there are laws to keep the land native owned.

We started our time on an island part of Bali called Nusa Lembongan. How do you pick a location? A lot of people wonder as they follow our dotted line. I give all the credit to Ryan, seeking these slightly off the beaten path locations checking as many boxes as possible. This one was selected because it had a soccer pitch, a diving center, surfing and yoga studios, there was a small town that was accessible by foot and a number of restaurants we could get to easily. That’s the recipe for a good home base. With Liv’s encouragement we signed ourselves up for an open water scuba course and spent the week with our noses in the books and then underwater. An absolutely incredible experience that went beyond fish and coral (although they were both amazing.) We learned how to skim read and take tests online, we took turns reading aloud about neutral buoyancy and lung expansion. It wasn’t intentional that I hadn’t put the effort into getting certified previously but it was a gift to do this as a family now. A useful skill that the kids will always have in their back pockets. Per PADI you have to be 10 years old to take the course, Liv was 10 years and 10 days on her first dive, doing cartwheels and flips, feeling free and empowered.

On that note I feel the need to mention that travel isn’t always cartwheels and flips. I’m pretty sure our kids thought we were going on a year long vacation, how would know anything different? We have had days when we ask ourselves “What are we doing?” and the kids refuse to walk to look at stuff. They miss our communities and family and there’s no routine when you travel. It tests you each day when you open your eyes in a different bed, to a different breakfast and new surroundings all well curated by loving parents researching into the dark hours of the night. We travel slow, take breaks, create options and try our best to stay tolerant.

From Nusa Lembongan we skipped around to Gili Air and then to Lombok enjoying more beautiful beaches and blue waters, a few more dives and surf rides. We also bit the bullet and rented motorbikes which added another level of fun on these small islands. It gave us a new level of freedom to explore and their kind of fun to drive.

Another reason we stayed in Indonesia for this long was to catch a pop-up World School event in Yogyakarta. We had met some families in Penang that have been traveling for a similar amount of time and we all decided to meet up again in the heart of Indonesia. Our week in “Jogja” was filled with friends, temples, batiking, fishing at the Hyatt stock pond and many trip down the water slide. We also visited a noodle factory, a tofu maker and had a chance to be Indo farmers for a day. It was a great ending to our Asian travels.