Farewell!!

It has been a long journey for me and I was very happy to be a part of it.  I started on the WTP in early August in Cairns, Australia and made my way to Pangkor, Malaysia over the course of four months.  It has been an amazing journey. Some highlights for me include: Daintree rainforest, the islands of Kisar and Flores, orangutans, and Singapore.  After leaving the boat I will be heading by land to Thailand and coming back to America in early December.  Till then farewell!!!

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No Television!

Life on the WTP comes with many sacrifices such as no ice cream, no hanging out with friends, no hot showers, and no TV! I am not much of a television watcher. I have a few shows I watch back home but this time of year I usually watch a lot of TV because it is football season. This time of year I usually spend Sundays with friends for cookouts and football games. I am still able to go online and check my favorite team's standings but it is still not the same as watching the games.

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My new best friend!

Meet Achmat, my new best friend.  Yesterday we went to go visit the orangutans at Camp Leakey and I had the privilege of meeting quite a few orangutans.  After we watched the rangers feed the wild orangutans, Achmat showed up late and walked right up to me.  I sat next to Achmat for awhile and became friends.

Achmat is an older female orangutan and likes bananas.  She spent a few minutes with me munching on some fruit as I talked to her.  She wasn't much of a conversationalist but seemed to not mind my presence.

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Where Did All My Hair Go?

On Tuesday I went to Maumere on a mission: to get a haircut. My last haircut had been months ago and I decided it was long enough. After a quick search I found a hair place that charged 12,000 Rupiah for a trim.

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Lunch in Indonesia

Upon arriving on the island of Kisar (our first Indonesian stop) it became quickly apparent that the locals were very friendly and eager to meet us. Most were very excited to see visitors, pulling out camera phones to take pictures of us.

On the second day at the island, Halley and I were walking along the beach when a group of locals began calling to us. Since the majority of the locals do not speak English and we do not speak Indonesian, hand gestures were often used to communicate. The locals motioned us over and after some greetings, my first response was "No Rupiah"( Rupiah is the Indonesian currency). The locals laughed and informed us that they were not trying to sell anything but wanted us to eat lunch with their family. The family was very large with around thirty people in and around the tent.

We agreed and followed them to their eating area. The eating "tent" was a structure with no walls, a blue tarp roof, and a clear tarp floor. Inside the tent was a table on one side with large plastic containers holding food, and on the other side was a log covered by a tarp to sit on.

Lunch was yellow rice with cooked fish and a very spicy pepper sauce. We were given wicker basket plates lined with a piece of paper and were motioned to serve ourselves.
We realized that no one in the tent was wearing shoes and there was a pile of sandals outside so we took our shoes off and entered assuming that was customary. After serving ourselves, we sat on the log in the tent and were motioned to eat even though no one else had a plate. We insisted that they eat with us but in their culture the guests eat first. It was quite an experience to eat while a group of people watched and took pictures, but the delicious food was well worth it.

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My Journal: Part One.

It has been over a month since I joined the WTP and one of my first things I did when joining the crew was purchase a personal journal. The pages are mostly filled with events on the boat and personal thoughts.

The journal has come in handy several times. Amanda keeps a ship's log and I use my journal to help jog memories of events. It also comes in handy for entertainment when looking back at older posts. So I have decided to share some highlights of memories for the first month:

- Losing my luggage
- Weird personal dreams
- Adam's dreams (Jason Mraz's Bar Mitzvah??)
- My first sun downer
- Figuring out the pressure cooker
- Various bumps and bruises
- Disaster using the head (still having nightmares about it)
- Low flyovers

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Conversations with Aussies about Crocs

Since entering the country, we have spent the majority of time traveling north along the coast of Australia. Between Cairns and Darwin, most of the stops on the mainland have been in remote or rural areas of the country, so the locals we meet are a little more rugged than typical city folk.

When arriving at an anchorage, we are usually approached by an aluminum motorboat. The first question is "G'day mate! Do you happen to know the weather for the next few days?" We answer if we know the weather and then ask about the best place to anchor. The answer is usually "where ever." Our next question is always "are there crocodiles here?" and the answer is always "yes," followed by a story of the most recent attack. We then ask "is there anything we should do to avoid the crocs?" The only advice we receive is "be careful."

Upon asking enough people, here are a few tips we have learned:

1) Don't swim in the water where there are crocs.

2) Avoid going to shore at night unless there is a dock.

3) If you have to go to a beach at night, never go to the same location more than three times. As one local in Cooktown put it: "The first time they will be scared of you. The second time they will watch you. And the third time they will eat you."

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