Here’s what happened when I made a DIY Solar Camera Filter out of used X-Ray film to photograph a Total Solar Eclipse. Longing To See A Total Solar Eclipse Way back when, on May 30, 1984, there was a (nearly) Total Eclipse of the Sun visible in my neck of the woods (Stone County, Mississippi),…
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A few kilometers northeast of Balikpapan’s bustling Kebun Sayur market, in a tiny village called Kampung Somber, an old-school tofu factory churns out kilograms of freshly made tofu every day of the week. From outside, this place may not look like much. But once you step through those corrugated metal and wood frame doors, a…
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Indonesia has the world’s third largest tropical forest, after the Amazon and the Congo. And lucky us, we currently live in Kalimantan, a/k/a Borneo, where the rain forests cloister species still being discovered; currently our island — the third largest in the world — is home to a huge range of flora and fauna found nowhere…
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A little bit of magic happened to us a few weeks ago when we stumbled upon a home based Bali coffee factory. Some of the best memories in life come from random, unexpected experiences. Am I right? It isn’t that planned activities can’t lead to great joy, but here’s the thing: you planned for it…
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Two things I love the most about the tiny, mountain town of Munduk: the amazing hiking and the day-to-day activities going on all around. Here, for the most part, people couldn’t care less about the ogling tourists in their “Bali” pants, snapping photos beside waterfalls and limitless scenic vistas. Whatever. They’ve got coffee cherries to…
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We recently took the Java to Bali ferry from Banyuwangi, Java to Gilianuk, Bali, and though the trip was more or less an accident, we are so glad that we chanced upon the experience! Most people arrive in Bali via the Denpasar airport: Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport. Perhaps because of this, the most developed…
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About a two hour’s drive north of Balikpapan city central lies one of East Kalimantan’s tourist draws: the canopy bridge walk at Bukit Bangkirai. Bukit Bangkirai is actually a park within the rain forest, featuring log cottages for overnight stays, a small restaurant, restrooms, several [overgrown] jungle treks, a questionably maintained swimming pool and, for…
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