Bali Update: Mount Agung and Change of Plans

Oct 26, 2017 | Bali

I knew exactly what to do when I hit the ground in Bali. After chasing Sumatran cows in the spring, and having a big Indonesian adventure last year, I assimilated back into the Indonesia groove easily enough. My limited Bahasa vocabulary even bubbled to the surface....

Vagabonding Resumes: Back in Bali

Oct 14, 2017 | Bali

Everyone seemed to be looking at me as I glided through the airport in Chicago. I slowly became aware of the unwanted attention. It was a strange phenomenon. So I straightened my back and held my head higher. I was making a statistically improbable amount of eye...

Cow Racing in Sumatra (Pacu Jawi)

Jun 5, 2017 | Sumatra

Grip tightened, throttle open, lowered helmet cutting through black diesel. I was the last in the three-motorbike convoy that left the Harau Valley at high speed. I kept up for maybe an hour or so before the mad tentacles of Sumatran traffic separated us. It came in...

Climbing Gunung Marapi in West Sumatra

May 4, 2017 | Sumatra

Charcoal clouds swirled across an onyx moonscape of mud. Hanging around didn’t seem like a good idea. Precious few things get me going at 04:30. Sunrises definitely aren’t one of them. I made that mistake once in Maui. Flip-flopped and freezing, I nearly broke my...

Vagabonding Begins in 2017

Mar 7, 2017 | Vagabonding Begins

It’s the little things. In this instance, the little things that crawl on you. It was the presence of a small ant harmless picking its way through my leg hair that lifted a solid, good-to-know fact out of the haze in my brain: I am back in Bangkok. Sure, ants do...