Additional images I took two days before the earthquake and tsunami. I have good news and bad. Good: I just received word that two of my friends were on the island of Koh Phi Phi – the island the movie, “The Beach” was filmed on. This island was hit very hard by the tsunami (near Phuket). My friends were on a boat crossing to mainland ONE HOUR before the tsunami hit! They are extraordinarily lucky to be alive. Two otherRead more
Posts filed in: Java
Bleeding the Ozone
As the evening set in, the colors of my bedroom took on a doomsday glow. I stepped out onto the balcony, sucked in a breath of the balmy, acidic stuff they call air, and glanced westward. The sky was in pain. It was as if hell had punctured the earth right here in Jakarta. In all my life, I’ve never seen a sky as burning red and intensely saturated. Pollution breeds art.Read more
Imbalance
Stumbling out of the villa at seven in the morning, I wondered down to the cabana overlooking the beach. Sipping on Javanese coffee and gazing out upon the majestic Indian Ocean, an odd scene formed before my eyes. At first I wasn’t sure what to make of it – three oddly clothed individuals carrying what appeared to be a mass of wood. As they came into focus I realized that not only were they carrying a significant amount of weight,Read more
Krakatoa and Indonesian Volcanoes
Most Indonesians live and die within sight of a volcano. The islands of Indonesia are a volatile part of the “ring of fire†that spans across the Pacific from Japan, California, Hawaii, and Southeast Asia. Indonesia is the sight of two of the world’s greatest volcanic eruptions, Krakatoa, and Tambora – which still have major eruptions 10 times a year. The volcanoes provide Java with some of the most fertile soil in the world! Why do you think the coffeeRead more