33 is the magic number! Let’s put it this way: I’m thankful to be out of Singapore. The only place in this world I can say I hate is Las Vegas but one place I’m not terribly fond of is Singapore. Except for a wide variety of food it’s an expensive oasis in the heart of Southeast Asia. 33 is the magic number because entering Indonesia I’ve now been to 33 countries! The quest for 40 is on. Yew-Ming gets a very big shout-out for hosting me last night (even though I couldn’t sleep in). On the ferry I got a bit of sleep and wondered a bit if I was going to regret not appreciating Singapore more. I’m guessing the food in Indonesia isn’t nearly as varied and I still have a long journey ahead. The entire length of both Sumatra and Java I still have to cover. When I arrived in Batam I found out that the next ferry to Sumatra doesn’t leave until tomorrow morning! Ugh! That would likely mean another sleepless night, and after the bloodstained sheets the other night I don’t feel up for a hotel. In the past few weeks I’ve had at least five nights in which I’ve journeyed overnight or pulled an all-nighter: Mt. Fuji, the ride to Shikoku, Kyoto, getting to Singapore, and now in Batam. Sumatra is well-known for forest fires which pollute both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Slash-and-burn agriculture and felling of trees are both a huge problem here. Humanity is someday going to regret destroying the tropical rainforest, although part of the problem is that nearly all of the rainforest regions lie within third-world countries where the majority of people don’t know any better. The only remotely civilized country containing areas of rainforest is Brazil, and even they don’t take care of their rainforest. As far as this journey goes it hasn’t been easy, but nobody said it was going to be easy. As a couple of outrigger canoes came roaring by I gazed at the setting sun and said to myself “embrace it Chris, it’s a journey.” This is malaria country, so that means long pants and preventing mozzie bites. As I hung out in the ferry terminal tonight, the security guards invited me to sleep in a converted mosque. Mozzies bit up my arms and face but I got a tadbit of sleep and at least had a place to put my head. Hopefully the dengue fever isn't coming, but I shouldn't talk about that. Indonesia here I am, and Batam shall be the stepping stone to 33 stories, 33 adventures, and 33 journeys.
As a footnote I’m going to look back on 33 memorable moments from each country
1. Undokai Festival –Japan
2. Spending time with Yuki – Malaysia
3. Culinary Adventure – Singapore
4. Jumping out of an airplane – New Zealand
5. Trekking up to Angel’s Landing – USA
6. The Vancouver skyline – Canada
7. Riding the Baja Trek bus – Mexico
8. Sleeping at the ruins of Quirigua – Guatemala
9. Majestic sunset at Caye Caulker – Belize
10. Mayan ceremony – El Salvador
11. Hitchhiking in the back of utes – Honduras
12. Walking around Uluru – Australia
13. Dinner with a local family – Fiji
14. Traditional fire dance – Tonga
15. Cross-island walk – Cook Islands
16. Riding on top of a car – Niue
17. Climbing Volcan Concepcion – Nicaragua
18. Spotting giant sea turles – Costa Rica
19. Red frogs – Panama
20. Walking on an icecap – Iceland
21. Kayak demonstration and Inuit drum dance – Greenland
22. Sampling chocolate – Belgium
23. White cliffs – England
24. The Sexmuseum –the Netherlands
25. Castles along the Rhine – Germany
26. Islak burgers and Turkish tea – Turkey
27. Cycling in the grand duchy – Luxembourg
28. Sheer cliffs and vertiginous abysses – Ethiopia
29. The Inca Trail – Peru
30. Building a library at a Montessori school – Dominican Republic
31. Getting there and surviving – Somalia
32. Havana nights on the rooftop – Cuba
33. Sleeping in a converted mosque – Indonesia
