Indonesia A nation of over Ten thousands islands.

I am laying in my four hundred thread count sheets, in my room, in Bali’s cultural heart, Ubud. I am somewhere out of linear time - in the narrow space between awake and asleep - a thin thread. Twenty one hours of flying, a fifteen hours time difference. In this land, the land of "Eat, Pray, Love", I have no memories, I have left no footprints behind and am a party to no abiding agreements - a blank page. Outside my room, the sun is creeping out between acres of lush tropical trees. The volcano is poking up in the distance. Palm trees create a ceremonial walkway that reveals the hidden valley below with a river that runs through it. Yesterday, on our ride in, our driver sat on the right side of the car driving on the left side of the road. Carved stoned smiling buddhas greeted us from both sides of the street. Yellow little shrines on bamboos marked the ritual way to the big temple. A celebration for prosperity. We have arrived.

Bali: indulge in the bliss of paradise.

"Salamat Pagi", good morning, our smiling driver/guide greets us. We've just finished our "Welcome to Bali" yoga class and we are getting accustomed to leaving our "monkey brains" behind (quoting our instructor) and getting in tune with our body, mind and soul. Within less than an hour of driving, we find ourselves flying over rice paddies on a swing. I have a fear of heights. Don’t do it! my voice of reason argues. Go for it! my wicked voice contradicts. After all - you are in Bali! I am scared shitless as they release the ropes and push me beyond the stable ground. I hold on to the ropes so tight, they burn into my skin. We are being goofy, laughing hysterically, kissing - it is so much fun. This romantic place is where honeymooners go for a photo shoot- thirty two years later for us, but who's counting?

A few hours later, we strip our clothes off  and don rented green sarongs. Surprised, I find myself in line with local Hindus to get into the sacred spring water. What is happening? We participate in a spiritual ceremony, in Tirta Empul, the holy temple that could purify the mind, body and soul of its bathers (in this case me). We dip into the pool to our waists and stand under the first water spout. Heads in, I feel the fishes nibbling at my feet. Once we have cleansed ourselves under the first spout we join the next queue. This process is continued until we have bathed under thirteen of them. The one I am most keen on is the purifying spout with the blessing for anxiety and sleep deprivation. I focus, I concentrate doubly hard and I wash my face with the holy waters. Maybe, just maybe, the blessing will work and I will sleep better. Namaste!

The day grows stranger as it progresses. We are at a coffee plantation in the jungle where they make “Bali cat poo chino” Get it? Not a cappuccino but a catpoochino. Here, coffee is made from civet cat poop. Seriously. A civet is a kind of long cat, resembling a raccoon. The civets eat the coffee beans but digest only the husks, then they poop back the beans which are collected and cleaned and made into coffee. Sounds appealing? I am not that sure.

I lose track of time, the days are woven into each other. Yoga, temples, shrines, volcanos, rice paddies, waterfalls, performances. Young girls wear scarlet hibiscus flowers in their hair and sarongs wrap around their bodies. Males smoking cigarettes. Mopeds- EVERYWHERE, with kids texting while riding. Sneaky, thieving monkeys. Offerings to the gods. We carry millions of Indonesian rupees on us - it is insane! Every 1 dollar = 15,000 Indonesian rupees. People are grateful and humble for the work we provide to them. We hear personal stories of loss and survival during the three years of COVID lock down. A speedboat to Nusa Penida brings us to one of the most instagrammable places on earth with its dramatic coastal cliffs over the Indian Ocean. At the Hindu lake temple we hear a call to prayer from the mosque located right below it. Everything is blended together here in a big melting pot. A random encounter brings us to a unique meeting with maestro I made Ada (that's his real name), one of Indonesia's most renonwned carved wood artists. The work is grand and very detailed, it makes a big impression on me. At the end of the day, we watch a Balinese dance performance to Gamelan music against the stunning eighteenth century architectural background of the royal palace.

Menjangan.

It poured all night on us in our elaborate glamping camp in the northwest of Bali. Thunder and lightning - it felt like the end of the world. The power went off and on, the air conditioning went off and on and so did we, sleeping off and on. Quite the glamping experience. We are en route to an untouched and secluded region called Menjangan island, which literally means deer island. Since it is a protected marine reserve, the coral gardens and diverse ecosystem are in pristine shape and quite fantastic. As soon as the rain decreases, we are determined to go. Standing on the small pier with drops of rain still coming down on us and the wind blowing in our hair, we are waiting for the boat to come (Indonesian time...) and take us to snorkel and play with the turtles and underwater marine life. A magical experience.

Borneo: Kalimantan.

