Sam and I have been dying to visit Lombok — the most westerly island in the Nusa Tenggara island group of Indonesia — since before we came to live in Indonesia. We never had the chance, though, until this Easter weekend in late March. Otherwise known as Bali’s “sister island,” Lombok has really taken off in…
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Bukit Dinding (Wall Hill) is a stunning backbone of boulders arching above East Kalimantan’s rain forest, about an hour and twenty minute’s drive from downtown Balikpapan. Pak Yayan has been telling us about this place for months, and since Sam had a weekend off to go further from camp, we said, “Let’s do it!” Now, the title…
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One of the best things about living in Balikpapan is the stupendous, completely original, I-can’t-believe-I-get-to-do-this-on-a-regular-basis! cycling here. One recent experience was a group ride from Balikpapan’s Kampung Baru (also known as “Water Village”) to Penajam, a village across the Balikpapan Bay, where back roads lead through idyllic little plantations of tapioca, water farms filled with fish,…
Read More![The [Great] Wall Less Traveled ... Hiking the Huangya Pass in Tianjin's Ji County](https://tongatime.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Huangya-Pass-Ji-Country-58.jpg)
If you happen to be visiting the Beijing area, you probably don’t have the Huangya Pass on your to-do list, but you probably do have The Great Wall of China. Of course you do. It’s THE Great Wall! The trouble is, which wall do you see? People don’t talk about that so much. In fact,…
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