[zakthor]

Originally Posted by E Sully

I had an amazing time when I went to Indonesia to visit my wife's family. Her father passed away 3 days before she was born, and her mother raised 5 children alone. While she grew up in poverty, her eldest brother found a way out by joining Lion Air and becoming one of their top pilots. He used his income to pay for his brother to become a lead engineer for many of the countries top projects, and one sister become a head nurse in a prominent hospital.
I would get up around 4:30am as the Muslims would start their prayers. It would start quietly, but grow quite loud as others joined in. All the people I met were extremely nice and polite.
Aside from Bali, I was quite popular due to many only having seen white people on tv. I was asked to pose for with many locals for photos, and the young students were very excited to speak with me and try out their English. One group of students nicknamed me Mr. Hot. My wife explained to me it was because they found it interesting that I was sweating, while to them the 90' temps were normal.
I initially thought of renting a car, but ended up hiring a Chauffeur. The swarms of small cars and motorbikes, left hand driving, and other factors made it a wise choice. It's interesting to see a family of 5 on a small bike zipping in and out of traffic.
One of the issues was the country is composed of numerous islands. We spent a lot of time in airplanes hopping around the country. Having family as our tour guide I was able to see many amazing parts of their ancient and modern culture. I didn't have time for Komodo Island, but maybe next time.

I visited rinca, did the guided walking tour… never felt so much like prey before. No wonder the boat crew wouldn’t come with. Me for one I’m not going back. Komodos are not nice. Pretty island but I’d rather be snorkeling with sharks.