“Calm water does not mean there are no crocodiles” anonymous

What is it about primates, in particular big Apes that I am so fascinated with? Here I am, 67 and all and I find myself in this remote, off the beaten track area in Borneo (known as Kalimantan in Indonesia) in search of the rare endemic primates - the Orangutans. I am on a Kelotok, a houseboat in Tanjung Puting National park going up the Sekonyer river. This is by far, the most extreme part of our journey. There are no cabins to sleep in, no air conditioning - this is our "five star hotel" accommodation for a three day excursion. We sleep on deck with a net around our bed to keep the bugs out. All of that, for the once in a lifetime chance to see the Orangutans - man of the forest in the Malay language. This is one of the only two places in the world where one can see them in their natural habitat.

The sound of recorded bird songs come from windowless towers as we depart from the harbor. This strange phenomenon is used to lure the swiftlet birds to nest in those buildings. Borneo is a big supplier of bird nest saliva which is harvested and sold for a hefty price for human consumption. As strange as it may sound, bird’s nest soup is a delicacy to Chinese connoisseurs for its alleged health benefits and rich flavor.

As we drift up the river that runs through an ancient rainforest, my nostrils readjust to the rich foliage smells of the jungle. Slowly, I detect the different melodies of monkeys and birds. The orange Silver langur, the long tail macaque and the many, very playful, bizarre looking Proboscis monkeys. The Proboscis babies are having so much fun jumping from one tree to another with their big tails flapping behind. I can’t get enough of them - a moving theater in the jungle just for us. Meanwhile, the river assumes an intensely murky dark brown color. Oh, and did I mention the crocodiles? They can be as big as four meters. Don’t even think of getting in the water.

What an excitement it is that within a few hours of being on the water, our guide Arif, identifies what he thinks is an orangutan "long call". A long call is a deep, throaty sound that adult orangutans make, that carries long distances through the rainforest. As we look up in the direction of the sound, we spot our first Orangutan. A ginger haired, wild, big fellow, maybe one hundred and twenty kilos. As soon as we get really close with the boat, he decides to take a nap. Up high in the tree he rests while we impatiently wait. After a while he quickly swings down and bam! Disappears.

The day breaks on us at around 5:30am. It is pouring rain. The thunder and lightning kept me awake most of the night. Jason reminds me that I am not entitled to complain. It is all my planning, my idea, my doing, "so just be quiet!" As soon as the rain stops, we get off the boat and march through the swampy rainforest towards Camp Leakey. Founded by Dr Galdikas and her mentor the legendary anthropologist Dr Louis Leakey in 1971 to create a rehabilitation space, the camp became a second chance for orphaned orangutans rescued from domestic violence. Bornean orangutans are killed at a high rate for meat or because farmers believe they are a threat to their crops. Dr Galdikas is one of the world's foremost experts on orangutans, joining Diane Fossey (Gorillas) and Jane Goodall (Chimpanzees) as the ‘Trimates’ who led the study of the great apes. Here, the orangutans are reintroduced into the jungle and provided with food and shelter to ensure a smooth transition into the wild.

The temperature shows 39 degrees celsius (102 Fahrenheit) and the humidity is off the charts. Sweat is dripping off my face, off my hair, inside my clothes and even in my underpants. My toes are swollen, my nails are chipped, my makeup is gone. I hear the mosquitoes buzzing around me no matter how much bug repellent I put on. I give up, I surrender. I am stripped of my dignity, my pride, my Polish demeanor - I am Tarzan! As the three o’clock feeding time approaches, the orangutans are scattered around on the trees waiting - and so are we. Then a distant call in the jungle, an anticipation, a pause. The ranger appears out of the bushes carrying a sack full of bananas. As he spreads the bananas on the platform, the patriarch, the big king, slides down from the tree and gets on the platform. He eats alone, shovels down a huge amount of bananas and takes his time. Nobody dares challenge his seniority - he is the boss, for now. Then, one of the females gets bold and sneaks down the tree to steal some bananas before scurrying back up to eat them. The king doesn’t seem to mind but when a juvenile male makes yelling noises, breaks a lot of branches and shows signs of impatience, the king gets angry. He doesn’t like disrespect. Once he has enough to eat and leaves, the others come and join in the feast. Orangutans in all different ages and sizes, females and babies, are eating, playing, swinging down the trees and hanging out. How can you not fall in love with them? They look so much like us.

Research indicates that imitation is an expression of intelligence and that features of this behavior could mean that some orangutan tool use is acquired by social learning through imitation. Our guide Arif, who used to be a ranger at the national park, tells us about an orangutan named Prince. Prince was once introduced to sign language and within less then a year he learned to use twenty one signs! Luckily, I wasn't put to the task of mastering that amount of signs in that time. Orangutans don't know how to swim, so a river serves as the park's border between where the orangutans live and the other side. Every evening the rangers untie the ropes of a boat they park by the office and take it across the river to go home. On one occasion, the boat was gone at the end of the day. The story goes that this same Prince imitated what he saw the guards were doing. He untied the ropes, took the boat and crossed the river... A myth or truth? Prince disappeared into the jungle and never came back.

Yogyakarta,

It is 4:30am and we are zooming through the streets of Yogyakarta for a sunrise over Borobudur and the volcanic mountain nearby. Yogyakarta, or as the local call it, Jogia, is a city on the Island of Java, ruled by the Yogyakarta Sultanate and is the only official monarchy in Indonesia. The city which is congested with the constant traffic of Muslim tourists celebrating the Ramadan, is now eerily quiet. For the last couple of days, we've been busy touring the Sultan's palace (we are the only westerners around) and Tamansari, a water garden and a royal bathing place for the sultan of Yogyakarta. Gossip goes, that not so many decades ago, the sultan used to sit in the tower upstairs and spy on the girls bathing below. If he liked any he would drop a flower, a sign for the girl to come upstairs... Borobudur Temple compound, a world heritage site, is the largest and the oldest Buddhist temple structure in the world. Together with Angkor Wat in Cambodia and Pagan in Myanmar it ranks as one of the great archeological sites of South East Asia. Now we've seen them all. Seen from above, Borobudur forms a mandala, a geometric aid for meditation. The temple was built between the 7th and 8th century in three tiers. A pyramid base with five concentric square terraces, the trunk of a cone with three circular platforms and at the top, a monumental stupa. Each of the smaller domed stupas contains a Buddha sitting in the lotus position inside, or the remains of one (sadly, many of the Buddhas have been stolen over the years). The central stupa on the top signifies Buddha’s enlightenment and is a symbol of eternity. The temple was abandoned and lost in the jungle when the country converted to Islam. In 1814 Sir Thomas Raffles rediscovered it for the world. We purchase our "special" tourist's entrance ticket (seven times higher than the local price) just in time to discover that due to COVID there is red tape everywhere and we are not allowed inside the temple. Nevertheless, walking by the outside walls, I can still marvel at the creation of something as wonderful and as timeless as this.

In the middle of the day, as the sun grows bigger, orange-like, and it becomes relentlessly hot, we finally arrive to Prambanan. A world heritage site built in the 9th century, Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple compound in Indonesia. The temple is built in an ancient Indian style with spiral towers representing Mount Meru – the home of the Gods. With sweat dripping into my eyes and a rented umbrella over my head, I gaze at the three main temples which are dedicated to the three great Hindu divinities. The biggest temple is dedicated to Shiva - the destroyer, the other smaller ones are dedicated to Vishnu - the preserver and Brahma the creator. The temple was abandoned due to an earthquake, or some say due to a political struggle in the early 11th century and was forgotten. It was rediscovered by Ca Lons, a Dutchman, in 1733. Legend has it, as we learn while watching the wonderful Ramanaya ballet performance, that a Javanese princess was forced to marry a warrior prince due to her father's defeat in a battle. She agrees to the marriage on the condition that the prince builds 1000 statues before sunrise. The prince with the help of some spirits built the first 999 temples. When the princess saw the task was almost completed, she panicked and decided to use a trick to stop the prince from completing the task. She and her maids set a fire in the east, tricking the roosters into thinking it was dawn. Fooled into thinking the sun was about to rise, the spirits fled back to the darkness, leaving the last temple unfinished. The prince, infuriated by the trick, turned her into a stone and that is the grand structure and how it came to be.

What is the difference between Hinduism and Buddhism? We try to get a simple answer from our guide but his answer leaves us more perplexed than we were before. Ok, so what is it? While everyone agrees that both originated in India and that they share some similarities like karma and reincarnation, we get different versions of the differences. Hinduism, which emerged 3500 years ago, accepts the caste system and believes in the existence of several gods. It also believes that the soul exists and one is reincarnated according to one's karma. Buddhism, one could argue, emerged out of Hinduism because Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, grew up as a Hindu before becoming a traveling monk and gaining enlightenment. Buddhism reasoned why one should seek a god and is about "not soul", "not self". It follows a discipline of "nothing in oneself is me" so that one dispels every illusion of existence and thus, realizes Nirvana. Still confused? So are we.

Komodo Islands

From Orangutans to Komodo dragons. We arrived at our “luxury” boat for our four day sailing adventure. Define luxury… Things in Indonesia do not always work on schedule or as planned. When traveling in Indonesia, I find that you need patience and a good sense of humor - which I lack, especially when I feel scammed. At least the room is spacious with a nice set of sheets on the bed. As for the rest, try not to put on your magnifying glasses, especially when a rat comes for a visit in the middle of the night. Air conditioning is semi functional, sometimes it works, other times not so much - we should be grateful to have it at all. Out on the deck, the seven crew members line up to introduce themselves. All of them for the two of us, what exactly is each one of them supposed to do? I breathe the fresh air and I get a first glimpse of Komodo Islands. A three sixty degrees view of the turquoise waters around me, under the rugged volcanic landscapes and an overwhelming sense of raw nature encompasses me. What can I say? All my troubles seem so far away..

An Indonesian folk tale tells of a mystical princess who lived on a remote isle. She gave birth to twin sons, one human, one giant lizard, who learned to live together in harmony on the ‘island of dragons’. Locals to Komodo still believe the truth in this old myth, and that the immortal princess regularly revisits the island to protect her descendants — a population of the largest reptiles in the world.

One more time, we are up at the crack of dawn, this is getting to be a lousy habit. We sail to Padar Island to hike the eight hundred steps to the summit for sunrise, It is already hot and humid. Huffing and puffing, I stand atop the mountain, or almost the top as I cheated and climbed only six hundred....and I gaze in wonderment out at the blue horizon scattered with the three bays and the many shades of blue in the ocean below me. Onward to Komodo Island, hailed as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature, it is home to more than 4000 Komodo dragons. These prehistoric creatures can grow to 3m-long and weigh 70 kilos and they have an appetite to match their size. They are menacing predators, wild, fast and carnivorous, they dominate their native Island. Sheepishly, I drag myself behind the guard who carries a wooden forked stick meant to deter curious dragons from getting too close - just in case. What is wrong with me? I wonder. What if it decides I am Kosher meat ? Do I seriously think that this wooden stick can protect me from their shark - like teeth ? Brrr, I shiver. Even though their bite isn't poisonous I learn, the bacteria in their mouth can momentarily paralyze you. Soon enough we track the first dragon, a medium - sized guy taking a little nap while keeping his eyes open. I freeze. Luckily, today is not their hunting day ( apparently, they hunt once a month ) or so I am told. Slowly, the guard convinces me to get closer - I get a grip on myself - I take a photo - I smile. Deer and wild boar and anything meat-wise be aware.

Once I had my fix of the dragons in the wild, I am ready for the dozens of islands around, each with its own unique features. Being part of the Coral Triangle, which is considered the most biodiverse marine area on earth, these island are home to turtles, small sharks, manta rays and countless schools of colorful fishes as well as 76% of the world’s coral species. I put on my goggles, snorkels and fins - Bring it on!

Hopping from one island to the other in the dozen or so nearby islands, my swim shirt becomes my second skin. Boat - dinghy - get into the water - swim. Fast forward to, crew pulls me out of the water - it feels like we are in slow - motion. Each time, it seems like I weigh more and more - I think I'll have to tip the crew extra for overweight baggage! We first land at Pink beach which gets its color from microscopic red organisms that live in the surrounding coral reef and get washed ashore. Just off the beach, which is sadly full of trash and man-made plastic crap, lie tempting turquoise waters with fantastic corals and delightful schools of fish. Next is Kanawa island which is a tiny Island surrounded by white sand. Onward to Siaba Island, which is known as a home for turtles or what is called the "City of Turtles". The excellent visibility with the calm current makes it easy to see the turtles resting down on the colorful corals. As soon as they go up to breathe, we follow them up until they are gone in the distance. Finally, we arrive at Manta point, my long awaited, cherry on top of the cake - swimming with Mantas. My planning to go to Indonesia started because I imagined myself swimming with these gentle giants. So here I am, in these same waters where they are found year round. Our captain cruises slowly around the area while the crew and we hunt for a sign of mantas. Round and round we go, searching the area, looking, waiting. Yet, the elusive mantas refuse to come out and play. Disappointed and with a promise to try again soon, I jump in the water. The current is strong but the coral reef below is unspoiled and pristine. Some corals look like clusters of mushrooms after the rain with scattering blue starfish on top. Others look like dessert plates with a hallucinatory topping. I chase the fishes on their way somewhere unknown and I am being followed back by them and together we create a duet of movement and colors. The seafloor is so vivid, alive and full of delicious surprises, it makes me scream with joy.

For our last night we sail to Rinca Island. As the sun goes down to the horizon, the color of the sky changes from blue to orange to red and then purple. Within moments, the sky is filled with clouds of flying foxes. Those huge bats fly every evening to the villages nearby in search of fruit. When night falls, we lay on the deck beneath the million stars.

As our journey comes to a conclusion a feeling of grateful awe at the wonderful things of life encompasses me. All these new impressions, stimulations, sensations and infatuations; the many different faces of the people we encountered, their laughter, their smiles, their sadness and their blessings. - are - forever branded in my brains. This is the time we shared together - our Indonesian time. This is our story.